21 Feb
2003
21 Feb
'03
7:23 p.m.
From: cctalk-admin(a)classiccmp.org
[mailto:cctalk-admin@classiccmp.org]On
Behalf Of Eric Smith
"Andy Holt" <andyh(a)andyh-rayleigh.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:
It was not meant as a definition, but to distinguish the device from
"Basic-only" compters and similar calculators. The Poqet - precisely because
it was PC compat - had essentially full access to the underlying processor.
If we want to get "stronger" about what is a *REAL COMPUTER*, then I have to
remember the days when I started work and a Real Computer filled a
decent-sized room (or more), "toys" (minicomputers like the PDP-11) were
just coming in, and microprocessors were not even conceived-of.
The Real Computer I used then was an ICT 1905 with 32K of 24 bit core, 12M
(6-bit characters) of exchangeable disk ... and a processor power roughly
the same as an original PC.
The Supercomputer of the time was a CDC6600 (cannot remember the
configuration) which occupied a large building and was about the power of an
early '386. The Atlas was in the process of being phased-out and there was
still an IBM 7094 in use.
Andy
the Poqet was definitely a "real"
computer (PC compat).
That's quite a sad definition of "real computer". Any one of my
PDP-8 or PDP-11 systems, even the wimpiest, is much more of a "real
computer" than any PC compatible will ever be.