At 06:51 AM 1/11/98 -0600, you wrote:
>What are the firsts?
Here are my guesses...
>first portable computer
Probably the STM Systems BABY! 1, ca. 08/1976
>first laptop
MCM Computers System 700, Model 782 APL, ca. 12/1977
>first GUI
Xerox whatevertheycalledit?
--------------------------------------------------------------------- O-
Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad
roger(a)sinasohn.com that none but madmen know."
Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates
San Francisco, California http://www.crl.com/~sinasohn/
At 11:13 PM 1/10/98 -0500, you wrote:
>a 'Zorba CPM' (some sort of Kaypro clone, apparently). All was in good, if
>
>When I go back tomorrow, I'm going to try to pick up the HP IPC, Kaypro
>2000, and DG One I saw. (:
AAaaarrrggghhh! I *really* want an HP IPC! And a Kaypro 2000! And a
Zorba! I think if I didn't already have a DG One, I'd have to come up there
and steal them from y'all.... 8^)
Btw:
Modular Micros Zorba 7
7" CRT
2 410K floppies
22lbs
In prod. by '84
$1595
Modular Micros Zorba 2000
9" CRT
2 820K Floppies
(10M HD avail)
25 lbs.
in prod. by '84
~$2000
--------------------------------------------------------------------- O-
Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad
roger(a)sinasohn.com that none but madmen know."
Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates
San Francisco, California http://www.crl.com/~sinasohn/
At 10:41 PM 1/9/98 -0800, you wrote:
>Look at how fast a CP/M system can be up and running Wordstar, compared to
>a Win95 system running Word97.
About 3 seconds on my Starlet. 8^)
--------------------------------------------------------------------- O-
Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad
roger(a)sinasohn.com that none but madmen know."
Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates
San Francisco, California http://www.crl.com/~sinasohn/
>those "encryption standards" last summer.... wiped out any chance of brain
>activity in DC, outside of businesses....
Was there any brain activity before that? 8^)
Well, one thing that is often forgotten is that the internet (or arpanet or
something) was developed so that the US DOD could have a computer network
that wouldn't die if one node when down. Which, of course, can be used
against the feds, should they try and censor things.
There's no reason I couldn't set up a server in a closet which, at a
special, pre-arranged time, would call a server in, say, Portland to pick up
the mail that was collected by calling a server in vancouver, etc. (Anyone
ever heard of Fido?)
Unfortunately, we (in the US) would lose a lot of what has made the 'net
indispensable for a lot of people. Singapore censors stuff coming in via
the mail (dunno about the 'net); we might very well end up the same way, if
they really screw things up (cut off from the freedom-loving world.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------- O-
Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad
roger(a)sinasohn.com that none but madmen know."
Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates
San Francisco, California http://www.crl.com/~sinasohn/
Hi,
I saw an advert in the latest issue of Scientific American for
an upcoming special about archiving digital data to appear on
PBS. It is supposed to show on the 13th (tomorrow) and alas
I don't have the magazine with me here and I cannot recall what
the show title is - or even whether it is part of a regular series.
At any rate I thought folks on this list would be interested so
go out and check your local listings.
Peter Prymmer
<Don't know about that one, but the PDP-8/i was available in a (rarely see
The PDP-8i was pretty big and heavy. The 8e smaller and lighter but the
tiny one was the 8m as it didn't have as many slots nor the heavier power
supply needed to power it, it was shorter in depth. The 8m was in the 50
pound range as I remember.
Allison
Hi everybody. First off, let me ask- does anyone else have a Model II?
I've been working on mine recently and I can't get it to work. When I got
it the CRT was loose and rattling around the case and the power and reset
switches were broken apart. I got these things sorted out and powered it
up to get a screen filled with hash. It seems to roll around the screen
and no characters are visible, just hash.
I put a test clip on the Z80 and found very little activity. The only pin
toggling is the clock. All of the address, data, and most of the control
bus lines and either low or (apparently) tri-stated. I checked the BUSRQ*
line to see if maybe something was asking for the bus and it was high.
The BUSAK* output is low, however. Shorting NMI* to ground has no effect
whatsoever. After it's been on for a while, turned off and right back on
again, the screen remains blank.
