First Internet message and ...

[Fred Cisin]

On Tue, 26 Nov 2019, Richard Pope wrote:
> Fred,
>    I'm not stating that IBM invented the PC. I am stating that IBM says it 
> invented the PC. Yeah right. I actually believe that it was Commodore that 
> invented the Personal Computer for they were the first company to come out 
> with an affordable home computer system that was very flexible. Of course 
> this is my opinion.
> GOD Bless and Thanks,
> rich!

Well, it has all the makings of a great holy war, although not as 
fascinating as vi V emacs.

After most of the Cat people were killed in the holy war over RED V BLUE 
hats, Cloister The Stupid (Lister) revealed that he had intended the hats 
to be GREEN.


I consider Commodore PET, TRS80, and Apple to be an exact TIE! (along with 
a whole bunch of tiny guys who nobody remembers).

Did it really matter whether Alexander Graham Bell or Elisha Gray filed 
the patent earliest in that day?  (There were a few other issues, such as 
Bell's people manipulating patent examiner)

When we look at which computer was first, are we looking at
First successful prototype
First instance of a finished machine
First announced
First advertised
First demo'd
First shown at a significant trade show
First manufactured
First one sold or available for sale
First one that did not require pre-order
First one shipped
First one that could be bought off the shelf

None of the three were first on ALL of those, so it becomes which are most 
important, or chosen to be the DEFINITION of "FIRST"
For me, TRS80 was the first one that I was able to purchase and carry 
home, but the other two were not significantly behind, if I were to have 
been less impatient and research my choice.   Both of the other two were 
"on the market", but I couldn't get my hands on either for at least 
another month.
I preferred the Apple hardware expandability, but I couldn't get one until 
later, and for more money.

At the time, I could have purchased an S100 computer, or a few others, 
(PET/TRS80/Apple were far from being the first!) but I could buy the 
TRS80 for $400 plus tax ($600 with monitor and casette, but I used my own).
I had a few B&W composite input monitors from Sony CV and AV videotape, 
and just had to make a cable from 5 pin DIN to UHF connector.

Nothing else was available that had a high level language for less 
than $1000.   BASIC was close enough to FORTRAN to satisfy my original 
"requirement".
So, those three were the first in MY price range.


Even when the IBM PC (5150 - "a danger to itself and others") was 
released (August 12, 1981), there was a waiting list of months to be able 
to get one.
(about $1230? plus Floppy controller, Video board, and RS232, plus my own 
RAM, drives and monitor.  The oft-quoted $1565 included an over-priced 
monitor - "well, you certainly can't USE one without a monitor!")
Fortunately, I was able to get the "Technical Reference Manual" (with 
schematics and source for the BIOS!) well before the machine itself.