Although it's certainly interesting, I doubt my new-found knowledge
of the first microprocessor is going to radically change any of my
view of the world. F14CADC doesn't mean anything different than
4004. But, what I guess might be significant is that this shows how
major an impact the military has played on computers. The ENIAC,
F14CADC, DEC Alpha, and other stuff I'm sure can all be attributed
to the pentagon.
And _that_ is significant because instead of saying that the computer
is a triumph of enterpreneurs and daring capitalists, we can _also_
say that it is a triumph of America's great war machine.
>
>the F14 CADC was the first microcomputer system that made fly by wire
>practical. The 4004 was the first commercially viable single chip CPU.
>Clear statments that do not conflict but do make a statment that points
>to their significance.
>
>< I'm not denying that Holt produced a CPU, and it may be important in
th
>< history of military computers. It is irrelevant in the history of
the
>< personal computer unless there was a personal computer designed that
>< included it or a direct descendant.
>
>Or the technology that made the silicon possible for later commercial
>designs. It doesn't have to be the same design.
>
>< I think it's great that Holt got his story out. Footnotes always add
>< depth, but no chapters need to be rewritten.
>
>The assuption is they are accurate chapters. ;) the depth is needed to
>see how the later chapters are significant.
>
>
>Allison
>
>
______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
>>>There's some evidence to suggest that the Lisa is the Apple VI, which raises
>>>the question of what happened to IV and V.
>>
>> I think it would be more accurate to say that Apple considered naming the
>> Lisa the Apple IV. "Lisa" was originally just a code name, after all.
>
>In what way can that be said to be more accurate?
"...Lisa is the Apple IV" gives one the impression that the Apple IV was
a definite computer, rather than just a name that was considered, but
never actually used, for the Lisa.
It is quite probable Apple considered using the name "Apple IV" for many
computers that shipped after the Apple ///. Said Steve Wozniak, in
reference to the Apple ///, "...when we reintroduced it we should have
called it the Apple IV." (The Mac Bathroom Reader, pg 34).
My point is, "Apple IV" is such a logical name for a computer from Apple
that it could have been considered for just about anything. "Apple IV",
however, is not the sort of name that was used as a codename at Apple,
and therefore most likely would not have been called so in the
development stage, though there are many prototypes that could have ended
up bearing that name.
Of course, I'm just hypothesizing here. :-)
>Aside from the marketing model numbers, the only information I've ever found
>regarding alternate names that may have been considered was the story about
>the name "Applause".
According to _The Mac Bathroom Reader_, by Owen Linzmayer, page 80:
"Apple figured it needed a more professional-sounding name to appeal to
the business market, so it hired an outside consulting firm to recommend
a new name. Among others, they suggested Applause, Apple IV, Apple 400,
The Coach, Espirit, Teacher, and The World. Quite an effort went into
thinking up a different name, but the forthcoming computer had already
received so much press coverage under its code name that Apple reverse
engineereed the explanation that Lisa stood for 'Local Integrated
Software Architecture'"
If you're interested in reading about Mac History & prototypes, _The Mac
Bathroom Reader" by Owen Linzmayer and _AppleDesign_ by Paul Kunkel are
both excellent books.
Tom Owad
--
Sysop of Caesarville Online
Client software at: <http://home.earthlink.net/~tomowad/>
I just received an email from a local group which has 250 new in
box Aquarius cassette recorders. They are taking bids but I
suspect you can't just buy a few but would have to take the whole
lot. I have one but could use at least one more and maybe two and
it would be nice to have the box and any doc or cables. Is there
any interest in this out there? If so, how much would people be
willing to pay? Don't forget shipping costs. Let me know. BTW,
"local" in this case is Houston, TX.
-----
David Williams - Computer Packrat
dlw(a)trailingedge.com
http://www.trailingedge.com
Do you have the manuals? You'll need to check the port definitions that are
set via jumpers on the open DIPs near the back of the motherboard.
Also, I seem to recall that North Star DOS was generated for a specific RAM
size -- I believe it's top-resident. A DOS set up for 16K would work on 32K
or 48K, but not vice versa.
Kai
-----Original Message-----
From: David Williams [mailto:dlw@trailingedge.com]
Sent: Tuesday, October 06, 1998 3:38 PM
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
Subject: North Star Horizon Help
Ok, I have a few minutes now to play around with the N* Horizon
I've been fixing up. I've tried to power it up and it seems to hit the
disk drive and then nothing. I've plugged some spare terminals into
the port marked "Video Terminal Port" and played with baud rates
and other comm settings but get nothing on any of my terminals.
Also tried straight through and flipped comm cables. Can
someone give me some info on these and maybe walk me through
getting it set up and running so I can check and see if I've missed
something? Oh, I'm trying both N*DOS 5.2 and N* CP/M 2.2.
Thanks.
-----
David Williams - Computer Packrat
dlw(a)trailingedge.com
http://www.trailingedge.com
I have one; does anyone know where I could get a tape drive and some
cartridges for it?
>The TI CC-40 exists for sure - I've seen several of them.
>
>Bob
>
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Bob Withers Do or do
not, there is no try.
>bwit(a)pobox.com
Yoda
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>On Tuesday, October 06, 1998 7:07 PM, Kai Kaltenbach
[SMTP:kaikal@microsoft.com] wrote:
>> New computers announced at the 1983 CES:
>>
>> Vaporware? Please respond if you KNOW any of these exist for SURE.
