10 Jan
1999
10 Jan
'99
5 p.m.
On Sun, 10 Jan 1999, Mark Gregory wrote:
Very interesting document, Doug, and fun to read. But
I think that in 1956,
a $4000 computer (Simon) could hardly be considered a home or personal
computer. Wouldn't that have been more than most people's annual salary?
I think on the price/performance scale, the Altair is the winner and still
champion; it's price was probably in reach of more hobbyists.
$4000 was Berkeley's development cost. I've read that the plans for Simon
were published and that the estimated cost of parts was around $300. I
still haven't found those plans, however. If you wanted a lower cost (and
lower performance) personal computer, you simply need to read a little
further down the list about the Geniac ($17.95) and Tyniac ($9.95) kits.
Simon is the first personal computer I'm aware of, but it's certainly not
the only pre-Altair personal computer. Slowly but surely, I'll put up web
pages for about a dozen others from the 1950's, 1960's and 1970's.
-- Doug