[inforoots] GRiD and the IEEE 488 GPIB

[rweaver at ix.netcom.com]

-----Original Message-----
>From: Barrie Robinson <barrie at look.ca>
>Sent: Feb 18, 2006 2:13 PM
>To: Open Discussion about the history of the Information Age <inforoots at computerhistory.org>, inforoots at computerhistory.org

The first "Personal Computer" would have been the IBM 610, cira 1958.  Portable - it was on wheels, rolled into your office when you wanted it, rolled out when done.   Don't have the specs handy, but as I recall it did math on 256 digit numbers (!).  The program was stored on paper tape - an  early advance over Von Neuman machines in that the program could not modify itself(!).  Blank tape was threaded first through a punch, then a reader.  After you had punched your program, execution began as the tape was read and -- this is the good part -- as the program was being read it was also being punched again.  Thus when your punched copy had been read, a new copy was ready on the same tape.  If  your program did 1000 iterations, then 1000 copies of the program were punched.

So:

-- stored program computer
-- personal
-- portable
-- 1958 or thereabouts

dick w