Semi-Tech Microelectronics were one of the first corporations to have a go at the portable computing market. Adam Osborn was first out of the gates with his Osborn 1 luggable, a CP/M machine containing 2 5 1/4" floppy drives and a built-in 4" screen. However, it was expensive and at 27lb in weight not exactly portable by all. STM's answer was the Pied Piper Communicator, again a Z80 based CP/M machine but a lot lighter owing to the single half-height floppy drive and no built-in screen. Instead the Communicator contained a TV Modulator and a Composite monitor connection, so you could use the machine in the office then take it home and plug it into a domestic TV. Cost? $1299 to you, chief. They also did an IBM compatible luggable called the STM PC, which featured the same case as the Communicator but fitted with dual floppy drives, a built-in LCD screen, SCSI interface and a keyboard hidden in the hinged lid.

Oh, as a small aside, STM used to be a global company that owned the likes of Singer sewing machines and Akai Hi-Fi, but a series of spectacular collapses in 2000 left the whole corporation pretty much dead and the man who started it all, one James Ting, hasn't been seen since late 2000. It's a funny old world.

Pied Piper Communicator with spares, lots of software and the reference books. Thanks Jeremy!