One of the world’s first personal computers is up for sale (Kenbak-1)

Engadget ^ | 11/07/2015 | Richard Lawler

[Olog-hai]

Many people don't know the history of the Kenbak-1 Digital Computer, but it's considered to be the world's first commercially available personal computer, and one is going up for sale in just a few minutes. [...]

It didn't have a microprocessor at all, and contained only 256 bytes (you read that correctly) of RAM. No more than 50 units were ever made, although a few have been popping up for sale in the last few years. ...

[fireman15]

I still have a vintage computer collection. Unfortunately our house was burglarized 6 months ago and much of it was taken. I don’t think I have any more Timex/Sinclair computers, but some of the accessories were left behind.

Most of the early home computers used cassette tapes for storage games and programs and ROM cartridges for games and programs. I doubt whether the thieves who broke into our house had any idea what they were actually taking, most of them were in the original packaging and looked like new. Occasionally old computers that are in good condition and have become hard to find or have an interesting history do sell for fairly impressive prices on eBay.

[SWAMP-C1PHER]

That’s a nice piece of history right there.

I thought I used primitive computers because I worked on SGI equipment. Shoot, that was nothing.

[minnesota_bound]

#6 It has a steering wheel!

[bigbob]

I’d set that sucker right up on my shelf here, beside my Heathkit EC-1 from the early ‘60s.

[Daffynition]

It was the precursor of the invention of the mouse ...which was a trap.

[az_gila]

I liked it when the computers were all brass wheels and walnut cabinetry -

This 1948 computer calculated worldwide tide tables with 24 variables for the UK Admiralty. It was in the University of Liverpool Bidston Observatory.

As drunken students one early morning we were watching the sunrise on Bidston Hill after partying and knocked on the observatory door... we got a nice tour of the analog computer which had just been replaced with the university mainframe computer in the early 60’s.

[the_daug]

Although the photograph displayed could represent what some people in the early 1950s contemplated a "home computer" might look like (based on the technology of the day), it isn't, as the accompanying text claims, a RAND Corporation illustration from 1954 of a prototype "home computer." The picture is actually an entry submitted to a Fark.com image modification competition, taken from an original photo of a submarine maneuvering room console found on the U.S. Navy web site, converted to grayscale, and modified to replace a modern display panel and TV screen with pictures of a decades-old teletype/printer and television (as well as to add the gray-suited man to the left-hand side of the photo):

[laplata]

LOL

Thanks.

[Desron13]

That would be the Timex Sinclare Z80. I put one together as a kit from mail order. You could expand the memory to a whopping 16K with a rather expensive memory upgrade.

[Daffynition]

THX...I love it!

[ADemocratNoMore]

Gee, I always thought that the “Grey Suited Man” was none other than Dwight David Eisenhower. ‘Tis a sad comment that probably half the population of the U.S.A. haven't a clue who he is.

[Jonty30]

Does it run Windows?

[tired&retired]

I had a Zenith model in the early 1980’s that had both 8 bit CPM and 16 Bit DOS. I paid $2,500 just to have the 11 meg hard drive replaced. You had to park the heads every time you were going to turn it off.

It was a work horse and I used it for many years before switching to IBMs.

Of course I am one of the oldies that did Assember, COBOL and Fortran on 80 column punched cards!

[tired&retired]

TRS-80 = Trash 80

[IronJack]

Tandys, in those days called TRS, used to boot from a cassette. Earlier Apples could use a cassette for data.

[dljordan]

I borrowed one of those from a friend once just to play with and then went back to my blazing fast Commodore 128.

[dljordan]

“We had a computer that we used punch cards and paper tapes in. Size of a large refridgerator. Seems 100 years ago.”

Did you ever wire a card sorter (collator)? Yes, it was about 100 years ago by my reakoning.

[Dalberg-Acton]

As I remember, the cassette did not have to be hooked up to boot the TRS-80 or the Color Computer. They booted from a ROM, as did the original IBM PC if you didn’t have a boot floppy in the drive.

[Mastador1]

TRS-80 = Trash 80

Yep, good ole Tandy Tec, but they did have a game I liked where you flew a bomber mission against Russia.

[Rebelbase]

I used mine at work. Used to have to do a manual calculation anywhere from five to ten times a day involving 15 numbers taken out to two decimal places with percentages and fixed constants applied to all 15 numbers.

The whole thing took about 15 min. to do manually on a carbon copy form (around 40+ calculations). It took about 3 minutes to input the numbers and copy the results to the work sheet.