Xref: utzoo comp.misc:2883 comp.arch:5697 Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!rutgers!mcnc!ecsvax!cjl From: cjl@ecsvax.uncecs.edu (Charles Lord) Newsgroups: comp.misc,comp.arch Subject: Re: History of PCs (also kind of long) Summary: My 2cents worth Keywords: history, pc, workstation Message-ID: <5458@ecsvax.uncecs.edu> Date: 25 Jul 88 17:45:16 GMT References: <5946@venera.isi.edu> Organization: Triangle R&D Corp,RTP,NC Lines: 45 OK, my observations: Graphics: Newman and Sproul (sp?) 1st edition was the early bible of PC graphics Word proc: look for an early Byte article (first year) on Electric Pencil, the first cheap uP WP Spreadsheet: also early Byte, article on Visicalc 1.0, I think by author Stand-alone PCs: Definitely the article series on building the SOL computer, right after the Altair article. This was the first COMPLETE (including video/kbd) PC that was published for homebrew (to my knowledge). Popular Electronics. low-cost terminal: THE machine was the TV Typewriter by Don Lancaster. Was written up repeatedly with new features, mods in Pop Electronics. Also was marketed and sold by Southwest Technical Products (SWTP), the folks that made the 6800 machines. Apple definitely made the lasting inmpression on the field, and S-100 was important (but not stand-alone except with some later terminal cards), but do not ignore the contribution by: Pet SOL Ohio Scientific Radio Shack (first mass marketing with Mod I) Bill Gates - adapted BASIC to 6502, 8080: early work on op systems Digital Research - CP/M with its parents and children(including MS-DOS) MOS Technology - it is no fluke that 6502 was big from beginning. The company was begun by "hackers" of a sort (renegades from Moto.) and they supported us snot-nosed 'kids' who wanted to make small machines. The TIM and KIM chipsets were the forerunners of the all-inclusive ASICs used on almost all PCs. Sorry for spouting off. When you lived through a revolution you sometimes think yourself an authority on it... -- Charles Lord ..!decvax!mcnc!ecsvax!cjl Usenet Cary, NC cjl@ecsvax.uncecs.edu Bitnet #include #include