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Hewlett-Packard is founded!
David Packard and Bill Hewlett founded their company. They built a machine called the 200A which was a popular piece used as test equiptment by engineers. This was important because the huge company Disney used their next product the 200B for sound effects in the movie Fantasia! -
Project Whirlwind
The US Navy asked MIT to build a flight simulator to train bomber crews. They started with a large analog computer but it was very innacurate. Once they had perfected it, the navy wasn't interested anymore. But, the US Air Force did support it and this influenced the design of the SAGE project. -
The ENIAC Computer is finished
This was a computer invented by John Mauchly and J Presper Eckert. It was a computer that was improved speed by 1,000. They had started the project in 1943 and had worked on it for three years. This is a very important event because it was the first fast (ish) computer. -
UNIVAC Computer is made
The univac was first used at the U.S. Census Bureau. It was the fastest computer made back then at 1,905 operations per second. They sold at total of 46 computers. This is important because the computer was around $1,000,000 and 185,000 just for the high printer. It shows how much the price has lowered so the majority of people can have a computer. -
IBM 650 mass-produced
We think about how many people own computers now and it was such a small number in the 50's. The IBM 650 was considered the first mass-produced computer bcause they sold 450 computers in one year. This important to computer history because now we think of 450 computers as a small amount to sell because no companies sell so many and they are a lot less expensive! -
The precursor to the minicomputer
DEC made only 50 of these computers and they each sold for $120,000. The first hackers at MIT were very interested in these computers. The hackers made their first videogame on these called The Spacewars. This is very important because now a' days kids are so obssessed with videogames and it is crazy that the first videogame was made over 50 years ago. -
First successful minicomputer
After the precursor minicomputer was designed by the Digital Equiptment Corp. made this. Itw as only $18,000 compared to $120,000. This was very important because small businesses were able to buy computers which helped their business. -
Helping the apollo 7 and 11
The apollo guidance computer was introduced to the apollo 7 when the austronauts were orbiting the earth. It also helped apollo 11 and helped the austronauts communicate with earth and help land it. This was very important because the astronauts landed safely on earth. -
TV typewriter
The TV typewriter was invented. It showed alphanumeric information on an ordinary TV set. It could show up to 100 pages of information. This is impportant because it was only worth $120 so many average people could buy it. -
The Apple 1 was invented
The Apple 1, a single-board computer, was disigned by Steve Wozniak. The first order. 100 machines, $500 each. This order started his business with Steve Jobs. This is important to us now because Apple is one of the biggest technology companies, to think that they came from this small computer to what they are now.
