In a thesis submitted to Harvard University in 1973, Bob Metcalfe outlines the foundation for a new networking protocol he calls “Ethernet” , representing the architecture of a LAN, creating what would eventually be the standard internetworking system. It is interesting to note his original dissertation regarding the ARPANet was…
Robert (Bob) Metcalfe was a pioneer in computing, creating the first theory about ethernet networking, which has become the industry standard. Born 1946 in Brooklyn, NY, he was sure he wanted to be an electrical engineer and go to MIT by age 10. He enrolled in 1964, leaving five years…
The Micral was the earliest commercial, non-kit personal computer based on a micro-processor, the Intel 8008. Thi Truong developed the computer and Philippe Kahn the software. Truong, founder and president of the French company R2E, created the Micral as a replacement for minicomputers in situations that didn’t require high performance.
The Intel 8008 was an early CPU designed and manufactured by Intel. It was released in April 1974 running at 2MHz, and is generally considered to be the first truly usable microprocessor design. It was used in many early computers, and formed the basis for machines running CP/M. The 8008…
The TV Typewriter was designed by Don Lancaster. It used $120 worth of electronics components, as outlined in the September 1973 issue of Radio Electronics. The original design included two memory boards and could generate and store 512 characters as 16 lines of 32 characters. A 90-minute cassette tape provided…
Atari got its start in the consumer electronics side of home entertainment with its release of Pong for the home. Originally Atari had planned to build 50,000 units, however Atari was approached by Sears and ended up making 150,000 for the Christmas 1975 season. People stood in line for nearly…
Pong was the first hit video game, per se. This game is one that shaped the entire video game industry. Pong was first introduced in 1972. Al Alcorn, one of Atari’s first employees, created the first Pong arcade machine, a prototype mounted on pinball bars. The system was first tested…
Gary Starkweather created the first laser printer at Xerox in 1971. The first commercial laser printer was the IBM 3800 released in 1976 and is shown here. It was a large affair that often took up alot of space, but offered high volume printing. The Xerox Star 8010 was introduced…
In 1971 Ray Tomlinson, a computer engineer at BBN, composes two programs to exchange electronic messages with users of ARPANet. He introduced the @ symbol, which becomes the standard way of separating the user and the user’s server. Although not designed for communication among users, ARPANet messages were commonly e-mail….
The 8″ floppy disk was the grandfather of all disks that came after. It first appeared on the high-tech landscape in the late sixties in the form of a big, thin plastic disk housed in an eight-inch-square black jacket. An oblong hole in each side left the recording surface open…