Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2013/02/14
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I think the 286 was called AT. The XT was still the original 8088, except that it had a hard disk built in. In effect, with my upgrade, I had turned my PC clone into an XT clone. Cheers, Nathan Nathan Wajsman Alicante, Spain http://www.frozenlight.eu http://www.greatpix.eu PICTURE OF THE WEEK: http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws Blog: http://nathansmusings.wordpress.com/ YNWA On Feb 15, 2013, at 7:18 AM, Richard Man wrote: > '85 was the 286, was it called the XT? "Blazingly" fast, for some > definition of blazingly. > > > > > On Thu, Feb 14, 2013 at 10:01 PM, Nathan Wajsman <photo at > frozenlight.eu>wrote: > >> Thanks for an interesting lesson. I do remember the 1984 commercial; it >> was also the year of another vintage commercial, Where is the beef?! >> >> You have a typo in your text, the IBM PC was introduced in 1981, not 1985 >> (as you also imply in the previous paragraph). I remember buying my first >> PC, a clone of the PC, in 1984 or 1985, a huge investment for a graduate >> student. The following year, I upgraded the computer by replacing one of >> the floppy drives with a 10 MB hard disk, another big investment. >> >> Cheers, >> Nathan >> >> Nathan Wajsman >> Alicante, Spain >> http://www.frozenlight.eu >> http://www.greatpix.eu >> PICTURE OF THE WEEK: http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws >> Blog: http://nathansmusings.wordpress.com/ >> >> YNWA >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> On Feb 14, 2013, at 11:30 PM, Herbert Kanner wrote: >> >>> People often ask: "What was the first personal computer?" That is a >> futile query; it depends too much on the definition of personal computer, >> a >> definition that can be quite flexible. So what I'm going to cover here are >> the personal computers that had a significant effect on the future. >>> >>> First is the Altair, circa 1975. It was advertised as a $400 kit in >> Popular Electronics magazine and the company in Albuquerque, MITS, was >> swamped with orders. >>> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/herbk1/L1002888.jpg.html >>> >>> Two young squirts, Bill Gates and Paul Allen phoned MITS and said they >> had a Basic (programming language) interpreter for the Intel 8080 chick >> what was its "brain". They actually had not even started programming the >> interpreter, but fortunately for their enterprise, MITS told them that it >> would be about a month before they actually had an assembled and working >> kit. >>> When Paul Allen flew to Albuquerque and demonstrated the interpreter, >> typing "Print 2+2" and getting back "4" the MITS people were astounded; it >> was the first time they had actually seen their computer do anything. >>> >>> Here is a picture of the Altair. Until the the programs enabling it >> enabling it to read paper tape and use a keyboard are loaded, it had to be >> programming one bit at a time using the toggle switches on the front, and >> until it had the program for driving a printer, results had to be read one >> bit at a time from those lights on the front. It was clearly originally >> intended as a toy for a hobbyist. >>> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/herbk1/L1002887.jpg.html >>> >>> The effect on the future was: Bill Gates and Paul Allen licensed MITS to >> use their interpreter and created a company named Micro-Soft, later to be >> renamed Microsoft. >>> >>> Next is the Apple 1, circa 1976. Steve Wozniak built one for his >> personal use, showed it off at the Homebrew Computer Club, and his buddy, >> Steve Jobs, decided they could make some money from it. He beat the bushes >> and found a store called The Byte Shop in Mountain View, CA that was >> willing to take fifty of them at $500 each and mark them up 1/3, to an >> unrounded price of $666.66. The Steves were under the illusion that all >> they had to supply was a printed circuit board and a bag of parts. The >> Byte >> Shop disillusioned them and a frantic assembly and testing operation >> ensued. The printed card in front of the artifact is therefore erroneous, >> and I'm waiting for the Museum to update it. The company, Apple Computer, >> was created at that time. The user still had to furnish a keyboard and a >> television set as the monitor. >>> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/herbk1/L1002890.jpg.html >>> >>> The Apple 2 appeared one year later. You can already see the fine hand >> of Steve Jobs sculpting the external appearance of the device. In the >> first >> version, cassette tape was the medium for loading programs, but later >> versions provided an operating system for floppy disks. Two years later, >> 1979, Dan Bricklin and Bob Franskton market the first spread sheet, >> Visicalc. It was so appealing that Apple salesmen could walk into a >> business establishment with an Apple 2 under their arm, demonstrate >> Visicalc, and the proprietor would be sufficiently impressed to buy the >> computer. My personal opinion is that this success may have been what >> persuaded IBM to produce the IBM PC in 1981; they realized that such >> devices were than a toy and that there could be serious market for them. >>> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/herbk1/L1002895.jpg.html >>> >>> >>> In 1985, IBM introduced the first model of the PC. To a certain extent, >> their heart was not entirely in it. All IBM equipment, prior and since, >> was >> completely manufactured by IBM: hardware, software, the lot. But the PC >> was >> an exception. The computer chips came from Intel. The operating system >> came >> from Microsoft, which bought it from Seattle Software. Except for the >> physical box, the only IBM contribution was the software for communication >> with a floppy disk, known as "BIOS" for Basic Input Output System. >>> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/herbk1/L1002897.jpg.html >>> >>> Who can forget the amazing Super Bowl commercial that introduced the >> Macintosh in 1984. Here is a picture of the original Macintosh model. It's >> screen was monochrome and didn't even have gray scale; it could just draw >> fine lines with remarkable resolution. >>> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/herbk1/L1002900_001.jpg.html >>> >>> >>> Herbert Kanner >>> kanner at acm.org >>> 650-326-8204 >>> >>> Question authority and the authorities will question you. >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Leica Users Group. >>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >>> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Leica Users Group. >> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >> > > > > -- > // richard <http://www.richardmanphoto.com> > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >