If there’s one machine that shaped the future of the computer business more than any other, it is almost certainly the Apple I. And what do you get when you bring together four of the team – including Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak – behind that groundbreaking computer? A lovefest [ed. note: seriously].
If there’s one machine that shaped the future of the computer business more than any other, it is almost certainly the Apple I.
That has to be the oddest spelling of “Altair 8800” that I’ve ever seen.
Altair?
Edited 2006-11-07 01:06
You had a typo, it’s typed as Atari 800, not Altair 8800.
😉 just kidding, i know the Altair was before the 8bit Atari pcs.
Screenshot of both, side to side:
http://wwwcsif.cs.ucdavis.edu/~csclub/museum/items/altair_8800_appl…
The Apple I was designed to use a keyboard and monitor interface, whereas the Altair had to be programmed by quickly moving switches (literally, bit by bit) and watching at blinking LEDs…
as powermacx said you can’t operate an altair like you can an apple 1. the apple 1 was a major stepping point into a real personal computer, though it still wasn’t quite there but was damned close. the apple ii put those finishing touches in place. the sphere and processor technology sol-20 were first and second respectively as far as prebuilt non-kit computer (kits were often plans only that required you to solder everything, make your own circuit boards and build it yourself etc).
btw, i was at the vintage computer festival 9.0 and it was a LOT of fun. if you are in santa clara you’d do well to check out the computer history museum and next year check out the VCF there too.
No, the PET did.
No, Sphere was first. Just because you haven’t heard of them doesn’t mean it isn’t true (don’t let your opinion get in the way of the facts). They are extremely rare today, thus why you’ve never heard of it, but they were technically the *very first complete computer*. Interestingly there was a discussion about this in one of the sessions where your exact comment came up and was corrected.
The Sphere came out in early ’75 (a full two years before the PET ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_PET ). Then Processor Technology came out with the Sol 20 ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Processor_Technology ) in ’77 and shortly after Commodore released the PET.
This period was full however of many people coming out with or working on early computers so it is easy to muddle history.
Isn’t Xerox responsible for the whole concept of the mouse-operated interface?
The mouse was invented before Xerox PARC was around.
Isn’t Xerox responsible for the whole concept of the mouse-operated interface?
Actually no. The mouse was invented at Stanford by Douglas Engelbart in the early 60s. It was very crude though, used two big wheels on the bottom instead of a ball. Xerox came out with the modern mouse in the 70s, it used a ball and went on to be used in their Alto computer and later of course the Lisa and Macintosh. The modern GUI was definately a Xerox creation though.
Edited 2006-11-07 17:35
http://www.old-computers.com/history/detail.asp?n=39&t=3
🙂