
Not Apple, Not Altair, but Queen's University Invented the PC - Libertatea
http://www.hml.queensu.ca/blog/2014/9/12/not-apple-not-altair-but-queens-university-invented-the-pc
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informatimago
Meanwhile, the Micral-N had been available for more than a whole quarter in
France...

No, it's not an american who invented, the personal computer. It his a French
enterprise, R2E (André Truong Truong Thi and François Gernelle) who did it in
January (first prototype delivered) and in February (first commercial
offereing) 1973.

The Queen's University MCM/70 was released duing the APL Users’ Conference in
Toronto, on May 15-18, 1973, four months later!

[http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=352](http://www.old-
computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=352)

[http://www.feb-patrimoine.com/projet/micral/micral.htm](http://www.feb-
patrimoine.com/projet/micral/micral.htm)

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cbd1984
The Kenbak-1 was first available in 1971, and it was invented by Americans:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenbak-1](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenbak-1)

[http://www.kenbak-1.net/](http://www.kenbak-1.net/)

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dalke
There's a long list of precursors at
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_personal_computers#T...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_personal_computers#The_beginnings_of_the_personal_computer_industry)
, including the Kenbak-1, which "is considered by the Computer History Museum
to be the world's first personal computer."

It was designed in 1970, and first sold in early 1971, so several years before
the MCM/70.

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Sonicmouse
Did apple claim to invent it? I think their claim to fame was that they were
the first to popularize the PC. The first to build an empire based around the
PC.

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dalke
No, Apple never claimed to invent the personal computer. The Apple ][, along
with the TRS-80 and the Commodore PET all came out in the same year (the "1977
Trinity"), so it's not really right to say they were the first to develop a
successful commercial personal computer.

