[cctalk] Re: Experience using an Altair 8800 ("Personal computer" from 70s)

On Tue, 28 May 2024 at 22:21, Fred Cisin via cctalk <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote: You have a point. You usually do, Fred. I am surprised one thing hasn't been mentioned yet. Any computer can be "personal" if only one person uses it for their own private purposes, right? My first fiancée's dad had what he reckoned was the first mainframe in Norway. (And Norway was, I believe, the first country outside North America on the internet.) He worked for the state oil company and persuaded them that having _a computer_ for modelling and so on was worth it. So they bought one and gave it to him. It took the whole floor of the building below his office. He had some serious clout. But they didn't have a plan for what to do with it, so for its first year or so, he was the sole user, learning what it could do, what languages it supported, etc. He died about 20Y ago now so I can't ask him, but IIRC, by the time he did his feasibility report, it was largely obsolete so it was never really used and they bought another, newer one for actual production. He thought it was hilarious that this multi-million-krone machine was his personal computer. It would probably fit the earlier poster's definition of a "real OS" which I thought was so spurious. But OTOH I would concur that things like that IBM APL machine that the legendary time traveller John Titor wanted wasn't a "PC" -- not a "real OS" but in the sense that it was a sort of glorified programmable calculator, not able to be used for general purpose use. If you can't write a letter on it, is it a PC? I suggest a somewhat arbirtrary rule: not merely needing a general purpose OS, able to be programmed but able to run applications for multiple uses including text editing, but simple games and things.... But intended for a single user. Not a departmental machine with 1 user. Not a multiuser box that happens to only have 1. And also not a brilliant inspired but ultra-limited thing like a Kenbak or some hexadecimal trainer. It needs to have a microprocessor to qualify. Microprocessors are what created the PC. No µP = not a PC. -- Liam Proven ~ Profile: https://about.me/liamproven Email: lproven(a)cix.co.uk ~ gMail/gTalk/FB: lproven(a)gmail.com Twitter/LinkedIn: lproven ~ Skype: liamproven IoM: (+44) 7624 277612: UK: (+44) 7939-087884 Czech [+ WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal]: (+420) 702-829-053