
Computers made between the 70s and the early 90s - altern8
http://foorious.com/playground/booklets/history-of-computers/
======
leoc
It really should include the 1965 Olivetti Programma 101
[http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/interface/object/programma-1...](http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/interface/object/programma-101-computer/)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programma_101](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programma_101)
, probably the first desktop computer and apparently so similar to the first
in the HP desktop-calculator series that HP lost a court case
[http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/interface/object/hp-9100a-pr...](http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/interface/object/hp-9100a-programmable-
calculator-computer/) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hewlett-
Packard_9100A](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hewlett-Packard_9100A) ; the
Programma's industrial design is also unmistakble Olivetti. The MCM/70 is
another interesting early computer, a desktop/luggable Intel 8008 APL
microcomputer which got to market before the IBM 5100, in 1973:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MCM/70](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MCM/70)
[http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/access/physical...](http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/access/physical-
object/2008/04/102689996.01.01.lg.JPG) . The Datapoint has a weird claim to
fame: the Intel 8008 was designed for it, but in the end Datapoint went ahead
and implemented the same instruction set in TTL instead.

EDIT: It's also missing the Dulmont Magnum (alias Kookaburra)
[http://www.rugged-portable.com/history-portable-computers-
ru...](http://www.rugged-portable.com/history-portable-computers-rugged-
bias/kookaburra-pc-dulmont-magnum-1983/) , an Australian clamshell laptop
which may have scooped the GRiD Compass (the claimed release and marketing
dates for the Magnum are all over the place). The linked page mentions some
other early-'80s clamshells too.

~~~
bitwize
My father invented something like the Programma during his time at Xerox in
the 1960s.

They gave him $1 for the patent rights and didn't do anything with it.

Typical Xerox.

------
bitwize
Ah, the good old TI-99 series. I had the TI-99/4A and compared to its rivals
like the Commodore 64, it was junk. To do anything cool with it you had to buy
the bulky, expensive Peripheral Expansion Box. The TI-99 did make history in
two ways:

* giving us the term "sprite" in the computer graphics sense. Such things were called different things on different platforms: "player-missile graphics" on Atari, OBJs on Nintendo, MOBs on Commodore. The designers of the TMS9918/9918A chip which the TI-99s used, named movable graphics "sprites" after the way they floated above the textual-grid display; and TI Extended BASIC provided a CALL SPRITE command.

* providing the first ROM-cartridge lockout system in a dick move that would later be copied by Nintendo and every other console manufacturer. The 1983 "beige" rerelease of the 99/4A would not boot unlicensed cartridges (though cassette- or disk-based games would still run).

~~~
darmok
Oh yeah - I loved that crappy little computer with all my heart back in the
day. I essentially memorized the "Beginner's BASIC" book that came with it
which was an amazingly simple and effective book for learning TI's Basic as a
kid. And writing games with Sprites was about the coolest thing ever. And I
will never forget the sheer joy of saving and loading the programs I wrote
onto/from a cassette tape. For 1982, it was truly an amazingly affordable
computer that was an absolute blast. Best Christmas present ever - Thanks Dad!

Beginner's Basic (blast from the past)
[http://www.classiccmp.org/dunfield/ti/beginbas.pdf](http://www.classiccmp.org/dunfield/ti/beginbas.pdf)

~~~
bitwize

      * REWIND CASSETTE TAPE
    
        THEN PRESS ENTER
    
      * PRESS CASSETTE PLAY
    
        THEN PRESS ENTER
    

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOcrunchcrunchcrunchcrunchcrunchcrunch

------
orangepenguin
There have been many comments that this is well presented? I think it's
interesting, but mostly unreadable. The text over images is hard to read, and
there are places where text is actually partially behind an image... not good.

~~~
smacktoward
Every time I see a web page that uses things like page-turning animations, I
want to grab the person who designed it by the shoulders and say "THE WEB IS
NOT A BOOK. THE WEB IS NOT A BOOK. THE WEB IS NOT A BOOK."

It's like a movie from 1910 that's just a camera pointed at a theatrical
stage, or a radio show from 1930 that's just a microphone pointed at a big
band, or a TV show from 1950 that's just a camera pointed at a bunch of radio
actors. We keep dragging the habits of old media with us into the new, and
they always hold us back until we muster the courage to discard them.

~~~
tasdev
Agree - very frustrating particularly on a phone. Crashed the browser out
after about 15 pages. Could have been done so much better.

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Syssiphus
Didn't see the Acorn Archimedes [1].

[1]:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acorn_Archimedes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acorn_Archimedes)

~~~
cstross
A landmark insofar as it was the first ARM-based computer. Planned as a
successor to the Acorn BBC series of educational machines, it was a bit of a
dead end in personal computing terms -- a British also-ran to the Amiga and
Atari ST families -- but the descendants of its CPU are now the only personal
computing architecture out there to still be competing with Intel (aaaand if
you classify tablets as personal computers, they're trouncing the x86 family
on volume).

