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Olivetti Programma 101: At the Origins of the Personal Computer

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Re: Olivetti Programma 101: At the Origins of the Personal Computer

#31

Post by inejge »

crispyambulance wrote: post #25

Olivetti had a number of iconic products both from a technological and design perspective. My favorites (in addition to the Programma 101) was the Divisumma calculator and the Valentine typewriter. https://www.massmadesoul.com/olivetti-divisumma-18 https://www.massmadesoul.com/olivetti-valentine Absolutely gorgeous looks.

The Valentine is famous among the designers, but the truly popular model is the Lettera 22[1]: many journalists and writers, famous or not, used it, and of course it had a hipster revival. (Also a beautiful machine.)

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olivetti_Lettera_22

Re: Olivetti Programma 101: At the Origins of the Personal Computer

#32

Post by aj7 »

In 1966, we had one in the Stuyvesant HS computer room, along with an IBM 1130 system that ran Fortran 4. I got good at the Programma, it was quite useful. But I don’t recall 240 steps; I recall less than 100. Indeed, the much more advanced HP 9100 circa 1968, with CRT, rpn, and 10-digit accuracy, had only 196.

Re: Olivetti Programma 101: At the Origins of the Personal Computer

#34

Post by rjsw »

AlexDragusin wrote: post #12
wenc wrote: post #2

I remember Olivetti PCs from the late 80s to 90s. They were beautifully designed -- not SGI or Sun beautiful -- but beautiful for PCs. I like the "grate" design. https://www.ebay.com/itm/325569104545 The IBM PS/2 Model 30 was also quite beautiful https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/userdata/images/large/56...

Started on an AT&T 6300 (Olivetti M24) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olivetti_M24#/media/File:Vinta... Oh, the memories! Great thing was the keyboard, gave the user certain assurance and stability, not sure how would I explain it but those of you who used these, would instantly know what I mean.

The keyboard on the AT&T 6300 looks different to that for the Olivetti M24, just comparing the pictures on the wikipedia page.

I had an M24, with the original design of Logitech mouse that plugged into the keyboard.

Re: Olivetti Programma 101: At the Origins of the Personal Computer

#35

Post by leoc »

wenc wrote: post #2

I remember Olivetti PCs from the late 80s to 90s. They were beautifully designed -- not SGI or Sun beautiful -- but beautiful for PCs. I like the "grate" design. https://www.ebay.com/itm/325569104545 The IBM PS/2 Model 30 was also quite beautiful https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/userdata/images/large/56...

Yes, Olivetti PCs frequently looked nice. The sting in the tail was incompatibility with third-party components, combined with high prices.

Re: Olivetti Programma 101: At the Origins of the Personal Computer

#36

Post by leoc »

AlexDragusin wrote: post #12
wenc wrote: post #2

I remember Olivetti PCs from the late 80s to 90s. They were beautifully designed -- not SGI or Sun beautiful -- but beautiful for PCs. I like the "grate" design. https://www.ebay.com/itm/325569104545 The IBM PS/2 Model 30 was also quite beautiful https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/userdata/images/large/56...

Started on an AT&T 6300 (Olivetti M24) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olivetti_M24#/media/File:Vinta... Oh, the memories! Great thing was the keyboard, gave the user certain assurance and stability, not sure how would I explain it but those of you who used these, would instantly know what I mean.

The keyboard with the strongest psychological boost I've ever experienced is the M0116 Apple Standard Keyboard https://deskthority.net/wiki/Apple_Standard_Keyboard https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hY7XXo5uEZI with its old ALPS (Orange, or sometimes Salmon) switches. Every time you press a few keys the little voice in your head tells you (accurately or not!) "Yes, I have accomplished something meaningful. Significant work is being done here." It's really quite self-defeating that Apple can't find the pocket change necessary to bring back Apple keyboards with early ALPS switches, especially now that it's relatively serious about desktop computing again. Things could be a lot worse though: seven years after introducing the M0116 Apple put out the M2980 Apple "Design" "Keyboard" https://deskthority.net/wiki/AppleDesign_Keyboard which could leave you pining for death.

Re: Olivetti Programma 101: At the Origins of the Personal Computer

#37

Post by kmoser »

I just finished reading Empire of the Sum: The Rise and Reign of the Pocket Calculator, which describes the Programma and many of its contemporaries. Highly recommended reading if you're interested in the history of calculating machines and how they intersect with computers.

Re: Olivetti Programma 101: At the Origins of the Personal Computer

#39

Post by fortran77 »

kragen wrote: post #27
fortran77 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I worked at Olivetti's Advanced Technology Labs in Cupertino until 1989. We were really making some wonderful stuff then, but the company itself was having trouble, and some scandals. The executive staff were always being arrested for one thing or another (see https://www.nytimes.com/1993/11/03/world/accused-olivetti-ch... for example). We paid more attention to cases, fasteners, and design than most other clone vend…

would you say it's more like lisp or more like forth? this has been a topic of argument

It's more like forth if I had to pick one. Though it is very lispy -- you can pass functions as objects, etc.

I was quite good at programming in it back in the day.

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