Firsts - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

12 Jan 1998

At 09:31 AM 1/11/98 -0800, you wrote:
...
 > first personal computer (I think I know that one)

...
 own research you will tend to agree.  Some will argue
that the Apple ][ 
I think you mean the Apple 1.

...
   first portable
computer 
Again, same problem.  Define "portable".  Allison carted, what was it, a
PDP-8 across a bridge some years ago.  She got funny looks, but she
"ported" her computer elsewhere.  However, I believe this one goes to the
IBM 5100.  However, did I hear grumblings of something portable pre-dating
even the 5100?  Like something from HP in the early 70s? 
I think if you consider the 5100 a portable, then so should you consider the
PDP-8.  The 5100, while more *convenient* to move, perhaps, than, say, an
Altair, is hardly all that portable.  It's listed as 50lbs (a stretch even
for me) and has no handle.  You tell me how that's a portable?  (It's much
like a TRS-80 Model III, only flatter.  I think the III is lighter though.)

I vote for the STM Baby.

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