3 Aug
2004
3 Aug
'04
4:35 p.m.
From: "William Donzelli"
<aw288(a)osfn.org>
Hi
Sure, I know what you mean. It is just hard
to pick such items out from the flow. Things
like the Altair 8800 or an original IBM PC
come to mind. But where does one draw the line
for things like laptops. It isn't just a matter
of being first, it is a matter of actually
starting a particular trend. Some of these items
may actually be rare while others may be common
as dirt. TRS-80's surely had a significant
effect. The various BBC computers in the UK had
influence there as well.
I'm sure there are a number of others to mention.
The hard part is to pick one point in the flow
of things and state that this was truly a turning
point and not just some advertising hype.
Influencing things and actually causing wide
spread use are different as well.
Of the rarer machines that I have, I'd have to
say that only my Poly88 started a trend. It was
the first of the "reset only" front panels where
there was no longer all the lights and switches,
for what was then called PC's.
Dwight
OK, I do have one that is going to be an unusual
one
that is significant in its insignificance.
This is not what I mean by significant. I am looking for machines that did
something historically important. Or even maybe not so historically
important. Provenance - it is important.
So far the silence has been a bad sign...