I changed out the Z80 for a known good one with no effect. I happened to
note, however, that the computer generates lots of TVI, and the pattern
changes during reset.
If anyone has any suggestions, they would be most welcome. Also, if
anyone has any schematics for this thing, that would help too.
(Alternatively, if you know that a certain part is the same as the Model
I, III, or 4, let me know as I have the schematics and working examples of
these.)
Richard Schauer
rws(a)ais.net
If any of you in the US gets to see this program, would you care to publish
a short summary
of any interesting bits? It's highly unlikely that this will be shown in
Australia in
the near future.
cheers,
John
> I saw an advert in the latest issue of Scientific American for
> an upcoming special about archiving digital data to appear on
> PBS. It is supposed to show on the 13th (tomorrow) and alas
> I don't have the magazine with me here and I cannot recall what
> the show title is - or even whether it is part of a regular series.
> At any rate I thought folks on this list would be interested so
> go out and check your local listings.
> Peter Prymmer
>The CPC's were the first Amstrads that I know of, they were commercialized
>in Europe.
>They are basically just a Keyboar type computer that plugs into a monitor
>they also had an integrated tape player for the earlier models and a 3 1/2"
>drive for the later models (before the PC compatibles). I don't remember the
>exact number but I think that the CPC6128 was the last of the series.
A bit more info in case anyone is interested. :) The CPC's were
developed by Alan Sugar, who controlled Amstrad at the time, in England.
They were pretty much unique, because although there had been rumours,
the poress conference where they were announced not only had production
CPCs but also a range of completed commercial software - very different
>from Sir Clive Sinclair's announcements. Anyway, yes - the keyboard is
seperate and contains the computer, but the power supply is in the
monitor. There was an external power supply available in combination with
a TV output box, but from my experience these are quite rare. So if you
do get one make sure you get the monitor with it. The monitors are quite
good, and are either colour or monochrome.
There were three models - the CPC464, CPC664 and CPC6128. The 464 had
64k, a tape drive built in next to the keyboard, and colourful keys. The
664 also had 64k, but it also had the 3" (note - not 3.5") disc drive,
and the keys weren't quite so colourful (I think the cursor keys were
blue). The 6128 has 128k, the 3" drive, and boring keys - it was the
buisiness version. I have a couple of 6128's, but none of the earlier
models (yet).
They were mostly used as games machines, and were quite good, although
there was a very well regarded wordprocessor on them - TasWord, I think
it was called. They sold well in Australia and England, as well, or so I
gathered, in Germany under a different name. Keep in mind though that if
you get a 664 or 6128 the drive probably won't work - the fan belts wore
out, and as a result the drive keeps slipping. I'm told that a rubber
band (OO, possibly) is a good replacement.
Oh, and they're black. :)
>>> Then there is the "first solid state electronic calc" which I think goes to
>>> the Busicom from Japan that employed the first production run of the intel
>>> 4000 chip set: the 4001 (2048 bit ROM), 4002 (320 bit RAM), 4003 (10 bit
>>> shift register), and the 4004 (4 bit CPU). That chip set was shipped to
>>> Busicom in March 1971 according to Michael S. Malone's "The Microprocessor:
>>> A Biography" ISBN 0-387-94342-0
Um. What date was the Casio AL1000? For that matter, what date was the
AL2000? OK, the AL1000 had nixie tubes in the display, so was not all
solid state, but it comes close, I'm sure. (Other people have commented
on the HP 9100 and the earlier Busicoms)
We've also had some strange definitions of Personal Computer flying
around here. One I don't like, but am going to comment on anyway, is
the "system, terminal and video circuitry all in one box" definition. I
don't think it quite makes it, but personal loyalty compels me to put in
a word for the Tektronix 4051. This was announced in November 1975 (I
think - have to look this up). I've never seen one but I get the
impression the prototype was a Tek graphics terminal with a 6800
development system stuck in the bottom of the case... Anyway, Tek 4051
was intended as single user, one-to-a-desk graphics micro, so I claim it
is a "personal computer".
And if you're interested in portability, a carrying case was an option
you could buy.
When did 6800 start shipping anyway?
Philip.
