Jeff and David – Page 5 – The History of Personal Computing

Podcast Episode 3: IMSAI 8080 and Processor Technology Sol

Posted on October 3, 2014October 17, 2014 by Jeff and David

Listen along as David Greelish and Jeff Salzman discuss the history of the IMSAI 8080 and Processor Technology Sol computers.

The IMSAI 8080 is a Tier One computer presented as the first Altair clone computer. As such, it was chosen to be the first computer we choose in a follow up podcast after the Altair.

The Sol was a Tier One computer chosen due to its early design as an all-in-one computer (minus monitor) and having a built-in keyboard. It is also an S-100 system.

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Processor Technology Sol

Posted on October 3, 2014October 24, 2014 by Jeff and David

Sol-20 with it's distinctive blue color and wooden sides — Sol-20 with its distinctive blue color and wooden sides

The Altair, the IMSAI, and then later, many other microcomputers created a cottage industry. MITS and IMS Associates only offered a limited number of products and upgrades, if you could get them given the high demand for them at the time. Gary Ingram and Bob Marsh, two friends in Berkeley, California, saw this as a business opportunity. Marsh, an active member of the Homebrew Computer Club, would hear complaints about the Altair at every club meeting, so with Ingram, they decided to form a company called Processor Technology Inc. Their first product was a reliable, static 4 kB memory board for the Altair, as they knew that MITS was producing an unreliable dynamic version. Processor Technology’s 4KRA RAM board became an almost instant hit and launched the company into a thriving business. Ingram and Marsh were then able to move out of their garage workshop and into a large industrial facility.

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IMSAI 8080

Posted on October 3, 2014October 24, 2014 by Jeff and David

The IMSAI 8080 was arguably the first personal computer clone!

With the large and growing success of the MITS Altair 8800 early in 1975, IMS Associates, Inc. of San Leandro, California was able to capitalize on its success with an improved copy. Like the Altair computer, the IMSAI utilized the S-100 bus, Intel 8080 microprocessor and a front panel with LEDs and switches. You could utilize the switches to read and write to memory locations, single step the CPU, or even stop it. The LEDs would blink according to the values inside the address and data buses. The IMSAI 8080 could run all of the same programming instructions, and later software, when it became available. IMS Associates improved just about every aspect of the Altair’s design, with a higher specification power supply, an anodized aluminum chassis, more S-100 expansion slots and a better front panel with superior paddle switches.

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Podcast Episode 2: Altair 8800 and Kaypro

Posted on September 19, 2014October 4, 2014 by Jeff and David

Listen along as David Greelish and Jeff Salzman discuss the history of the Altair 8800 and Kaypro computer. Well… at least listen to David’s clear, quality audio, along with Jeff’s misconfigured source microphone that sounds like he’s talking from a mile away! 🙂

The Altair 8800 is a Tier One computer presented as the first “commercially available home computer.” As such, it was chosen to be the first computer we talk about on this podcast.

The Kaypro was chosen due to a recent and unfortunate event. Its founder, Andrew Kay, had passed away. The computer he created is an early Tier Two computer, representing a line of portable computing devices.

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Kaypro

Posted on September 19, 2014January 21, 2015 by Jeff and David

Andrew Kay was the son of Russian immigrants and grew up in New Jersey. He graduated from MIT in 1940 with an engineering degree, then he moved to California to work at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena before moving to San Diego County in 1949 to join Bill Jack Scientific Engineering. In 1952, he invented the digital voltmeter to precisely measure electrical current. A year later, he founded Non-Linear Systems. In 1981, Non-Linear Systems decided to design

a personal computer to compete with the popular Osborne 1 portable. Though briefly called the “Kaycomp II,” the “Kaypro II” was actually the first marketed model of the computer. This was because in 1982, a daughter company was organized called the Kaypro Corporation and thus the computer was rechristened with the same name.

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