1 Mar
2008
1 Mar
'08
2:54 p.m.
On Fri, 29 Feb 2008, Brent Hilpert wrote:
As much as the Altair and IMSAI panels can be
considered unnecessary (the
contemporary SWTPC 6800 went straight to a two-button panel (power and reset)),
one might consider how much the Altair/IMSAI front panels influenced or
hastened the take-off of the PC/computer-hobbyist market/revolution. Those
front panels said: 'Look, you can have your own computer just like the ones the
big boys have'. Would it have been the same if the cover of Popular Electronics
in 1976 pictured a blank box with two switches?
I have heard a number of times that the actual machine never made it to
that photo shoot, so what was pictured was an empty box mock-up.
If that mock-up hadn't had lights and switches, then billg would have
stayed at Harvard, IBM wouldn't have felt a need to protect their
monopoly, and Sellam's warehouse(s) would be empty.
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin at xenosoft.com