5 Apr
2011
5 Apr
'11
2:30 p.m.
Kind of an interesting view, because Evan brings up a
good point, with
a long extension cord and casters on a cabinet or desk, essentially a
LOT of a/c powered systems could've been considered "Portable" at the time
Thanks Curt.
Conversely, in the 1950s and 1960s, the U.S. Army had general-purpose
electronic computers such as MOBIDIC ("Mobile Digital Computer")
permanently mounted in trucks (for MOBIDIC it was a 30-foot trailer!)
There really were portable, because they were specifically designed to
be brought to the problem, instead of the problem being brought to the
computer.
Question for the European list members -- was there anything similar out
there from the mid-1950s to early 1960s?
Moral: portability is about intention and usefulness, not merely size.