
Make mainframes, not war: how Mad Men sold computers in the 1960s and 1970s - smacktoward
http://arstechnica.com/business/2012/05/make-mainframes-not-war-how-mad-men-sold-computers-in-the-1960s-and-1970s/
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acqq
The ad on the third page is the best. Look for "Advertisers tried to make
lugging an Osborne 1 micro-computer look easy."

[http://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-
content/uploads/2012/05/osborn...](http://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-
content/uploads/2012/05/osborneguy.jpg)

According to Wikipedia, Osborne 1, the first commercially successful portable
microcomputer, released in 1981 weighed 10.7 kg (23.5 lb).

4 MHz Z80 CPU, 64 KB of RAM, and two 5¼-inch floppy drives, which if upgraded
to "dual density" ones each gave access to up to 180 KB on its floppy.

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vollmond
I have trouble comprehending the tiny greenscreen on that as being useful in
any way.

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acqq
24 lines of 54 characters, luxury. :) I've programmed on the Z80 computer with
only 32 characters per line (although bigger). Not to mention my HP calculator
with even much less. Or keying in the machine instructions bit-by-bit without
the screen at all, see another post.

And that Osborne had a screen with 5 inch diagonal, more than my current
mobile phone. Now I've counted, I see only 16 lines on it horizontally, but
the aspect ratio is not the same. I can imagine nobody working on that Osborne
was able to sit straight.

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j_s
A&E's TV series 'Halt and Catch Fire' (IMDB rating: 8.2) picks up the story in
the 80's:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halt_and_Catch_Fire_%28TV_serie...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halt_and_Catch_Fire_%28TV_series%29)

Season 1 is available on NetFlix.

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GnarfGnarf
I actually worked on Univac 9400s in the 70's. It was pretty cool. Here's one
in the process of being assembled:

[http://kyber.ca/rants/UNIVAC%20history-3.php](http://kyber.ca/rants/UNIVAC%20history-3.php)

True programming skill comes not from how big your equipment is, but what you
can do with what little you have.

~~~
acqq
And I've actually entered the machine instructions by flipping switches on
this Burroughs:

[http://www.silogic.com/PEPE/photos/PEPE%20B-1700.jpg](http://www.silogic.com/PEPE/photos/PEPE%20B-1700.jpg)

