27 Sep
2000
27 Sep
'00
2:11 a.m.
On Wed, 27 Sep 2000 09:23:08 -0400 Jerome Fine
<jhfine(a)idirect.com> wrote:
I think that it would be helpful to have a discussion
on the different
phases of the "computer" market with a view to identifying the
characteristics to be expected for the next phase. Based on
40 years of seeing the market charge, I have a bit of perspective,
but I am probably so out of touch with the current market that
I don't have the needed insight to identify the next phase. So, how
about some comments?
I think of the time from 1977 to about 1984 as the "Punk"
period in computer design. Back then, anybody with a crazy
idea and a soldering iron could build a machine, scribble a
manual and sell to the unsuspecting public. Rather like
some bands of the time :-)
The results were nowhere near as polished and professional
as later versions, but they were cheap and, well, lively.
I'm thinking of the kind of machine where you got a bare
PCB, seven-segment LEDs, a bad TV modulator, a badly
photocopied manual, awful keyboards and the like.
I think one of the biggest signs of a Punk computer is the
lack of any plastic mouldings -- punks can't afford
toolmaking for that! Ship it in a bent-up metal box!
Botch something together with fibreglass!
PS. Punk computers aren't beige. Orange, maybe, not beige.
--
John Honniball
Email: John.Honniball(a)uwe.ac.uk
University of the West of England