Comparing Fujitsu Poqet PC Plus Computers

Some time ago, I wrote a program to solve a board puzzle. It uses brute force recursion to solve the puzzle. Recursion is very CPU and memory intensive. I thought this program would make a good test. I executed the program with both machines and timed how long it took each of them to solve the puzzle.

The results were surprising. Not only was my second PC Plus faster but it was significantly faster! Try 62% faster! See the table below. I also include timing results from an Pentium laptop computer for laughs. Two timing runs were made for each machine.

620 / 381 = 1.62, so PC Plus #2 is 62% faster than PC Plus #1 in this test. It is interesting to note the serial number of #2 is greater than the serial number of #1. So we can assume that #2 is the newer machine. The difference between the serial numbers is a little over 700 (units) so one can also assume improvements were constantly being made as these machines were in production.

I wonder just how many of these machines were made? Perhaps we should compare serial numbers and settle on the largest serial number! It seems the last four digits of the serial number is the true production/unit number. The PC Plus serial number is formatted as:

02010000NNNN

My PC Plus Survey

Please email me the following information on your PC Plus:

1. The serial number on your PC Plus. This number is located on the bottom of your machine in the format 02010000NNNN as described above. (French PC Plus versions have a serial number like 02020000NNNN or 02040000NNNN) Does anyone have a unit number more or less than 4 digits?

2. The production date. This may be found on a sticker located inside the battery compartment. The date format is YYYY-MM for year and month (i.e. 1993-12).

3. The revision code. This is also on the sticker just below the production date. There are two letters and a number string like "BC 0123456789". One letter and one number is overstamped with an equal sign (=). The overstamped letter and number is the revision code (i.e. B4).

4. (Added 2/7/00) Number of Power Modes. I understand some PC Plus machines have only 2 power modes (Power Management ON/OFF) rather than the usual 3 power modes (Power Management ON, COM Port ON, and Power Management OFF). You can see this in the system configuration (Hit the Fn-Esc keys at the same time). Let me know how many power modes your PC Plus has (i.e. 2 or 3).

5. Let me know if you would like to do a few timing tests. I will send you the program I used.

As a further incentive, I will release my results only to the participants of my little survey. Perhaps I'll add a little software utility too. I will compile a list of machines, production dates, revision codes and timing results. Of course, I shall preserve everyone's anonymity. The more data points, the better.

I think the conclusions drawn from this information will be interesting. In the meantime, below are the smallest and largest unit numbers of the PC Plus machines their owners have emailed to me (and presumably still running).

So the next time you get together with other fellow PC Plus owners, try racing your machines and see which is the fastest! And don't forget to compare serial numbers!