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> Some people consider the Datapoint 2200 the first personal computer as it came out years before systems such as the Apple II or even the Altair. Programma 10

> Some people consider the Datapoint 2200 the first personal computer as it came out years before systems such as the Apple II or even the Altair. Programma 101 was being made and sold five years before Datapoint 2200: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programma_101 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programma_101

agumonkey 11y ago
Funny you mention Olivetti, I recently learned they were huge in those days. Very fine design and 'better world' goals, very similar to Apple today. trivia: it seems Olivetti was forced out of the Personal Computer business by bad financial games from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlo_De_Benedetti http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlo_De_Benedetti cutting funds at a bad time.
- Turing_Machine 11y ago
  I think every typewriter/office machine company tried their hand at computers at some point. Royal McBee, Burroughs, Smith Corona (I don't think they did full-blown computers, but they did do some dedicated word processors), Remington Rand...
  - agumonkey 11y ago
    That was quite natural. Mechanical, electro-mechanical, mostly electronic.
    - Turing_Machine 11y ago
      Sure. The interesting question is why, out of all the office machine companies that tried it, only IBM managed to pull it off.
      - kens 11y ago
        I think that gives the wrong impression, that office machine companies tried making computers and failed. Remington Rand, for instance, was IBM's principal rival in the 1950's, selling the UNIVAC. Olivetti had transistorized mainframes before IBM. I think the interesting question is why IBM survived while the rest didn't. My highly oversimplified answer would be the IBM 360 crushed them.
cbd1984 11y ago
The Kenbak-1 is the world's first personal computer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenbak-1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenbak-1
- stefantalpalaru 11y ago
  If you really stretch the definition: > To use the machine, one had to program it with a series of buttons and switches, using pure machine code. Output consisted of a series of lights. Also, the Kenbak-1 was made in 1970 and sold in 1971 while the Programma 101 was made in 1964 and sold in 1965.
kens 11y ago
Coincidentally, I'm reading "IBM's Early Computers" and this book says the first personal computer was the IBM 610 (originally called "Personal Automatic Calculator"), introduced in 1957! It consisted of a desktop keyboard with tiny CRT, along with a typewriter-style printer. (Off to the side was the freezer-sized cabinet full of vacuum tubes.) Personally, I think it's hopeless to try to pick the "first personal computer", since the term can mean almost anything. More info on the IBM 610 is at http://www.columbia.edu/cu/computinghistory/610.html http://www.columbia.edu/cu/computinghistory/610.html
- stefantalpalaru 11y ago
  > The IBM 610 was the first personal computer, in the sense that it was the first computer intended for use by one person (e.g. in an office) and controlled from a keyboard. I don't know if it counts as a personal computer if you need four burly men to pick it up. And the price was rather out of range for home users.

agumonkey 11y ago

Funny you mention Olivetti, I recently learned they were huge in those days. Very fine design and 'better world' goals, very similar to Apple today. trivia: it seems Olivetti was forced out of the Personal Computer business by bad financial games from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlo_De_Benedetti http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlo_De_Benedetti cutting funds at a bad time.

Turing_Machine 11y ago
I think every typewriter/office machine company tried their hand at computers at some point. Royal McBee, Burroughs, Smith Corona (I don't think they did full-blown computers, but they did do some dedicated word processors), Remington Rand...
- agumonkey 11y ago
  That was quite natural. Mechanical, electro-mechanical, mostly electronic.
  - Turing_Machine 11y ago
    Sure. The interesting question is why, out of all the office machine companies that tried it, only IBM managed to pull it off.
    - kens 11y ago
      I think that gives the wrong impression, that office machine companies tried making computers and failed. Remington Rand, for instance, was IBM's principal rival in the 1950's, selling the UNIVAC. Olivetti had transistorized mainframes before IBM. I think the interesting question is why IBM survived while the rest didn't. My highly oversimplified answer would be the IBM 360 crushed them.

cbd1984 11y ago

The Kenbak-1 is the world's first personal computer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenbak-1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenbak-1

stefantalpalaru 11y ago
If you really stretch the definition: > To use the machine, one had to program it with a series of buttons and switches, using pure machine code. Output consisted of a series of lights. Also, the Kenbak-1 was made in 1970 and sold in 1971 while the Programma 101 was made in 1964 and sold in 1965.

kens 11y ago

Coincidentally, I'm reading "IBM's Early Computers" and this book says the first personal computer was the IBM 610 (originally called "Personal Automatic Calculator"), introduced in 1957! It consisted of a desktop keyboard with tiny CRT, along with a typewriter-style printer. (Off to the side was the freezer-sized cabinet full of vacuum tubes.) Personally, I think it's hopeless to try to pick the "first personal computer", since the term can mean almost anything. More info on the IBM 610 is at http://www.columbia.edu/cu/computinghistory/610.html http://www.columbia.edu/cu/computinghistory/610.html

stefantalpalaru 11y ago
> The IBM 610 was the first personal computer, in the sense that it was the first computer intended for use by one person (e.g. in an office) and controlled from a keyboard. I don't know if it counts as a personal computer if you need four burly men to pick it up. And the price was rather out of range for home users.