History of Computing exam question :

Okay, I think I can do that, in (more or less) chronological order no less! 1: Xerox Alto Reason: Because, after all, where would the GUI have come from without this thing? 2: IBM 5100 Reason: To show that, just because it was IBM, & it was the frist intergrated computer (sans printer), the people will not always buy it. Also I think the $16,384 price tag may have had something to do with it, I don't know. 3 & 4: Altair 8800 & IMSAI 8080 (respectively) Reason: The first commercially available computers, & to illustrate that the clone wars did not start in the 80's, they started much earlier than that. 5. Apple I Reason: Pretty self explanitory. 6, 7, & 8. Apple ][, Commodore PET, TRS-80 Model I (respectively) Reason: After all, these were "The Big Three", weren't they? 9. Compucolor Reason: (Allegedly) The first computer to inexpensively offer color graphics. 10. CBM 4032 Reason: Commodore's most famous (infamous?) business computer. 11. Apple ][+ Reason: Finally, Apple's figuring out how to be a computer company! 12. TI-99/4 Reason: TI's first foray in the computer market, as if anyone cared. 13. Commodore VIC-20 Reason: "The friendly color computer that anyone can afford" --William Shatner. 14. TI-99/4A Reason: To show that it is not a good idea to hire a pitchman who sells Jell-o and (New) Coke. 15. Commodore 64 Reason: Requires no explanation. 16. GRiD Compass 1100 Reason: I would think that the first clamshell laptop should deserve a place in computer history! 17. Apple LISA Reason: Sometimes Apple can just way too ahead of themselves. 18. TRS-80 Model 100 Reason: When these things came out, who didn't own one? 19. Otrona Attache Reason: Wow! A small "luggable", how about that! 20. Apple Macintosh Reason: "On January 24th, Apple will introduce Macintosh. And you will see why 1984 won't be like *1984*" 21. Commodore Amiga Reason: And you thought Macintosh pioneered multimedia! 22. NeXT Cube Reason: Who would have thought a black cube for a CPU would look so cool? 23. Apple Macintosh Portable Reason: Portable? Riiiiiiight! 24. Atari Portfolio Reason: Now you know where your PDA came from. ____________________________________________________________ David Vohs, Digital Archaeologist & Computer Historian. Home page: http://www.geocities.com/netsurfer_x1/ Computer Collection: "Triumph": Commodore 64C, 1802, 1541, FSD-1, GeoRAM 512, MPS-801. "Leela": Macintosh 128 (Plus upgrade), Nova SCSI HDD, Imagewriter II. "Delorean": TI-99/4A, TI Speech Synthesizer. "Monolith": Apple Macintosh Portable. "Spectrum": Tandy Color Computer 3, Disto 512K RAM board. "Boombox": Sharp PC-7000. "Butterfly": Tandy Model 200, PDD, CCR-82. "Shapeshifter": Epson QX-10, Titan graphics & MS-DOS board, Comrex HDD. "Scout": Otrona Attache. ____________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp