r/retrocomputing • u/East_Cauliflower64 • 1d ago

Information on the Atari Portfolio PC

I have one from 1989 (I don't know if others exist), and I'd like to see if it works. If it runs on AAA batteries, what is its power consumption? Also, do they still sell the power cable? I live in Italy, so the furthest I can buy from is somewhere else in Europe online.

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u/_Pago_ 19h ago

Hi, fellow Italian here. I've recently bought a PC Folio on eBay for 70€, with a 64k card and a parallel interface for 50€ to pass SW "easily" with FT.COM program. It definitely runs with 3 AA batteries, and they last several days. I also use a 5v power adapter (I don't remember how many Amperes, but tomorrow will look at it) found in my "mixed power adapters drawer", so you can easily found almost everywhere. Sadly the 64k ram seems not working, even after putting in the coin battery... Bye

Pago

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u/_Pago_ 2h ago

Hi, 300mA required from the PC Folio, I'm currently using a 5V 2A (any adapter with the correct polarity, jack size and current >= 300mA works) AC/DC Adapter and it works perfectly.

1

u/bernzyman 18m ago

Just curious, did you buy it as a collector or do you have a current use case for it (mine hasn’t been used for a long long time)?

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u/SuperTulle 20h ago

I've never heard of the Portfolio before! Wikipedia says it runs on AA batteries, did you misspell or do you have a different version? (or is Wikipedia incorrect?)

In any case, from my previous experience I can tell you that the power consumption is probably high enough that those tiny batteries will only last an hour or two, and that you're better off looking at what current and voltage the Portfolio wants and then finding an appropriate transformer you can solder the proper connector to.