After reminiscing about the mini-scamp in this group, I decided to put this page together:
Cheers Don...
-- Don McKenzie
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together:
Dave.
I don't actually remember the term PC for "personal computer" being used much until IBM produced their one in the early 1980s.
However, wikipedia says "personal computer" was used at least as far back as 1962. So, why exclude the likes of Altair? Surely there must have been some of those in Australia?
Andy Wood snipped-for-privacy@trap.ozemail.com.au
sure there were Andy, and a lot of others too, but the first paragraph of that very document that you quoted states:
A personal computer (PC) is a computer whose original sales price, size, and capabilities make it useful for individuals, intended to be operated directly by an end user, with no intervening computer operator.
I didn't expect it be easy to define a "PC" as such.
What I had was a computer that I could use at home, I didn't have to assemble it, just plug it in and read the manual. That is a home computer, as used by an end user, and the same definition basically applies today.
At one point, if you didn't have an IBM, or clone, you didn't have a PC.
It will only run on a PC is a very common term. I hear it basically every day, but would you say that Apple's latest MacBook Air wasn't a Personal Computer?
Cheers Don...
-- Don McKenzie Affiliate Program: http://www.dontronics.com/affiliate Site Map: http://www.dontronics.com/sitemap E-Mail Contact Page: http://www.dontronics.com/email No More Damn Spam: http://www.wizard-of-oz.com Parallax Propeller Powered .96" OLED module http://tinyurl.com/2vr2gr
I was not paying much attention to their definition of PC. Perhaps my definition would be slightly different, but even by their definition, I think the machine I had could be called a PC.
Yes, it was expensive, but it was a price individuals could afford. It was useful to me, and I certainly did not have anybody to operate it for me! OK, so I did build it myself from a kit (I can't remember if that particular machine was available assembled) but I don't think that disqualifies it from being called a PC.
I'm not going to worry too much about the definition. Although I had my machine up and running before yours, I am no threat to your claim since at the time I was not living in Australia.
Andy Wood snipped-for-privacy@trap.ozemail.com.au
In about 1983 I bought a calculator-like Casio PB-100 Personal Computer. It had about half a K of RAM for program storage, with an expansion slot for about a further 1K. Programmed in BASIC, it could do some very useful stuff like filter design, biorhythm calculations, and most other things I could think of. I bought the optional tiny thermal printer and I used to save/load programs from a cassette recorder. You can see a scan of the box it came in, at
Bob
I remember the kit well Andy, and I remember the S-100 bus. Some of the earlier manufacturers tried to make good use of the Altair bus, and incorporate it into their designs. I know there was a big hassle about standardization.
and there were a lot of others too. At the bottom of this message, is a list I found:
Even Electronics Australia's 1974 Educ-8 by Jim Rowe, who is still writing for Silicon Chip mag.
I spoke with Jim a few times in the early years, when he was technical support manager at Dick Smith's and they were selling the System-80. I was trying to pin down the memory map of the serial and proposed disk interface on the then just released machine.
Cheers Don...
==================================== * Micral was the earliest commercial, non-kit personal computer based on the Intel 8008 micro-processor [1] * Intel SDK-85 based on the Intel 8085 * MITS Altair 8800, introduced 1975, Intel 8080, introduced S-100 bus * IMSAI 8080, Intel 8080 * MOS Technology KIM-1, introduced 1975, MOS Technology 6502 * Rockwell AIM-65, MOS Technology 6502 * Cromemco Z-1, introduced 1976 * Motorola MEK6800D2, introduced 1976, with the Motorola 6800 microprocessor * COSMAC ELF, introduced 1976, RCA 1802 * Netronics ELF II, RCA 1802 * Quest SuperELF, RCA 1802 * Tesla PMI-80 * Electronics Australia Educ-8 * Elektor TV Games Computer, with the Signetics 2650 microprocessor * Sinclair's MK14, a SC/MP based system * The System 68 from a design published in Electronics today international. * The PSI comp 80 by Powertran from a design in the magazine Wireless World ====================================
-- Don McKenzie Affiliate Program: http://www.dontronics.com/affiliate Site Map: http://www.dontronics.com/sitemap E-Mail Contact Page: http://www.dontronics.com/email No More Damn Spam: http://www.wizard-of-oz.com Parallax Propeller Powered .96" OLED module http://tinyurl.com/2vr2gr
$95 just for that book??
I mentioned the Altair because it is the most famous machine of that era, but I did not have an Altair.
The thing I had is not even on your list, it was a SWTPC 6800 ( see
It was one of the first machines to use the 5.25" floppies pioneered by Shugart. From memory I think the two SA400 drives I had both had serial numbers less than 1000. Those disks had a formatted capacity of less than 100KB. Today, for the equivalent of what those drives cost, you could buy many TB of much faster disk capacity.
Andy Wood snipped-for-privacy@trap.ozemail.com.au
That looks a bit like the Sharp PC-1211 that I bought in 1981. I still have it and it was working the last time I tried it, although the LCD display has some black marks along the top.
I have seen the claim that the PC-1211 was the first calculator programmable in BASIC. I don't know if that is true but I know I felt positively ancient when I saw one on display at the Powerhouse museum in Sydney.
Andy Wood snipped-for-privacy@trap.ozemail.com.au
OH, yes what we pronounced sweat-pack, the 6800 based machine.
I'll bet you read byte magazine in those days.
Cheers Don...
-- Don McKenzie Affiliate Program: http://www.dontronics.com/affiliate Site Map: http://www.dontronics.com/sitemap E-Mail Contact Page: http://www.dontronics.com/email No More Damn Spam: http://www.wizard-of-oz.com Parallax Propeller Powered .96" OLED module http://tinyurl.com/2vr2gr
Ancient? I too saw gear that I had worked on, at the Powerhouse museum in Sydney.
Well, I worked on the previous model, the J6, and the associated control gear. The Tote is an Australian invention, and again arguably the world's first electro-mechanical computer. (Circa 1913)
Don't think it's a PC however :-)
Cheers Don...
-- Don McKenzie Affiliate Program: http://www.dontronics.com/affiliate Site Map: http://www.dontronics.com/sitemap E-Mail Contact Page: http://www.dontronics.com/email No More Damn Spam: http://www.wizard-of-oz.com Parallax Propeller Powered .96" OLED module http://tinyurl.com/2vr2gr
1974, the HP25 calculator could do all that. Well the programs, but not Basic and not sure about ram.
Yes, but they threw in the Personal Computer as well. :-)
Have a look at a 1981 ad for a 10MB hard drive at
You might have seen it before ...
Bob
Yeah, "home computer" and "micro computer" were more common terms in the years before the IBM PC surfaced. eg. MICOM (Microcomputer Club of Melbourne) started in 1977 and its still going.
Glenn
I'll bet you posted that here in recent times Bob yes I do recall it. :-)
Cheers Don...
-- Don McKenzie
Affiliate Program:
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Yeah, I thought I remembered doing that. Maybe someone here missed seeing it last time. :-)
Bob
I first saw BASIC on a Datapoint 2200 in about 1972. Wikipedia describes the Datapoint 2200 as "the earliest known device that bears any significant resemblance to the modern personal computer".
Andy Wood snipped-for-privacy@trap.ozemail.com.au
...
...
I went to the Powerhouse museum again today. They have quite a range of machines on display, including an Apple I, a Heathkit H8, a Commodore PET, and a TRS 80. However, the sign saying "... world's first PC" was on their Altair 8800.
They have some genuine Aussie items too, like a Microbee and a Fairlight CMI.
Andy Wood snipped-for-privacy@trap.ozemail.com.au
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