23 Apr
1999
23 Apr
'99
4:28 p.m.
That's actually quite true. The technology didn't yet exist in 1950-55 for
the hobbyist to expand on the initial concept and extend it into something
potentially useful or even marginally so. It probably wasn't even terribly
educational.
Dick
-----Original Message-----
From: Hans Franke <Hans.Franke(a)mch20.sbs.de>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Date: Friday, April 23, 1999 3:08 PM
Subject: Re: The "FIRST PC" and personal timelines (Was: And what were
the80s
Just a couple of stray thoughts. While a person
could possibly have
purchased a $300 computer in the 50's, why would they? What could they
have done with it? The answer is almost nothing. The only people who
might have been interested would have been ham radio or electronics
hobbysists, and they would very likely have built there own. I don't
even believe there was a viable used market for low cost computers in
the 50's, they would all have been enormous mainframes.
Where is the difference to the 70s and 80s ?
Gruss
H.
--
Der Kopf ist auch nur ein Auswuchs wie der kleine Zeh.
H.Achternbusch 
23 Apr
23 Apr
6:26 p.m.
Exactly, you Allison and I remember enough of those times to appreciate
the utter uselessness of a computer in those days. There were NO small
computers, and most software was scientific or business related. If
computers had been that available and useful, they would have been common
in businesses. As it was, even mainframes didn't become really common
until the next decade.
On Fri, 23 Apr 1999, Richard Erlacher wrote:
That's actually quite true. The technology
didn't yet exist in 1950-55 for
the hobbyist to expand on the initial concept and extend it into something
potentially useful or even marginally so. It probably wasn't even terribly
educational.
Dick
-----Original Message-----
From: Hans Franke <Hans.Franke(a)mch20.sbs.de>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Date: Friday, April 23, 1999 3:08 PM
Subject: Re: The "FIRST PC" and personal timelines (Was: And what were
the80s
M. K. Peirce
Rhode Island Computer Museum, Inc.
215 Shady Lea Road,
North Kingstown, RI 02852
"Casta est qui nemo rogavit."
- Ovid
Just a couple of stray thoughts. While a person
could possibly have
purchased a $300 computer in the 50's, why would they? What could they
have done with it? The answer is almost nothing. The only people who
might have been interested would have been ham radio or electronics
hobbysists, and they would very likely have built there own. I don't
even believe there was a viable used market for low cost computers in
the 50's, they would all have been enormous mainframes.
Where is the difference to the 70s and 80s ?
Gruss
H.
--
Der Kopf ist auch nur ein Auswuchs wie der kleine Zeh.
H.Achternbusch
9390
days inactive
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days old
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