Mail Archives: opendos/2000/11/09/00:44:40
Joe,
I guess I will have to apologize to you.
There have a few dozen others called the first, but,
YES, the first personal computer was published in
Radio Electronics in 1950 and 1951. It was only a
schematic and you had to find all the parts to build
it. The cost was variously quoted as "Under $1,000",
"about $600", and "about $300".
I didn't get too many takers so I guess most of the people
on the list are not interested in trivia or surfing the net.
It was NOT:
IBM PC - 1981, IBM Datamaster - 1981, IBM 5120 - 1980,
IBM 5110 - 1978, Apple ][? - 1976/1977, IBM 5100 - 1975,
Altair - 1975, Mark 8 - 1974, Scelbi-8H - 1973, HP 65 - 1973,
Xerox Alto - 1973, Micral - 1973, Intel SIM 4 - 1972,
HP 9830 - 1972, Kenback-1 - 1971, IMLACK PDS-1 - 1970,
Arkay CT-650 - 1969, Paperclip Computer - 1967,
Honeywell Kitchen Computer - 1966, DEC PDP-8 - 1965,
Minivac 601 - 1961, Heathkit EC-1 - 1959, GENIAC - 1955,
What it WAS:
The SIMON. By Edmund Berkley.
The plans and story were published in
Radio Electronics Magazine, in 1950-1951.
By 1959 there were 400 plans sold.
The average cost to build one at that time
was said to be about $300.
You can go to: http://www.blinkenlights.com/pc.shtml
for the story, timeline, and pictures of the various computers.
Also:
http://www.blinkenlights.com/classiccmp/berkley/simonfaq.html
for FAQs on the SIMON.
BOB 'DOMAN' MOSS "Chocolate is a vitamin"
On Tue, 7 Nov 2000 19:56:06 +1100 "Da Silva, Joe"
<Joe DOT daSilva AT emailmetering DOT com> writes:
> Thanks Bob (I guess which URL's you "dig up", depends
> on which search engine you use, etc. ;-).
>
> I'm going to take a wild guess here - was it the computer
> kit published in Radio Electronics magazine? I know this
> was the first microcomputer design to be "published",
> but I'm not sure if it preceded the Altair ...
>
> Joe.
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Robert W Moss [SMTP:domanspc AT juno DOT com]
> > Sent: Tuesday, 7 November 2000 15:09
> > To: opendos AT delorie DOT com
> > Subject: Re: Trivia
> >
> > Joe,
> > I usually just go shopping when I look up something on the net.
> > I just typed I8008 or intell 8008 on the address line and clicked
> > on go, and let the computer do the walking.
> > I forgot what URL I got the complete info on the I8008 chip trivia
> > question, but here are a few to get you started.
> >
> > http://www.bobrich.lexitech.com/hist12.htm
> > http://www.realtime-info.be/encyc/techno/55/57.htm
> >
>
http://www.tasc.com/products/horizonmaster/html/irm/in/intel/init/html/i8
> > 008.html
> > http://puma.dpg.devry.edu/~evo/intel.htm
> > http://exo.com.~wts/mits0013.htm
> > http://cs.ru.ac.za/cs2/comp1971.htm
> >
> > While you guys are surfing maybe you can find the answer to
> > another little trivia question. Be careful how you answer,
> > because it is not really that obvious, even though several
> > people have posted different answers.
> >
> > "What was the first personal computer."
> >
> > Remember, it must be small, inexpensive, simple, digital,
> > automatic, programmable and accessible, i.e. to those who
> > are not millionaires. (Hint: It was a microcomputer, and it
> > was available before the Altair 8800 - some surfing required).
> >
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