1 Mar
2008
1 Mar
'08
12:12 a.m.
On 29 Feb 2008 at 22:46, Brent Hilpert wrote:
As much as the Altair and IMSAI panels can be
considered unnecessary (the
contemporary SWTPC 6800 went straight to a two-button panel (power and reset)),
one might consider how much the Altair/IMSAI front panels influenced or
hastened the take-off of the PC/computer-hobbyist market/revolution. Those
front panels said: 'Look, you can have your own computer just like the ones the
big boys have'. Would it have been the same if the cover of Popular Electronics
in 1976 pictured a blank box with two switches?
You know, in my case, it wouldn't have helped.
To this day, I remember inviting a member of the fair sex to my
apartment to see my newly-assembled MITS 8800 happily running some
blinkenlights program. Her reaction was devastating--"THAT'S NOT A
COMPUTER--THAT'S A TOY!".
Mencken was right. "How little it takes to make life unbearable: a
pebble in the shoe, a cockroach in the spaghetti, a woman's laugh."
Cheers?
Chuck