From: Michael M. Butler (mmb@spies.com)
Date: Sun Nov 17 2002 - 02:24:57 MST
2002-11-16 23:34:01, Samantha Atkins <samantha@objectent.com> wrote:
>John K Clark wrote:
>
>>"Samantha Atkins" <samantha@objectent.com> Wrote:
>>
>> >PCs existed before Gates. Apple was around as well
>> >as other PC companies.
>>
>>The first PC was the Altar 8080, it came out in 1975, the software it ran on
>>came from Microsoft.
>>
>
>Incorrect. The Altair iirc (it is a long time ago even for me) required
>hand entry of hex codes to get programs up, even to get up an assembler.
My 2 cents:
It was hex only by courtesy; you programmed via binary toggle switches. click click clack *load-
increment* click click click click *load-increment*...
My 1976-vintage KIM-1s boast a princely 2K of monitor ROM and 1.1 K of RAM--permitting (requiring) you to
key opcodes and data in _real_ hex.
The original 1975 Altair _8800_ (which used the 8080 uP) came with 256 BYTES of RAM standard when it
was introduced. 4K was THE MOON!, as was naything other than paper tape on an ASR-33
for mass storage. It was _ages_ before there was an 80k 8" floppy controller available.
The "bit boffer" tape interfaces got funkier and faster as time went by, to close the gap.
The Altair was actually the SECOND published 8080 based uC in the amateur electronics world.
Radio-Electronics magazine, issue date DEC 1974 beat Popular Electronics to the punch by a month.
Dr. Dobb's Journal (of Computer Calisthenics and Orthodontia--Running Light Without Overbyte) was the
bastion and lightning rod for a tiny BASIC that could fit into a few K (the target was 4k or less; ISTR
somebody crammed an integer TinyBasic into around 3.5K).
I think that Gates' BASIC barely made it into 8K; it did make heavy use of paper tape.
As for "the first PC", I can and will make a case that the title can validly be laid at the feet of
either the PDP-8 or the TX-0. Or even the Apple II, which had the first *sensible* floppy boot path ever,
none of whose OS or "BIOS" was ever written by Gates et al.
I can and will also remark that Alan Kay had a great point when he said, referring to the IBM XT/AT, "I
_invented_ the term 'personal computer,' and that's *NOT* what I was talking about!"
But then, life goes by slowly when you're young.
And then I discovered FORTH, and what you could do with *that* in 8K.
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