Dynabyte 5000. The system that grows with you

The Metrotech Dynabyte 5000 was the result of a collaboration between the UK-based technology company Metrotech Limited - part of the same Grand Metropolitan Group[source: PRAC, February 1982, p. 15] that once owned Burger King - and the US-based Dynabyte, which had been founded in California in 1977, initially as a producer of memory boards for S-100 systems.

One of several "computers as furniture" systems available, the modular micro was designed as a "building-block system that lets your computer grow and grow". 

The entry-level system came with 5¼" floppies, but could be expanded into a full multi-processor, multi-user system.

[picture: MetroDynabyte_praccomp_Jun81.webp|The Metrotech Dynabyte 5000 system, built as a partnership between Dynabyte of California and Metrotech Management of the UK. From PRAC, June 1981]

Perhaps its biggest differentiator though was that it came with the option to support in-house Viewdata - the system best-known as Ceefax and Oracle on broadcast TV, and as Prestel on dial-up. 

Known as Metrotel, this was aimed at hotels, conferences or department stores where information needed to be displayed to a closed-circuit TV audience, although if that wasn't required it could also be used as an expensive Prestel terminal[source: "Transatlantic co-operation bears fruit with 5000 series", PRAC, June 1981, p. 47].

Running a version of MP/M which it called the Level 4 Operating System, the system allowed up to eight users to be connected at the same time, or up to eight jobs to run concurrently.

It was also possible to connect up to sixteen printers, although two printers per user would seem to be a bit unneccesary.