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TechHistory
 Information & Insight Into Computing's Past

Welcome to the history of Personal Computers, Video Games, and Personal Electronics.  With 20+ years in the Computer Industry, we share our unique perspective on the events of the last few decades.

Technology Computer & Electronics Knowledge & Information
The First IBM PC (model 5150) 1981
Updated: Wednesday April 23, 2008

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TechHistory
History of Modems - 1979

USRobotics was one of the first companies to offer high-speed dialup modems. The Sportster™ modem brand was just one of the company's many products designed to connect people to the Internet and each other. It is the USRobotics Sportster, and the Courier modem, that made USRobotics modems the modem of choice for the Internet revolution.

Throughout the years, modems have seen many changes, including the addition of such features as full duplex communications, error correction, adaptive speed leveling, and many other, now common features. The USR-310, one of the first USRobotics modems, allowed customers to connect to other computers using their existing phone (that's right, phone, not phone line) at speeds up to 300 Bps. Today's USRobotics modems operate at 56,000 bits per second, an increase of almost one hundred and eighty times.

USR310 one of the first modems
One of U.S Robotics First Modems.
This model used Acoustic Coupling.
The telephone hand-set fit into the rubber cups
so the modem could "hear" and "talk" over the phone line.

TechHistory
Software Downloading
Invented - 1982

While there had been BBS file transfer for a couple of years at that point, one company, ROMOX, invented and perfected the process of mass-access and download of software - something we all take for granted today.  Romox patented the process that we all use now to download everything from drivers, to music, to software updates.  In those days they did it through special terminals  placed in major retailers, like: K-Mart, Sears, 7-11, Byte Shops, and many more, connecting via the phone lines to their central servers.  Of course, in 1982 almost all software was just 8-16k (not MB) and fit on a cartridge (by contrast, the first generation 5 1/4 inch IBM floppies held 360k!), but none the less, it was the first appearance of true software downloading.  Ironically, these terminals were actually PCs in disguise - the one pictured at right was actually a modified 1st generation Compaq "Lunchbox" portable computer - thus it was also the 1st PC software downloading solution.  Romox was also a major early home computer and console game publisher, producing such best selling titles as "Topper".

Technology Computer & Electronics Knowledge & Information
The ROMOX ESD - Electronic Software Distribution
(Download) Terminal System

The Patented Software Download Process Invented In 1982!
Downloaded software onto floppies and special cartridges for all the leading home computers and game consoles, including: Atari, Commodore, Texas Instruments, Coleco, Mattel, Oric, Dick Smith, MSX, Tandy/Radio Shack, IBM, Nintendo, Sega, and many more.

TechHistory
The Dawn Of Computing - 1950's

With the upcoming release of the new Steven Spielberg film "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull", it is reported that the film shows computer technology from the 1950's.  Ironically, the 1950's is pivotal in computing history!  This was the decade that saw the start of what we enjoy today - the major players of both Microsoft and Apple were born - ARPA (of ARPAnet a.k.a. Internet) was formed, and computing as a business was launched.

