[ARCHIVED THREAD] - PC 25 years (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 9/16/2006 7:11:43 PM EDT
|
PC: Americans are the greatest invention! August 12, 1981, a day to remember! Please share some pictures of the IBM 5150 and Macintosh 128K. |
|
Press Release 8/12/1981: IBM Corporation today announced its smallest, lowest-priced computer system -- the IBM Personal Computer. Designed for business, school and home, the easy-to-use system sells for as little as $1,565. It offers many advanced features and, with optional software, may use hundreds of popular application programs. The IBM Personal Computer will be sold through participating ComputerLand dealers and Sears, Roebuck and Co.'s new business machine stores beginning this fall. It will also be sold through IBM Product Centers and a special sales unit in the company's Data Processing Division. "This is the computer for just about everyone who has ever wanted a personal system at the office, on the university campus or at home," said C. B. Rogers, Jr., IBM vice president and group executive, General Business Group. "We believe its performance, reliability and ease of use make it the most advanced, affordable personal computer in the marketplace." IBM has designed its Personal Computer for the first-time or advanced user, whether a businessperson in need of accounting help or a student preparing a term paper. An enhanced version of the popular Microsoft BASIC programming language and easily understood operation manuals are included with every system. They make it possible to begin using the computer within hours and to develop personalized programs quite easily. Among the new system's highlights are: Features: Available with the system are an 83-key adjustable keyboard, up to 262,144 characters of user memory (16,384 standard), a printer that can print in two directions at 80 characters per second, self-testing capabilities that automatically check the system components and a high-speed, 16-bit microprocessor. Performance: Operating at speeds measured in millionths of a second, the IBM Personal Computer can generate and display charts, graphs, text and numerical information. Business applications -- including accounts receivable and word processing -- can be run on the same system with applications covering personal finance and home entertainment. Service: The IBM Personal Computer will be serviced by IBM and by a nationwide network of authorized IBM Personal Computer dealers designed to provide the high standards of service associated with all IBM products. Color/Graphics: The capabilities provide users with a text system capable of displaying 256 characters in any of 16 foreground and 8 background colors. It is also capable of displaying graphics in four colors. Compact Size: The main processor or system unit -- about the size of a portable typewriter -- contains expandable memory and a built-in speaker for audio and music applications. Expandability: A starter system consisting of a keyboard and system unit can be connected to a home television set with a frequency modulator. It can then be expanded to a system with its own display, printer and auxiliary storage cassettes or diskettes. The computer can be used with color or black-and-white television sets. Information from centralized data banks such as Dow Jones News/Retrieval Service* and THE SOURCE* can be accessed and displayed. The system's keyboard comes with a six-foot, coiled cable for flexibility. It can be used in the lap or positioned across a desk top without moving the computer itself. The 83 keys make it easy to write and edit text, enter data ranging from stock analysis to cooking recipes, figure business accounts, or play video games. The optional IBM display and printer are attachable units. The display has an anti-glare screen, green phosphor characters for reading comfort and controls for brightness and contrast. Automatic flashing and underlining can be used to call attention to especially important information on the screen. The printer provides 12 type styles. Both printer and system unit can run self-diagnostic checks so users can verify that components are functioning properly. Software for Business and Home "We intend the IBM Personal Computer to be the most useful system of its kind," Mr. Rogers said. "Besides making it easy to set up and operate, we are offering a program library that we expect will grow with the creativity of the Personal Computer users." Mr. Rogers said IBM has established a new Personal Computer Software Publishing Department for the system. It will publish programs written by IBM employees working on their own time and those accepted from independent software companies and outside authors. Program packages available for the IBM Personal Computer cover popular business and home applications. For example, EasyWriter* will store letters, manuscripts and other text for editing or rapid reproduction on the printer. Businesses can use General Ledger, Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable by Peachtree Software, Inc. to generate balance sheets, track accounts and automatically print checks. VisiCalc* is available for applications ranging from financial analysis to budget planning. Microsoft Adventure brings players into a fantasy world of caves and treasures. Advanced Operating Systems IBM, in conjunction with Microsoft, Inc., has adapted an advanced disk operating system to support IBM Personal Computer programs and software development. It has also contracted with Digital Research, Inc. and SofTech Microsystems, Inc. to adapt the popular CP/M-86* and UCSD p-System* to the Personal Computer. These two systems should provide users with the opportunity to transfer hundreds of widely used applications to the IBM Personal Computer with minimal modifications. The IBM Personal Computer can be tailored to fit the user's needs. A basic system for home use attached to an audio tape cassette player and a television set would sell for approximately $1,565, in IBM Product Centers, while a more typical system for home or school with a memory of 64,000 bytes, a single diskette drive and its own display would be priced around $3,005. An expanded system for business with color graphics, two diskette drives and a printer would cost about $4,500. The IBM Personal Computer was developed at the Information Systems Division's Boca Raton, Fla, facility and first deliveries will be scheduled for October. http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/pc25/pc25_press.html |
 Tandy 1000 was my bread and butter. 
|
I had that same computer. It only cost about $6,000 when we got it. Great deal at the time. 
|
Four years before that I paid $5,000 for a Pentium 90 with 64 megs RAM and 2 wide SCSI drives. It still runs NT 4 Server and has the original Pentium FPU bug. I never returned the CPU for a replacement.
|
We had 30 5150s in the computer lab running on Ethernet in the late 80's. They finally replaced them with PS/2s (not the video game, you freakin' punks.  ). Great keyboards. No Chinese crap like today.
|
|
I stilll have one of the keyboards from a PS/2. I used it up until about 2 weeks ago, when I got a cordless keyboard/mouse combo. My old one was an IBM Model M. Its stamped on the bottom with a production date of March 1984 - the same month I was born :) FWIW, you can still buy those keyboards, and they make aftermarket cables for them so they are compatible with modern mini-ps/2 ports, and almost USB. They are great for modding, I have one that I added an LCD display across the top that scrolls the current song playing in winamp. They are also practically indestructable - they're built on a steel plate :) |
|
Kings Quest? My first was the IBM PC Jr, bought in 84' for around $1200 http://it.pedf.cuni.cz/prakcin/images/others/history/IBM_PC-jr.jpg |
|
When my parents bought my Epson Apex Plus in 1989, it had a speedy 9.44 MHz processor, and dual 5.25 floppy drives. NO HARD DRIVE. We were told that we would probably never need more than the two floppies anyway. Sure, they had a model with a 20MB hard drive, but that was silly for the cost. |
Used it until December 1994 when I replaced it with a Packard Bell 486 in college. That was a screaming machine...at the time. Jim ETA: EFG |
|
Twenty five years ago, we only heard about Communist China in the newspapers when they were arresting or shooting somebody who didn't follow the party line. Now here we are, arguing on the internet, LOL. The United States has spent trillions of dollars building roads and hospitals, digging wells and building dams around the world. We have helped organize police forces and militaries for many nations. As soon as we build up a government, somebody accuses us of supporting terror when they start imposing order. We try to help nations and their internal quarrels destroy much of the work we do. Just accepting help from the United States has started wars. China's government has been on the opposite side of many of them. Is that about the money and power? Does your government help small countries just to get rich? |
I learned to type on one of those suckers. |
|
Why in the hell does every discussion that Tien is in end up with people demanding that he account for all of the failings and transgressions of his government? He's an Arfcom member. A team member at that. Is it too much to ask that he be given the slightest bit of respect? |
Thanks for the reminder Ziti. |
I agree. He is probably just a normal guy that has grown up under communist propoganda. Maybe we can help him see the truth. But if he is a .gov plant, well Sun Tzu said keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Either way it would be stupid to push him away. |
I agree. Even though I am Danish (or Dutch - I have a hard time keeping track  ), people rarely ask me to explain or justify the policies of my government, but just allow me to post on ar15.com like every other member. |
|
In the mid to late nineties I lived in the Greater SF bay area and there was this Sunday night radio show "All Kinds of Country" and I was a faithful listener. It was hosted by a very down to earth lady named Sully Roddy (spelling?) who one evening explained that she was having computer problems. Not just any computer problems; she was using an IBM floppy based system and her entire playlist was on a database-on a floppy. She wasn't up to transitioning to something modern, and since her computer was on the fritz, the show was in jeopardy. I couldn't have that so I called the station and talked to her, and ended up putting back together an old IBM PC that would work for her. It was a Valentines evening, I took my daughters into San Francisco, dropped the computer off at the station, and had a blast with my kids that evening. Endless trips down the windiest street in the world. If anyone knows what happened to Sully (never met her btw) tell her the Dodge Dart computer guy says hi. Sorry Tiengulden, every time I see see one of those systems it brings back those memories. I also used to have the text based version of CompuServe Software I first used on one of those systems. |
|
1. I value his opinion. 2. He argues better than most of you round eyes. 3. Some of his buddies shot at me in Vietnam and I'd rather just argue with him. 4. They lock his better threads. 5. He is my only link to Chinese thought. I took my first computer science class in 1968. I wrote my first program that year. My first computer was a Commodor 64. My second was a Gateway 486/33. That was the last computer I bought, I've built the rest. I'm about to spent a buttload of money to upgrade our two computers with multimedia friendly widescreen monitors, huge hard discs and all that whizbang goodness. Our PCs have become our communication and entertainment centers. My wife still watches TV, I watch it in a window on my PC. |
1968! sorry, how old are you? |
ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=1&f=5&t=508064 www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=1&f=5&t=508062 Please answer the questions others have asked. Inquiring minds would like to know. |
 Around the same timeframe as the PC, I was on one of these:  I really do miss the old days. 
|
Stop that! I'm tired, and my mind is dir...just stop that! |
Hell, I paid that for a Pentium 75, 8meg of ram and 1gig HD. It was my first computer in 1995. |
Strange |
your capitalist brain washing techniques will not break me, do your worst again and again and again and again 
|
Your nation's government doesn't have a bad habit of flinging missles over the straits of Taiwan, either.... Bit of a difference.... |
+1 |
hey now it could be a LOT worse,he could be french.
|
|
Heck my first was one of these,  When I got a Commodore, I thought I was in tall cotton. My first computer with a dedicated monitor was a dual floppy 8mhz. Amazing what you could do with that antique back then. Tj |
Because YOU WERE!
|