------
AA6YQ
Missing machines from DEC, Data General, Interdata, Burroughs, Univac, Amdahl,
Magnusson, Four Phase, Tandem, Symbolics, Rational, MassPar, Convex, Sun,
Apollo, Control Data, Cray, Prime, Scientific Data Systems, Xerox, Wang,
Computer Automation, General Automation, Microdata, etc.

Not even close...

------
iMark
For some reason this skips the 80's for me - it jumps from 1980 to 1990.

[edit] Ah - it picks up the 80's again after 1992.

~~~
hoprocker
I see that too. Seems chronological other than this, probably an indexing
error.

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ajross
Needs a better Apple I picture. That was a kit computer sold as a PCB only.
The photo is of someone's wooden enclosure, which was not the Apple product.

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sevensor
This is very well presented! However, I was hoping to see minis too. Micros
were just a side-light during the 70s.

~~~
cgriswald
It's very poorly presented. White text (with shadow) on white background and
text covering the things we are trying to see both make for a painful
experience. On at least one of the pages, the text is unreadable because it is
covered by the image of another device.

~~~
KaiserPro
plus, what does the page transition effect bring? its not like its
sophisticated (like any bending, or modelling of a flexible plane required to
make it look paper like)

what was the point?

------
akbar501
Nicely done.

IMO, could be improved by going back to the 1950's when there was visual and
physical separation of a computer's components. The physical separation of
storage vs. processing really drives home the point of how a well designed
should look (granted that today's well designed system requires separation of
components in software vs. hardware).

------
ChuckMcM
Heh, I've owned a number of those over the years :-). The author would do well
to go back and either fix the timeline (it skips around) or change the
navigation options.

They don't mention a number of interesting computers, like the Digital Group
Z80 series, or DEC's attempts and CP/M + MS-DOS computers. Of course a
complete catalog would be a lot of work and quite the labor of love.

What I really like most is that between 1972 and 1984 computers were all over
the map in terms of shapes and sizes and what not, then we hit the "beige box"
era where eveything looked like a beige box, from minicomputer to
microcomputer. With Apple's emphasis on design we now have people
experimenting with all sorts of form factors and I find that much more
appealing.

------
afsina
Oric Atmos seems to be missing.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oric](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oric)

------
KineticTroi
Really cool, I remember working on many of these. Others I still would like to
try out someday.

------
yodsanklai
Slightly off-topic, are there good computers museums where you can see these
machines?

~~~
ghaff
Computer History Museum in Mountain View is probably one of the better ones.
Along with its own collection, it has a fair number of artifacts from the
closed Computer History Museum in Boston. It's mostly focused on pre-PC era.

------
iblaine
Shit started to get real when the Amiga 4000 came out. Right about then 5.25"
floppys & hard drives were becoming main stream.

------
edanuff
Very well presented. I still have a couple of these in my collection. It's
amazing to think about all of these home computer startups that were founded
and went bust in the late seventies and early eighties - there's hundreds
listed at [http://www.old-computers.com/](http://www.old-computers.com/). I'd
have loved to see their investor pitches and business plans. I'm sure they all
thought they were #2 behind Apple.

------
kubiiii
Anyone remember a pre PC era computer with a "touch screen" and a printer
built into the screen?

~~~
DanBC
You don't mean the Cannon Printbook?

Possibly the Panasonic Senior Partner?
[http://electricthrift.com/2013/08/11/panasonic-senior-
partne...](http://electricthrift.com/2013/08/11/panasonic-senior-partner/)

~~~
kubiiii
I found it and it was a PC sorry for the wrong lead.
[http://www.hpmuseum.net/display_item.php?hw=43](http://www.hpmuseum.net/display_item.php?hw=43)
Awesome piece of gear anyway. My first computer, given to me by my uncle in
92.

~~~
elihu
I remember the HP 150.

edit: That was the computer that inspired 10-year-old me never to get a job
that required me to use a computer. That general sentiment lasted until
14-year-old me was introduced to a 486 with a 14" color screen and I realized
there might be something to this whole computer thing.

------
TickleSteve
No NeXT cube??

------
dunham
I'm surprised they have my Interact on there. I thought it was a fairly rare
machine.

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protomyth
Nice, but to add to the list of missing, I submit the TRS-80 Model 100.

------
kyrre
i prefer this version: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJON-
nUg4eA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJON-nUg4eA)

