On Mon, 18 Dec 2000 17:09:53 -0500, Sam Ewalt wrote:
> On Mon, 18 Dec 2000 03:31:33 -0400, Clarence Verge wrote:
>> Anyone catch that "Pirates of Silicon Valley" movie last night ?
>> I don't know if it is historically accurate, but according to my eyes,
>> Steve Jobs and Bill Gates had a PDP-8 in their dorm room at Harvard
>> in 1974.
> Haven't seen the movie, but Steve Jobs didn't go to Harvard. I've
> read a number of books regarding Gates and to my understanding he
> didn't have any sort of computer in his dorm room, but used whatever
> computer lab terminals he could get access to. Access was difficult,
> but not impossible. Friendship, bribery, hacking, that sort of thing.
I don't know the real facts, but I'm sure a lot will become clear when
I finish watching this movie. I only had time for the 1st 1/2 hour. <g>
One thing has already been clarified by re-watching three minutes of
it. I mistook the character Paul Allen for Steven Jobs. They both look
the same in this movie - hair, beard - although I should have recognized
that it wasn't Noah Wyle (Steve Jobs) if I'd been more awake.
Without implying that any "docudrama" of this type is accurate in the
finest detail, I don't think they could get away with this particular
bit:
In 1974 (according to this drama) Gates, Allen and another were buddies
at Harvard, and it appears that Gates and Allen might have been roomies.
That was not specifally stated, but it was ONE of their rooms that the
PDP-8 was in and they had a teletype. I bought a teletype in 1974 and
it was $1100 when CDN$ and US$ were about par. (Marsland TTY)
I would be surprised if Heath could supply a Digital Equipment PDP-10(?)
kit for $1100 as Roger, I think suggested.
I would estimate the USED value of a PDP-8 at $4k. When we bought ours
it was about $18k I think, but in a 2 bay rack with a lot of interface
stuff. Re-adjusting my own timeline slightly, I think our PDP-8 wasn't
10 years old in '74, maybe only 7 or 8.
I suppose I could look it all up, but this is much more fun. <G>
- Clarence Verge
- Still using Arachne V1.62 ....
