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From: hodas@eniac.seas.upenn.edu (Josh Hodas)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.cbm
Subject: Re: What is the All-Time Best-Selling Computer ?
Message-ID: <24567@netnews.upenn.edu>
Date: 5 May 90 21:19:18 GMT
References: <1455@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca> <29462@cup.portal.com> <17782@well.sf.ca.us> <2426@uniol.UUCP> <2428@uniol.UUCP> <3255@umbc3.UMBC.EDU>
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Reply-To: hodas@eniac.seas.upenn.edu.UUCP (Josh Hodas)
Organization: University of Pennsylvania
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In article <3255@umbc3.UMBC.EDU> cs223101@umbc5.umbc.edu.UUCP (CMSC 223/01011) writes:
>Not quibbling with you or anything, bit I've played (yes, that's the word)
>with the Basic for the Atari 2600 VCS (VGS?).  It allowed a whole 1 k of 
>program to be stored, and hadno 
>graphics capabilities at all.  Not my idea of a computer... more like a diversified pocket calculator.
>
><pardon any line noise hits... bad lines around here.>
>[RICH]


I hadn't really been following this discussion, but this last note tickled
my funny bone, since the first machine I learned on at school in the 70's
was a Data General Nova 1200. It had 16k words of magnetic core memory,
and a paper tape reader. 1/2 the memory was used up by the Basic interpreter.
The remaining 1/2 was split between 6 tty's (And I mean that as actual
tty's not as generic for terminal). This gave each user 1388 words of memory
or just over 1K.

Since the users sat at paper printing tty's it naturally "had no graphics 
capabilities at all".  Nonetheless, we certainly thought it was a computer.

Just a point.

Josh
-------------------------

Josh Hodas    (hodas@eniac.seas.upenn.edu)
4223 Pine Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104

(215) 222-7112   (home)
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