Classic computers sighting (article)

On 7/30/2006 at 12:48 PM Evan Koblentz wrote: Just visited it. I don't see a lot of uniformity in the application of the rules. Discounting the HP 9100A as a "personal computer" because it didn't have alphanumeric input, but then allowing Simon seems to be a bit inconsistent. By the way, I had the pleasure of actually programming an Arkay (or something very like it) at a local high school. It was a computer only in the rudest sense of the word. But the date doesn't work--the one I saw was about 1965-66. But I recognize the drum and switches. Maybe someone could fill me in on what this was--the box looks right--very long, with a drum in the middle. Things were color-coded, by the way. I don't see much difference between Simon and the mechanical calculators (Monroe, Marchant, Victor, etc.) of the day. I'll bet that one could find a programmable consumer-level device of the time with more complexity than this, say a Seeburg jukebox? And the qualification "It must be simple enough to use that it requires no special training beyond an instruction manual." decidedly lets out most of the crop, even the MITS Altair. If you knew nothing about computers, the Altair represented a very steep learning curve, not really satisfied by a single "instruction manual". Cheers, Chuck