3 Jul
2012
3 Jul
'12
3:53 p.m.
On Tue, Jul 3, 2012 at 4:07 PM, Tony Duell <ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk> wrote:
Can anyone give a resonable justification fo that
answer. I actualyl
can';t think of anythign the Mac was 'first' for.
First consumer machine with a 3.5" floppy (and/or no 5.25" floppy in
the era of floppies being standard)? First consumer machine with
bit-mapped-only video (no text mode)? First consumer machine that
100% shipped with a mouse?
And yes, we've debated what the 'first PC'
was many times. It depends on
what a 'PC' is.
Yes, we have. It's all about what criteria are selected.
I'll go for the HP9830, being the first
all-in-one
machine that ran a high-level language from ROM. You put it on a desk,
plugged it into the mains and started programming.
That certainly meets several of the typical criteria. I personally
feel that high-level-language in ROM is not a defining characteristic,
but in 1972 it was definitely an advanced feature. S-100 machines
soft-loaded BASIC (a few years later) and are still personal
computers. The Apple II soft-loaded AppleSoft BASIC. I'm sure there
are more examples.
It is not, however, a stretch to say that the first personal computer
was invented long before 1984 (or 1981).
-ethan