Year – Page 3 – The History of Personal Computing

Cromemco Z-1

Posted on October 31, 2014October 31, 2014 by Jeff and David

Cromemco was founded in Mountain View, CA by two Stanford Ph.D. students in 1974, Harry Garland and Roger Melen. It received its name in honor of their residence at Stanford University, Crothers Memorial, which was a dormitory reserved for engineering graduate students. The two had already been working together on a series of articles for Popular Electronics magazine.The articles were for non-computer electronic hobbyist projects. In late 1974, Roger Melen was visiting the New York editorial offices of Popular Electronics and he saw the prototype of the MITS Altair 8800. He was so impressed with it that he immediately changed his next flight to go to Albuquerque, NM. There he met with Ed Roberts, president of MITS, and Roberts encouraged Melen to develop add-on products for the Altair. Continue reading “Cromemco Z-1”

MOS Technology KIM-1

Posted on October 17, 2014October 24, 2014 by Jeff and David

Launched in 1976, the MOS Technology KIM-1 (KIM being short for Keyboard Input Monitor), was a small 6502-based single-board computer. MOS Technology was a semiconductor designer and manufacturer based in Norristown, Pennsylvania. It is most famous for the 6502 microprocessor. In late 1976, Commodore Business Machines (CBM) acquired MOS.

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COSMAC ELF

Posted on October 17, 2014October 24, 2014 by Jeff and David

The COSMAC ELF was an RCA 1802 microprocessor-based computer based on a series of construction articles in Popular Electronics magazine in 1976 and 1977. Through the back pages of electronics magazines, both Netronics and Quest Electronics offered low-priced kits that were based on this design. The system was a very early personal computer. It was operated without built-in ROMs and programs were entered directly with help of the CPU integrated DMA.

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OSI Superboard (I and II)

Posted on October 17, 2014October 24, 2014 by Jeff and David

Ohio Scientific Inc. was a US based computer company that designed microcomputers from 1975 to 1981. The OSI Model 500 system was their earliest system, launched in 1977. It was a very simple single-board computer based on the MOS Technology 6502 microprocessor, but it lacked video circuitry, therefore a serial terminal had to be used. All of the computers that OSI’s went on to design used the 6502. In 1978, they released the Superboard II, also known as the Model 600. It was only available as a ready-built system, although the user had to build or buy a five volt external power supply to power it. The Superboard II included a keyboard, 4K of RAM, BASIC-in-ROM and cost just $279. OSI’s Challenger 1P and Challenger IIP-MF computers used the Superboard II as their main boards. Continue reading “OSI Superboard (I and II)”

Nascom 1

Posted on October 17, 2014October 24, 2014 by Jeff and David

The Nascom 1 was the first in a series of two single-board computer kits released between 1977 and 1979 by Nasco in the UK. They were both based on the Zilog Z80 microprocessor and included a keyboard and video interface, a serial port and two 8-bit parallel ports. The system was unique for the time, since it included a full “real” keyboard and a video interface was uncommon. The hobbyist had to hand-solder about 3,000 joints on the board.
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