19 Aug
1998
19 Aug
'98
5:41 p.m.
On Wed, 19 Aug 1998, Alex Knight wrote:
One of the more interesting machines that I have
written
an article about for my Web site is called a Mathatron, which
was advertised as a desktop calculator/computer and sold as
early as 1964.
Hi, Alex. I really think this is the coolest find yet. I have a desktop
programmable computer from 1959, but mine is analog. I haven't heard of
any desktop programmable solid-state digital machine that predates your
Mathatron.
Another "crossover" machine that I have a
little info
(mainly pictures) of is the HP 9830, called a calculator
but in fact a computer with BASIC.
The 9830 doesn't get discussed much, but it's one of my favorites.
There's a lot of noise on this list about the Altair, a "PC" from 1975
that was just a big box with lights and toggles. In 1972, the HP 9830 was
an elegant light-weight desktop computer with full alphanumeric keyboard,
built-in secondary storage, built-in display, built-in BASIC, and it just
plain works. There was nothing else remotely like it at the time, and it
was even reasonably priced (around $5000, I think).
-- Doug