On Mon, Mar 11, 2019, 4:50 AM Brent Hilpert via cctalk < [email protected]> wrote:
> On 2019-Mar-10, at 5:16 PM, Al Kossow via cctalk wrote: > > On 3/10/19 2:18 PM, Murray McCullough via cctalk wrote: > >> Historians, though not all, credit this development as the > >> beginning of the electronic-computing revolution that was truly > underway by > >> the mid-70s. > > > > Scotty, more power to the Reality Distortion Field! > > > It's not an out-to-lunch suggestion. > > The digital pocket calculator was the first mass-market digital electronic > device to be put in the hands of the consumer. > > Yes, all of us here know there were digital computers and other digital > electronic devices around many years before, > but the digital pocket calculator has a significant place at the > beginnings of the transition to the ubiquity of such technology in everyday > life, > as opposed to being behind-the-scenes in business, labs, and industry. > > One can argue the transition would have happened without the > pocket-calculator market - > just how influential it was in driving the innovation can be debated - but > the historical fact is it was there, > and a large market in the context. > Reading this thread... > Not sure why this suddenly became a thing to debate, but I will add that the multifunction function 1960s calculators were called "desktop computers" by publishers then https://www.vintagecomputer.net/browse_thread_record.cfm?id=536 Also, I did an talk at HOPE on the subject of the how the early handheld calculator class fit into the development of micro computers a few years later. The talk was my take on the subject anyway. Bottom line, one should avoid putting the modern 2019 definition a microcomputer/personal computer into what people were talking about in the mid 60s into the 70s "small/personal/microcomputer". Also, the significance of the single chip vs multi chip or single board CPU...is independent of the intended use or capacity/capabilities of the computer they went into. Over time the significance of a "single chip" CPU will fade. Modern computers no longer rely on this approach anyway, it was only a blip in time that "single chip cou" mattered as much. My opinion of course Bill Bill >
