Early personal computers

Early personal computers were nothing like present day computers, they had personality!

Each was different and more exciting than the previous, with new features and capabilities.

Browse the old computer ads, and have a chuckle at early attempts to convince the consumer which computer was "right for you!"

For fun, view all old computers, all at the same time to appreciate how diverse and interesting they are.

Sinclair ZX80 - "The first personal computer for under $200." - December 1980

For just $199.95, you can get a complete, powerful, full-function computer, matching or surpassing other personal computers costing several times more.

The Sinclair ZX80 is an extraordinary personal computer, compact and briefcase sized, it weighs just 12oz, yet in performance it matches and surpasses systems many times its size and price.

The ZX80 is an advanced example of microelectronics design. Inside, it has one-tenth the number of parts of existing comparable machines.

In 1980, British company Sinclair released their ZX80 computer for £99.95 (British pounds). Also available in the United States, it is considered to be the world's first computer for under US$200, at least that's what Sinclair Research Ltd stated in all of their ads.

At the bottom of the magazine advertisements was an order form: "Please send me __ ZX80 personal computer(s) for $199.95 each

The ZX-80 was designed with only the base necessities, using off the shelf components - there are no custom or proprietary chips involved.

An external cassette drive, typical of the era, is the only method of loading and saving programs.

Even cheaper at £75.95 in a kit form, the inexpensive price of the Sinclair ZX-80 introduced many people to the computer world who might otherwise have not ventured forth due to the perceived high prices of other albeit more capable computer systems.

The ZX80 was an amazing product - a real useable computer for only $200.00. But it did have it's drawbacks:

No color support

No sound support

Very limited memory

The built-in BASIC programming language can deal only with whole numbers

Very slow program execution - there are no video chips, the CPU performs all of the computer functions. The keyboard is a membrane-type, a flat plastic surface which is difficult to use and wears-out rather quickly

Sinclair sold 50,000 ZX80s before they came out with the improved ZX-81 one year later. The ZX-81 was much cheaper, at only $99.95, the first computer for under $100. The ZX-81 had only 5 IC chips, compared to the ZX80's 21 chips.

In 1982, American company Timex started selling the ZX-81 in America, calling it the Timex Sinclair 1000.

61-year-old computer springs back to life

The WITCH is back.

Of course, if you're a computer historian, you already know that WITCH refers to the Wolverhampton Instrument for Teaching Computation from Harwell.

If not, here's the story: The 2.5-ton machine, first constructed in the 1950s as part of an atomic research program, became the "world's oldest original working digital computer" after a museum in the UK restored and then rebooted it on Tuesday. Unlike today's nearly mute devices, the massive computer clicks, clacks and flashes like something out of an old sci-fi movie.

"In 1951 the Harwell Dekatron (the other, less-amazing name for the WITCH) was one of perhaps a dozen computers in the world, and since then it has led a charmed life surviving intact while its contemporaries were recycled or destroyed," Kevin Murrell, a trustee at the UK's National Museum of Computing, said in a news release.

The computer outlived its usefulness in atomic research by 1957 and was used as a teaching device until 1973. It went on display briefly before being dismantled, the museum says, and then was "rediscovered" by volunteers at the museum in 2008 or 2009.

The computer's "flashing lights and clattering printers and readers provides an awe-inspiring display for visiting school groups and the general public keen to learn about our rich computer heritage," the museum says.

It's also a healthy reminder that not all gadgets have to die after a single product cycle. At a time when iPhones are swapped out every 12 months, the TI-83 calculator and this computer are among the only pieces of technological machinery that have survived for decades.

The WITCH, however, doesn't serve much of a practical purpose at this point.

"All together, the machine can store 90 numbers. The closest analogy is a man with a pocket calculator," Delwyn Holroyd, who led the restoration effort, tells the BBC in a video about the restoration(you should watch the video, by the way, if for no other reason that to see this thing in action; it sounds like a broken typewriter as it works). "However, unlike the man with a pocket calculator, this machine can carry on day and night, and it doesn't make mistakes."

Modern computers store information in binary code, or a system of 1s and 0s. The WITCH, by contrast, features walls of dekatron valves, which are little light-bulb-looking things. It counts on a 10-digit decimal system.

If you want to see the machine for yourself, it's on display at theNational Museum of Computing in Buckinghamshire, north of London. It's located on the Bletchley Park estate, which was home to England's codebreakers during World War II.

 How old is the computer? - The computer is actually older then most people believe. An artifact was found on an ancient shipwreck dating back about 2000 years. The only thing that they could determine it to be, was an ancient computer. It was made by the Greeks.

 The computer is well over a decade and a half old. It was in 1837 that a man named Charles Babbage created the first machine that was recognized as a computer. It was a mechanical machine that was fully programmable. He designed a more simpler version of this machine in 1888.

 The computer is one of the most important advances in business history.  The ideas that led to the invention of the modern computer date back as far as the 1700's but the real work started around the 1860's.

In the Beginning

The word computer as we know it today comes from the original early 20^th century word computer meaning a person who solved mathematical equations.  The first computers were used to do just that; solve mathematical equations that would have taken people forever to figure out by hand due to time restraints (Ceruzzi 1) .

The picture on top is one of the world’s first computers. 

The world’s first computers were "human computers” working away.  This particular picture was taken in Los Angeles.  Even after the first computers were developed, much of large-scale data processing was performed manually by large numbers of clerks.  This was done until today’s modern computer was born around the 1950’s (Ceruzzi 2).

Shortly after the first mass-produced calculator (1820), Charles Babbage began a quest to invent a programmable machine. His first difference engine was developed around 1842 as a scaled down version.  The full difference engine was never built. 

It was then 36 years later that what was to become the precursor to the electronic computer was developed for the United States Census of 1890.  The 1880 census was done entirely by hand and took over seven years to complete.  Herman Hollerith saw and understood the problem with the census and he went about to create a machine that would tabulate the results.  The key idea to Hollerith’s method was to record all of the data on to cards similar to the original computer punch cards.  He got the idea for this method from watching a conductor punch out a description of an individual on a train.  “ . . . Light hair, dark eyes, large nose, etc.” They were making a “punch photograph” of each person (Campbell-Kelly 22).  The beauty of Hollerith’s method was that once the cards were punched tabulation was easy.  His method cut the census time down from seven years to two and a half years.

History of personal computers.

Thanks for your visit. 

Giving you only the best information by Essential Worx.