25 May
2024
25 May
'24
5:26 p.m.
(Rick--IIRC, some later Curta (knockoffs?) could do square roots too, is that true, do you
have one?)
OK, I'll loosen up, or make exceptions.
Maybe some devices before the altair used the exact or inexact words "personal
computer".
but they did not "create a market" or lead directly to a series of similar,
competing products, and do not come anywhere close to what we think of as a "personal
computer" now. The Altair is very different from a modern personal computer, but
still has more similarities and a continuous chain of intermediate stages. Part of what
makes a personal computer to us is that we can easily switch from one to another. That
would not have been possible between the LGP-30, LINC, etc.
I still ask the question, what fraction of the G-15, LINC, IBM 610, Programma 101, etc,
were purchased as "personal" devices by an individual, for personal use, and
from household funds rather than via a corporate (including educational) purchase-order?
Other terminology:
IIRC the first computers that were sold as "supercomputers" were scalar, maybe
with a few more processors than the generation before, but programmed in the same manner.
Then shortly came the massively parallel "supercomputers" created from commodity
microcomputer chips, and the term supercomputer has transitioned to mean them.
<pre>--Carey</pre>
On 05/25/2024 3:33 PM CDT Rick Bensene via cctalk
<cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
While the LGP-30(vacuum tube/drum), G-15(vacuum tube/drum), and PB-250(transistor/delay
lines) predated it, the ground-breaking Olivetti Programma 101(transistor/delay line)
programmable desktop calculator was officially called a "personal computer" in
some of its advertising and sales literature. It was introduced in October of 1965.
Late in the game as far as single-user, standard AC-line-powered computing devices
compared to those machines and probably others, but those machines, AFAIK, were not
advertised nor specified as "personal computers".
That said, I am much more aware of electronic calculator history than computer history,
so I could be entirely biased here. Also, the Programma 101, as I've stated here
before, only scratches the definition of a true computer in that it is not capable of
handling any data type but floating point binary-coded decimal numbers, has very limited
data storage capability, and had no peripheral interfacing capability.
There were quite a number of single-user computing devices made and sold that ran on
standard AC power, and were vastly more capable than the Programma 101, and predated it,
but, AFAIK, were not advertised or particularly marketed as "personal
computers".
One that comes to mind is the Monroe Monrobot III(vacuum tube/drum), introduced in
February, 1955.
Another is the IBM 610 "Auto Point"(vacuum tube/drum) computer, introduced in
1957.
It was originally named the "Personal Automatic Computer" (PAC) by its
designer.
I'm sure that there are quite a few other machines developed in the mid-to-late
1950's that would qualify as personal computing devices, but these two are the ones
that I'm aware of that seem to fit the bill. Some of these may actually have been
capable of manipulating data types other than decimal numbers.
In 1962, Casio introduced its AL-1 programmable (up to 360 steps) relay-based electric
calculator. It was definitely intended as a personal computing device, and calculations
could be performed manually from a keyboard much like a regular calculator, but also
automatically via plastic toothed gears that would have teeth broken off of them to encode
program steps. The gears would be electrically read by the machine and directed the
machine to perform computer-like operations.
I'm not arguing that any of these, including the Programma 101, are the first
"personal computers" by any means. I'm just adding some thoughts to the
discussion.
Rick Bensene
The Old Calculator Museum
https://oldcalculatormuseum.com