Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

It really should include the 1965 Olivetti Programma 101 http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/interface/object/programma-1... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programma_101 , probably the first desktop computer and apparently so similar to the first in the HP desktop-calculator series that HP lost a court case http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/interface/object/hp-9100a-pr... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hewlett-Packard_9100A ; the Programma's industrial design is also unmistakble Olivetti. The MCM/70 is another interesting early computer, a desktop/luggable Intel 8008 APL microcomputer which got to market before the IBM 5100, in 1973: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MCM/70 http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/access/physical... . The Datapoint has a weird claim to fame: the Intel 8008 was designed for it, but in the end Datapoint went ahead and implemented the same instruction set in TTL instead.

EDIT: It's also missing the Dulmont Magnum (alias Kookaburra) http://www.rugged-portable.com/history-portable-computers-ru... , an Australian clamshell laptop which may have scooped the GRiD Compass (the claimed release and marketing dates for the Magnum are all over the place). The linked page mentions some other early-'80s clamshells too.




My father invented something like the Programma during his time at Xerox in the 1960s.

They gave him $1 for the patent rights and didn't do anything with it.

Typical Xerox.


(It was apparently '74 before the first MCM/70s shipped.)




Consider applying for YC's Spring batch! Applications are open till Feb 11.

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: