PCjr Pictures, Set 1

This section has pictures of PCjr machines and some accessories.

Note: I have tried to note the original source of these pictures. If I have posted a picture that you own, please contact me and I will credit you or remove the picture according to your wishes.

Model 4860-004 PCjr (64KB RAM) This is probably the rarest configuration of PCjr that exists. Most PCjrs came with a diskette drive and 128K which is the bare minimum to make a useful DOS machine. With just 64K this machine is good for playing cartridge games or doing BASIC programming. (And you would have to save those programs to cassette.) The blank faceplate covers the hole where the optional diskette drive would be mounted. The dual cartridge slots are clearly visible below the blank faceplate. To the left of the cartridge slots is the hole for the infra-red keyboard receiver.

Source: Brutman, 2005

Source: Unknown

Model 4860-067 PCjr (128KB RAM, 1 diskette drive) This is the expanded model of the PCjr featuring a diskette drive and 128KB of memory. It is shown with the PCjr Color Monitor (4863) and the updated keyboard. The extra memory comes on a small card that plugs into a dedicated slot on the motherboard. The diskette drive requires a controller card, which also plugs into a dedicated slot on the motherboard.

Another model 4860-067 PCjr. This picture shows the "chiclet" keyboard which was shipped with the machine.

Source: Unknown

Source: Unknown

This PCjr (also a 4860-067) is shown with the "Chiclet" keyboard, a cartridge in the left cartridge slot, and the PCjr Compact Printer. The Compact Printer connected to the PCjr via the serial port, which is unusual for a PC or clone. IBM didn't include a parallel port with the machine; it was an extra cost option. The sidecar would have attached to the right side of the machine (near the cartridges) and added about an inch to the width of the machine.

This is the layout of the PCjr keyboard. The "chiclet" keyboard is shown. Source: PCjr Technical Reference, IBM Corp, 1984

The "Chiclet" keyboard	The revised keyboard

These are PCjr program cartridges. The one on the left is for ColorPaint, which was a wonderful paint program at the time. It could use a mouse, and it took full advantage of the PCjr's enhanced video capabilities. The one on the right is Cartridge BASIC, which was an enhanced version of BASIC for the PCjr. Source: M Brutman, 2000

This is a line drawing of the PCjr diskette drive. Notice the fan on the back of the unit, designed to keep the diskette media cool. The PCjr did not have a fan anywhere else. Source: PCjr Technical Reference, IBM Corp, 1984

A line drawing of a PCjr joystick. Source: PCjr Technical Reference, IBM Corp, 1984

Source: PCjr Technical Reference, IBM Corp, 1984

A line drawing of a sidecar expansion unit. Sidecars attached to the side of the unit closest to the cartridge slots. Commonly available sidecars added a parallel printer port and extra memory. Less common sidecars added speech synthesizers, and connections to an expansion unit that housed another floppy drive or even a hard drive! The protruding connection connected directly to the PCjr I/O bus.

The PCjr startup screen. Well, sort of. A real PCjr would stop counting at 640KB. This image was doctored to show a 736KB count. A 736KB machine can exist, but the BIOS would never count that high on the startup screen. The color bar shows the 15 non-black colors that the video subsystem could produce. Source: Brutman 2004

My favorite part is in the diskette tutorial, on the screen entitled "Accidents Will Happen." A cute little catapillar marches across the screen, opens its mouth to 3x it's body size, and takes a bite out of a diskette to illustrate the point. You've just got to see it ... :-) Another great part is the printer demo - they simulate the IBM Graphics Printer right on the screen.

The second, the cover of which is pictured here, was the PCjr Sampler. This diskette had several little applications on it, including a sample word processor and an async comm program for a modem. The sampler was a favorite for doing a demo because it would give you an idea of what the machine was capable of; the software itself wasn't of much use.

Notice the home/family focus of the illustration. Also notice the lack of the PCjr Color Display - those are all standard IBM Color Graphics Displays, designed for a PC.