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Punch Card System
Herman Hollerith designs a punch card system to organize a census system that was previous obsolete. The system punched cards with holes in 12 rows and 24 columns to organize the data. Method was first used for the 1890 census and was coded for age, state of residence, gender, etc. The clerks used the punch holes in the cards to enter information and resulted in results that were finished months ahead of schedule and were far under budget.He later establishes a company that will be known as IBM. -
ENIAC
Two University of Pennsylvania professors, John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert develop the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator, also know as the ENIAC. ENIAC is a computer that fills a 20 ft by 40 ft room with 18000 vacuum tubes.ENIAC was designer as a military project to calculate artillery firing tables. ENIAC to this day is considered the “grandfather” to the computer. -
First Personalized Computer
The first personalized computer by the name Kenbak-1 is sold for $750 or about $4400 in today’s currency through Scientific American in 1971. Kenbak-1 was developed in 1970 by computer engineer and consultant, Mr. Blankenbaker. The 8 bit machine offered 256 bytes of memory and pre-dated the Apple 1 by 5 years. It also held a memory of about 1000 words and only 50 were made. -
Apple 1
The Apple 1 is the first desktop computer released by Apple Inc. It was designed and built by Steve Wozniak and was marketed by Steve Jobs. Paul Terell, the owner of the Byte Shop offered to buy 50 fully assembled computers for about $500 each after seeing the computer at the Homebrew Computer Club. First sold around $666.66 equivalent to $2,772 nowadays. The Apple 1 was a fully assembled computer unlike many hobbyist kits. -
Apple Lisa & Commodore 64
Apple creates Lisa, the first personalized computer with a GUI, graphical user interface. The machine is bought by NASA for $10,000 but its high price tag and its sluggishness ruins the reputation of the computer. The project is put as a commercial failure after selling only 10,000 units compare to the Commodore 64 with 17 million units over the course of 11 years. -
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft creates Windows as a competitor to Apple’s GUI but was first not as popular. Microsoft Windows however at the time was not a complete operating system. The MS-DOS was a shell of windows 1.0 and held many programs such as calculator, cardfile, notepad, paint, etc. -
PC Gaming
The PC becomes a gaming machine with games such as “Command & Conquer,” “Alone in the Dark 2,” “Theme Park,” “GTA,” etc.Games such as EverQuest are the first of many MMORPGs or Massive Multiplayer games that allow multiple users to play the same game. Such games require high quality cards resulting in the 3dfx and the creation of NVIDIA. -
Links Used
Zimmerman, Kim Ann. “History of Computers: A Brief Timeline.” LiveScience, TechMedia Network, 8 Sept. 2016, http://www.livescience.com/20718-computer-history.html. Year, By. “1939 | Timeline of Computer History | Computer History Museum.” 1939 | Timeline of Computer History | Computer History Museum, http://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/1939/. -
Links Used- continued
Bordkin, Jon. “Evolution of the PC.” PC World, IDG Consumer SMB, 27 May 2009, http://www.pcworld.com/article/165612/evolution_of_the_pc.html#slide1. -
Images Used
https://www.kullabs.com/uploads/comuter.jpg http://cdn.ndtv.com/tech/images/gadgets/gaming_boy_pixabay.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabulating_machine#/media/File:HollerithMachine.CHM.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ENIAC#/media/File:ENIAC_Penn1.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/55/Kenbak1.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/Apple_I_Computer.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b6/Apple_Lisa.jpg -
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