Console

Consoles were an important part of Olivetti's computers design. They were first introduced in 1987 with the Olivetti M380/T, the first tower made by Olivetti. The first desktop PC to have a console was the P500 which was released in 1989.

First Style XP 1078 Consoles
The First Style XP 1078 consoles were used on the Olivetti M380/T, M380 XP5, M380 XP7 and M380 XP9 computers. The lower-part of these consoles feature a power button, a power light, a "RESET" button, an hard drive light, a small volume sliding potentiometer, a key lock and a key lock light. The upper-part features a dot matrix display used to display POST/diagnostic messages and two white buttons presumably used to manually cycle through said messages. According to an Olivetti representative, you can also write programs that display messages on the console.

Second Style XP 1078 Consoles
The Second Style XP 1078 consoles were used on the Olivetti CP486, LSX 5010, LSX 5020 and P800 computers. The lower-part of these consoles feature a round power button, a reset button, a volume button that you probably have to press multiple times to cycle through the different volume "settings" (or maybe it's a simple "mute/unmute" button), and two buttons named "F1" and "F2" respectively that are used to view the system configuration settings through the 24-character LCD. The upper-part features a bunch of LEDs (7 to be exact!) and the 24-character LCD.

LSX 5015/5030 Consoles
The LSX 5015/5030 consoles were used on the Olivetti LSX 5015 and LSX 5030 computers. Nothing is known about them due to the lack of information about those 2 computers. They have the same layout as the Second Style XP 1078 consoles. Notice how the LSX 5015's console has a purple power button and the rest are blue. On the LSX 5030 the colors are reversed.

LSX 5050 Consoles
The LSX 5050 consoles were possibly only used on the Olivetti LSX 5050. They look like shrunken versions of the LSX 5015/5030 consoles. They appear to have had only 4 indicators instead of 7, and they had the buttons on the same level as the indicators.

P500 Consoles
The P500 consoles were only used on the Olivetti P500, which was the first desktop PC to have a console. They feature a volume potentiometer, a power light and a reset button. The large empty space between the power light and the reset button could mean that P500 consoles with hard drive lights were planned/made, but no such consoles have ever been found...

Desktop #1 Consoles
The Desktop #1 consoles were used on the Olivetti M386/25, on some P750s, on the Memorex Telex 7290, on the Digital DECstation 325, and they also might've been used on some First Style XP 2655 computers. They feature a power light, a reset button and a sliding volume potentiometer. They were used when the computer they were in had an hard drive light(s) over the hard drive bay(s).

Desktop #2 Consoles
The Desktop #2 consoles were used on the Olivetti M300-10, M380-40 and on some P750s. The only difference between the Desktop #1 consoles and the #2s is that the #2s have an hard drive light. They were used when the computers they were in didn't have any hard drive lights over the hard drive bays. Known boards: IF469

Desktop #3 Consoles
The Desktop #3 consoles were used on some Olivetti M380-40s, on the M486, on some M700-10s, and on the PWS 4000. The only difference between the Desktop #2 consoles and the #3s is that the #3s have an headphone jack.

Desktop #4 Consoles
The Desktop #4 consoles were only used on some Olivetti M700-10s. They are quite similar to the Desktop #3 consoles but they managed to add a second audio jack (possibly a microphone jack) next to the headphone jack either by using magic or by shortening the length of the empty space between each "items" on the console....

Mysterious Console #1
Found on the mysterious AT&amp;T tower prototype /AT&T 6386E WGS. These 2 computers are obviously based on the First Style XP 1078 computers by Olivetti, and the lower-part of their consoles have an identical layout as their Olivetti counterparts, but their upper-parts seem to be lacking the dot matrix display and the 2 buttons next to it.... Or maybe the dot matrix display IS present, and it's just hiding behind that green-black plastic window, but the 2 buttons definitely seem to be missing...

Mysterious Console #2
Found on the mysterious "NET³ Demo" computer, which appears to use a modified Second Style XP 2655 case... The console on this computer appears to have something under its hard drive light, and also appears to have a 3.5mm jack connector next to its... Hard drive light... Or it could be a simple volume sliding potentiometer that's creating a round shadow. But there definitely seems to be something under the hard drive light... Eh, I don't know. Blurry/low quality pictures can create a lot of weird illusions so it could be a simple Desktop #2 console for all I know... Except it can't be a Desktop #2 console because it is clearly smaller than one! Yup, this is a very mysterious Olivetti computer AND console...

==

"Fake" consoles mentioned in documentation
In some documentation, simple power buttons and lights are sometimes referred as "consoles" even though they aren't a distinct part of the computer's design like the ones that can be seen all over this page. For that reason, they won't be included in this page.