18 Mar
1999
18 Mar
'99
4:36 p.m.
On Thu, 18 Mar 1999, Sellam Ismail wrote:
On Thu, 18 Mar 1999, James Willing wrote:
You're kidding!
Wow, you're not. But this is a far different company than us old tech
nerds know and love. Most of the business base seems to be European
these days. But hey, this is significant. A micro/mini-computer company
that's been around longer than Apple and is still alive and kicking.
That's more than you can say for any other computer comapnies that sprang
up around the same time, save for the obvious.
Their history seems a bit revisionist, and in some cases downright
fradulent. This is from the History section of their web site:
1975
First supplier of complete micro computer systems (based on Z-80)
Call me stupid but the Z80 wasn't even invented yet:
July 1976
The Apple I computer board is sold in kit form, and delivered to
stores by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. Price: US$666.66. [46] [218]
[593.350]
Paul Terrell orders 50 Apple computers from Steve Jobs, for his Byte
Shop. [266.213]
*****Zilog releases the 2.5-MHz Z80, an 8-bit microprocessor whose
instruction set is a superset of the Intel 8080. [32] [202.168]
(early 1975 [9]) (1975 [556.11]) (1975 December [346.257])
Micom Data Systems ships its first product, the Micom 2000 word
processing computer. [615.99]
Source: Chronology of Events in the History of Microcomputers
http://www.islandnet.com/~kpolsson/comphist/comp1971.htm
And then there's:
1976
Development of the industrial standard S-100 Bus IEEE 696
First of all, I hope they don't intend to mean they invented the S-100
bus. That goes to Ed Roberts. And as far as I know, the IEEE696 standard
wasn't ratified until 1982.
December 1982
Pepsi-Cola president John Sculley first visits Apple Computer.
[745.62]
Tabor demonstrates a 3.25-inch floppy disk drive, the Model TC500
Drivette. Unformatted capacity is up to 500KB on a single side.
[444.72]
Amdek releases the Amdisk-3 Micro-Floppy-disk Cartridge system. It
houses two 3-inch floppy drives designed by
Hitachi/Matsushita/Maxell. Price is US$800, without a controller
card. [444.70]
Satellite Software International ships WordPerfect 2.0 for DOS, for
US$500. [330.108] (v2.2 in October [502.49])
*****The IEEE Standards Board passes the IEEE 696/S-100 bus standard.
[443.278]
Digital Research announces CP/M+. [443.431]
Atari issues a US$55 rebate on the Atari 400, dropping its retail
price to under US$200. [713.268]
Texas Instruments extends its US$100 rebate on the TI 99/4A to April
1983. [713.268]
Apple Computer becomes the first personal computer company to reach
US$1 billion in annual sales. [46]
Source: Chronology of Events in the History of Microcomputers
http://www.islandnet.com/~kpolsson/comphist/comp1981.htm
Then there's this:
1979
First multi-user operating system CROMIX (UNIX derivative)
First multi-user operating system...what? On a micro? Maybe.
Sheesh. These guys are as bad if not worse than Tandy and their
self-aggrandizing history.
(Is it obvious I have too much time on my hands these days? Oh well,
someone's got to keep the record straight.)
cc: webmaster(a)cromemco.com
Sellam Alternate e-mail: dastar(a)siconic.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Don't rub the lamp if you don't want the genie to come out.
Coming in 1999: Vintage Computer Festival 3.0
See http://www.vintage.org/vcf for details!
[Last web site update: 02/15/99]
...Cromemco actively manufactured S-100 systems
until they went out of business in around 1986 or so.
as much as I absolutely hate to contradict... <BIG B^} >
You may want to take a look at www.cromemco.com before you cast the
previous thot in stone...