>>
>> - Panasonic JR-200 (I think this may exist)
>> - Sanyo PCH20/PHC25 (Z80, 4K/16K, $99/$199)
>> - STM Pied Piper (CP/M portable, 64K, $1295)
>> - TI 99/2 (Supposedly $100, including 4.2K RAM)
>> - TI CC-40 (Compact Computer 40, laptop like Epson HX-20, 4 AA cells,
31
>> character LCD display, $249)
>> - Unisonic Futura 8300 (Z80, 2K, Sinclair BASIC, $90)
>> - Video Technology VZ200 (Z80, 4K, MS BASIC, $99)
>>
>> Not Vaporware
>>
>> - Jupiter Ace
>> - Mattel Aquarius
>> - Spectravideo SV-318
>> - Timex Sinclair 2000
>>
>>
>> By the way, has anyone actually seen an TI 99/4 (not 4a)?
>>
>> Kai
>>
>>
>
______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
Let's get this into the proper perspective here there is only one "Holy Grail"
(unless you read National Inquirer then there are millions for $39.98 plus
shipping and handling)
Let's see if I can think of some true 'Holy Grails' of computing:
1) The pre Apple 1 prototype Steve Wozniac brought to the Homebrew Computer Club.
2) The original code listing for the BASIC he hand typed to demonstrate that computer.
3) The PDP-1 used to write and play Space War at MIT (with the original game controls)
( I know it's not a micro, but I like the idea. )
4) 'The original' paper tape of BASIC that was pirated from Bill Gates.
Now those would be 'holy grails,' something along the lines of you either
don't tell anyone or are very carefull who you tell that you own them.
Larry
--
-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
Larry Anderson - Sysop of Silicon Realms BBS (300-2400bd) (209) 754-1363
Visit my Commodore 8-Bit web page at:
http://www.goldrush.com/~foxnhare/commodore.html
-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
> From: Sam Ismail <dastar(a)ncal.verio.com>
> Subject: Re: Somebody has a C65 on eBay
>
> On Mon, 5 Oct 1998, Cameron Kaiser wrote:
>
> > ::
> > ::Somebody's posted a Commodore C65 prototype on eBay. 4 days left and the
> > ::bidding is at $1025.
> > ::
> >
> > That's nothing. The last one sold went for $1400. (!)
>
> Well, how many of these "prototypes" exist? Has anyone authenticated
> these things?
I would venture to guess a couple hundred to several hundred. Commodore was
almost to production before they decided to drop the C65 (I remember reading
1991 as the year they dopped the project). After Commodore went bankrupt some
of thier warehouse assetts were liquidated, the Graprvine Group in New York
had bought the one with the most c65s and were selling them for I think about
$100 a unit. It kinda resembles an Amiga 500 with the floppy drive facing
forward (no neumeric keypad).
The c65 would best be compared to the Apple IIgs, still has its roots in the
6502 but alot of the graphics and sound are adapted from Amiga technology. It
would have done well with the people wanting a more amiga-like system without
sacrificing all thier Commodore 8-bit drives and such.
There are enough c65s out there that some people have FTP sites of c65
programs. Unfortunately I wasn't one of the people who got a c65 on time. *sigh*
--
-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
Larry Anderson - Sysop of Silicon Realms BBS (300-2400bd) (209) 754-1363
Visit my Commodore 8-Bit web page at:
http://www.goldrush.com/~foxnhare/commodore.html
-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
> Intel supplied the ammunition for a
>revolution: cheap computers. The high level of integration was what
>enabled them to make it cheap, and they commercialized it. The level of
>integration is the salient feature of the chip, but not the main feature
>of the important event.
It *certainly* wasn't obvious in the mid-70's, when Intel had picked
up its pieces and put together a microprocessor chip (the 8080A) which cost
a significant fraction of what a new car cost at the time, that
VLSI CPU's were going to be replacing boards full of TTL logic.
It was Intel's competitors - notably Motorola and especially MOS
Technology - who were responsible for driving microprocessor CPU costs
to the hundred-dollar-level and below. That's when times really began
a-changin'.
Tim.
The TI CC-40 exists for sure - I've seen several of them.
Bob
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bob Withers Do or do not, there is no try.
bwit(a)pobox.com Yoda
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On Tuesday, October 06, 1998 7:07 PM, Kai Kaltenbach [SMTP:kaikal@microsoft.com] wrote:
> New computers announced at the 1983 CES:
>
> Vaporware? Please respond if you KNOW any of these exist for SURE.
>
> - Panasonic JR-200 (I think this may exist)
> - Sanyo PCH20/PHC25 (Z80, 4K/16K, $99/$199)
> - STM Pied Piper (CP/M portable, 64K, $1295)
> - TI 99/2 (Supposedly $100, including 4.2K RAM)
> - TI CC-40 (Compact Computer 40, laptop like Epson HX-20, 4 AA cells, 31
> character LCD display, $249)
> - Unisonic Futura 8300 (Z80, 2K, Sinclair BASIC, $90)
> - Video Technology VZ200 (Z80, 4K, MS BASIC, $99)
>
> Not Vaporware
>
> - Jupiter Ace
> - Mattel Aquarius
> - Spectravideo SV-318
> - Timex Sinclair 2000
>
>
> By the way, has anyone actually seen an TI 99/4 (not 4a)?
>
> Kai
>
>