The 5110 featured the same housing as the 5100 (although the colors were different), which contained an
IBM PALM processor, a
keyboard and a 1,024-character
display screen. Main memory held 16, 32, 48 or 64
KB of
data, depending on the unit. Offering either
magnetic tape or
diskette storage, the Model 1 could store as much as 204,000 bytes of information per
tape cartridge or 1.2 MB on a single 8" diskette; the Model 2 allowed only diskette storage. Up to two IBM 5114 diskette units, each housing a maximum of two 8" diskette drives, could be attached to the 5110 for a total online diskette capacity of 4.8 MB. The IBM 5110 Model 3 allowed only one external IBM 5114 diskette unit. IBM did not offer a
LAN or
hard disk drive for these systems. However, in 1981
Hal Prewitt, founder of
Core International, Inc developed and marketed hard disks and a LAN called "CoreNet" for the IBM 5110 and 5120 systems. An IBM 5103 printer and an external IBM 5106 auxiliary tape unit (Model 1 only) were available as options from IBM. Citing the easy use of his new system, Jeff Grube, vice president of
Punxsutawney Electric Repair (who received the first IBM 5110 on February 2, 1978), said: "If you can type and use a hand-held calculator, you have all the skills necessary to operate a 5110." At a Monte Carlo racing event that ran 10 days after the 5110 announcement, five of them were used by race commissioners to retrieve vehicle specifications during the vehicle inspection process. During the race itself five IBM 5100s were used to calculate team and individual results and lap times for the press. ==Programming languages==