To: opendos AT delorie DOT com
Date: Wed, 8 Nov 2000 21:46:57 -0800
Subject: Re: Trivia
Message-ID: <20001108.214658.-3698159.0.domanspc@juno.com>
X-Mailer: Juno 4.0.11
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
X-Juno-Line-Breaks: 0-40,42-68,70-87
X-Juno-Att: 0
X-Juno-RefParts: 0
From: Robert W Moss <domanspc AT juno DOT com>
Reply-To: opendos AT delorie DOT com

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).  
> > 

________________________________________________________________
YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET!
Juno now offers FREE Internet Access!
Try it today - there's no risk!  For your FREE software, visit:
http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.