Computing through the 80's timeline

The Sinclair ZX80 was invented by Clive Sinclair of British company ‘Sinclair.’ This compact personal computer was quite expensive comparably, at $199.95. It didn’t have a screen attached to it out of the box, so it was hooked up to a television to compute. There was no sound, color support and to save data you had to put it on an external drive. This device was important as it was the beginnings to personal desktops.

The Commodore 64, also known as C64 or CBM 64, was introduced by company Commodore International. This personal computer was truly revolutionary, having sold over 20 million units by the end of its lifespan. It easily hooked up to a monitor (or more popularly, a Television set) and drives could be inserted for games or basic computing. One of the biggest reasons this little computer did so well, was that it sold in retail stores

CD’s, or Compact Disks, originally came out in 1981. But, in 1984 which we are referencing here, CD – ROMS were introduced or, Read Only Memory. These little disks were affordable, compact and held all kinds of information; games, books, encyclopedia’s, reference manuals. CD ROMS were an important step to early internet browsing. They were developed by Japanese Company Denon in 1982, but was released to the public in 1984.

The Connection Machine was released and invented by Thinking Machines Corporation owners, Danny Hillis and Sheryl Handler. The CM-1 contained 16 1-bit processors per processor chip in the full 65,535 processor version, for a total of 4,096 processor chips — each with an LED. The Connection Machine was designed to solve problems of Artificial Intelligence, mimicking the human brain. It really marked the beginning to AI research and development.

Laser 128 Video Technologies Ltd in Hong Kong produced the Laser 128 computer, which was an Apple II compatible home computer that was sold in the 1980s. The Laser 128 was basically a “generic” Apple II computer that sold at cheaper prices than its competitor. Apple unsuccessfully tried to sue Video Technologies Ltd to get the Laser 128 off the market. It was one of the few Apple clones to remain on the market - this was impactful in and of itself, and carries on to the modern day.