1940 to 1959 - 20 years in the life of the Computer Industry
Year Significant Event
1940 The first handheld two-way radio called the "Handy Talkie" is created by Motorola for the U.S. Army Signal Control.
1941 NAZI German Konrad Zuse finishes the Z3, a fully operational calculating machine.
1943 ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer), the first general-purpose electronic digital calculator begins to be constructed. This computer by most is considered to be the first electronic computer.
1943 Dan Noble with Motorola designs a "Walkie Talkie" the first portable FM two-way radio that a backpack version that weighed 35 pounds.
1944 The relay-based Harvard-IBM MARK I a large programmable-controlled calculating machine provides vital calculations for the U.S. Navy. Grace Hopper becomes its programmer.
1945 The Von Neumann Architecture is introduced in John von Neumann's report of the EDVAC.
1945 The term bug as computer bug was termed by Grace Hopper when programming the MARK II.
1946 F.C. Williams applies for a patent on his cathode-ray tube (CRT) storing device, an original form of random-access memory (RAM) -  basically a monitor with a memory.
1946 ENIAC computer completed.
1946 Robert Metcalfe - Co-inventor of Ethernet and Founder of 3COM is born.
1947 John Bardeen, Walter Brattain and William Shockley invent the first transistor at the (AT&T's) Bell Laboratories.
1947 F.C. Williams memory system becomes functional.
1947 ISO - International Standards Organization - is founded.
1948 IBM builds the SSEC (Selective Sequence Electronic Calculator). The computer contains 12,000 vacuum tubes.
1948 Andreew Donald Booth creates magnetic drum memory, which is two inches long and two inches wide and capable of holding 10 bits per inch - the precursor of hard drives.
1948 The 604 multiplying punch, based upon the vacuum tube technology, is produced by IBM.
1948 The television begins to capture significant radio audiences.
1949 Claude Shannon builds the first machine that can play chess at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
1949 The Harvard-MARK III, the first of the MARK machines to use an internally stored program and indirect addressing, goes into operations again under the direction of Howard Aiken.
1949 The first computer company, Electronic Controls Company is founded by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly, the same individuals who helped create the ENIAC computer.
1949 The EDSAC performs its first calculation on May 6, 1949.
1949 The small-scale electronic machine (SSEM) is fully operational at Manchester University.
1949 The Australian computer CSIRAC is created.
1950 The first electronic computer is created in Japan by Hideo Yamachito.
1950 The enhanced Z4 is installed by Konrad Suse
1950 Steve Wozniak - Co-founder of Apple Computer is born August 11, 1950.
1950 Alan Turing publishes his paper Computing Machinery and Intelligence in October. This paper helps create the Turing Test that is the basis for our modern "catpcha" Internet form test.
1950 The NICAD battery is introduced.
1951 The first business computer, the Lyons Electronic Office (LEO) is completed by T. Raymond Thompson, John Simmons and their team at Lyons Co.
1951 The first commercial computer, the "First Ferranti MARK I" is now functional at Manchester University.
1951 The first ISO Standard is published with the title, "Standard reference temperature for industrial length measurement".
1951 UNIVAC I was introduced.
1951 The EDVAC begins performing basic tasks.
1951 Dan Bricklin - inventor of the spreadsheet, GUI prototyping tool "Demo", and "Page Garden" is born.
1952 Fairly reliable working magnetic drum memories for use in computers begin to be sold by Andrew Donald Booth and his father.
1952 Alexander Sandy Douglas created the first graphical computer game of Tic-Tac-Toe on a EDSAC known as "OXO".
1953 IBM introduces the first IBM computer, the 701.
1953 A magnetic memory smaller and faster than existing vacuum tube memories is built at MIT.
1953 Paul Allen - Co-founder of Microsoft - is born January 21, 1953.
1953 The IBM 701 becomes available to the scientific community. A total of 19 are produced and sold.
1954 IBM produces and markets the IBM 650. More than 1,800 of these computers are sold in an eight-year span
1954 Alan Turing passes away June 7, 1954.
1954 The first version of FORTRAN (formula translator) programming language is published by IBM.
1954 CERN is established on September 29, 1954 - CERN is the body that established the standards for the World Wide Web
1955

Steve Jobs - Co-founder of Apple Computer is born February 24, 1955
1955

John McCarthy coins the term Artificial Intelligence (AI) in 1955 at Dartmouth University.
1955 Dartmouth Colleges John McCarthy coins the term "artificial intelligence."
1955 William (Bill) H. Gates - the World's Wealthiest Man and Co-founder of Microsoft is born October 28, 1955.
1955 IBM introduces the first IBM 702.
1955 Bell Labs introduces its first transistor computer. Transistors are faster, smaller and create less heat than traditional vacuum tubs, making these computers more reliable and efficient.
1955 The ENIAC is turned off for the last time. Its estimated to have done more arithmetic than the entire human race had done prior to 1945.
1956 On September 13, 1956 the IBMs 305 RAMAC is the first computer to be shipped with a hard disk drive that contained 50 24-inch platters and was capable of storing 5MB of data.
1957 IBM announces it will no longer be using vacuum tubes and releases its first computer that had 2000 transistors.
1957 Fairchild Semiconductor is founded by Andy Grove, Eugene Kleiner, Gordon Moore, Jerry Sanders, Robert Noyce.
1957 Digital Equipment Corporation is founded by Kenneth Olsen. The company will later become a major network computer manufacturer.
1957 Russia launches the first artificial satellite, named Sputnik on October 4, 1957.
1957 In response to Sputnik the United States creates the new agency ARPA (Advanced Research Projects Agency of the DoD) - APRA later invents the Internet
1957 Casio is established in Japan
1958 The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics is renamed to National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
1958 NEC (Japan) builds its first computer the NEAC 1101.
1958 William Higinbotham created the first video game (claimed) called: Tennis for Two.
1958 The programming language FORTRAN II is created. Later FORTRAN III is created but never released to the public.
1958 President Eisenhower's Christmas address is the first voice transmission from a satellite.
1958 The first integrated circuit chip is developed by Robert Noyce of Fairchild Semiconductor and Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments. The first microchip was demonstrated on September 12, 1958.
1959 Hitachi (Japan) is founded.
1959 The Harvard-MARK I is turned off ending its life.
1959 The Luna 2 becomes the first human made object to land on the moon on September 14, 1959.
1959 Leonard Kleinrock starts to developing packetization - one of the building block technologies fundamental to modern telecommunications and the Internet.
1959 Motorola produces the two-way, fully transistorized mobile radio.
1959 Panasonic (Japan) is founded.
Tech History Articles:

TechHistory Quiz?

Technology Computer & Electronics Knowledge & Information
Q: Do you know who invented the floppy disk?

A: IBM invented floppy disks originally in 8 inch, then 5.25 inch, and then 3.5 inch formats, and enjoyed many years as the dominant form of data storage and exchange, from 1971 to the late 1990s.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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