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

On 5/24/24 09:14, Sellam Abraham via cctalk wrote: Whatever--the MITS 8800 only I/O was a bunch of switches and LEDs. While an I/O card could be added, that's as far as MITS went for several years. Real I/O was left to the user (i.e. buy a terminal of some sort). By way of comparison, the HP-41 was far more complete as a personal computer--it had I/O, expandable storage, input and display. It was Turing-complete. And personal? I suspect more HP41s were sold than the entirety of MITS 8800s. Just pointing out that "firsts" are very difficult. Even though, for years, Shockley et al were trumpeted as the "inventors of the transistor", it's noteworthy that their patent application was carefully worded to avoid claims from work decades earlier by Julius Lilienfeld. In an interesting twist of history, it's the Lilienfeld model of a MOS transistor that prevails in our current technology, not the Shockley junction device. I would not be at all surprised if some obscure work turned up that predates Lilienfeld. Certainly, "oscillating diodes" were known by his time, but not commercialized. "First" is a tricky term, like "best". --Chuck