31–40 of 61 posts
Cool I always thought the first PCs were like the TRS or Commodore 64 computers.
The Wang 2200 looks most like we'd expect a personal computer to look like, but the price range was not home-friendly (~$50k today).
Unfortunately for him, in university one of his professors advised him not to go into computers for a career...
Wow ... the man who invented it, Ed Roberts, had quite the life: • Air Force enlisted • Air Force comissioned • Electrical Engineer • Computer inventor • "Gentleman" farmer • Medical doctor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Roberts_(computer_engineer)
Cool I always thought the first PCs were like the TRS or Commodore 64 computers.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datapoint_2200
The 6502 line came out Motorola's failure to "indulge" their employees in a low-cost 6800, thus unintentionally fathering MOS Technologies.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOS_Technology_6502
The 6502 was extremely inexpensive. The first implementation was the KIM-1, so this is the first on that side.
I was completely distracted by the magazine cover. The calculator being advertised there, and the wording, caught my attention. The magazine issued is available here [0]. Apparently, it really was wiring up an entire calculator. > ... Start assembly by installing and soldering into place the fixed resistors. Then proceed to installing the three electrolytic capacitors, the diodes, and the transistors, taking care to…
What caught my eye was the headline about CCDs as successors to video camera tubes. Charge-coupled devices being, of course, the sensor technology now used by essentially all of the billions of digital cameras on the planet.
I don’t know the technical difference other than what each stands for.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is some controversy - you could actually use a TRS-80, an Apple II or a PET right after taking it out of the box. I think that, if we define a personal computer as a machine that is designed for a single interactive user, the LGP-30 would be a good candidate. It was not, however, a home computer. For me, a personal computer needs more than switches and LEDs as its UI. With a serial port, a terminal, and a monit…
Did it not have a serial port? Would have assumed that connecting it to a terminal or teletype was the standard thing.
The serial port was its own separate board. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaYTd3dbXeM
There were two very clever I/O ideas that emerged for the Altair: (1) A radio on top of the housing would pick up a signal, allowing audio output! (2) A cassette tape recorder could be used as an external storage device, though I forget how it interfaced... the serial board, I think.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> It's not really like Jobs and Woz had the brilliant idea They understood that, if the computer had a keyboard and a professional-looking case, a lot more people would buy one.
Jobs certainly understood that, but Woz? https://www.apple2history.org/history/ah04/ : ”Jobs thought the cigar boxes that sat on the … desktops during Homebrew meetings were as elegant as fly traps. The angular, blue and black sheet-metal case that housed Processor Technology’s Sol struck him as clumsy and industrial … A plastic case was generally considered a needless expense compared to the cheaper and more pliable…
This is why we need to surround ourselves with people we don't always agree with.