Technology Progression : 1970's

By cececervantes

  • Amdahl Corporation introduces the Amdahl 470

    Amdahl Corporation introduces the Amdahl 470
    Gene Amdahl with 470V/6 model: The 470V/6 was the company’s first product and ran the same software as IBM System/370 computers but cost less and was smaller and faster.

  • First Kenbak-1 is sold

    First Kenbak-1 is sold
    Kenbak-1 is one of the earliest personal computers. Designed by John V. Blankenbaker using standard medium-- and small-scale integrated circuits, the Kenbak-1 relied on switches for input and lights for output from its 256-byte memory. In 1973, after selling only 40 machines, Kenbak Corporation closed its doors.

  • The Silver Arm

    The Silver Arm
    David Silver at MIT designed the Silver Arm, a robotic arm to do small-parts assembly using feedback from delicate touch and pressure sensors. The arm´s fine movements approximate those of human fingers.

  • Intel 8080 and Zilog Z-80

    Intel 8080 and Zilog Z-80
    Intel and Zilog introduced new microprocessors. Five times faster than its predecessor, the 8008, the Intel 8080 could address four times as many bytes for a total of 64 kilobytes. The Zilog Z-80 could run any program written for the 8080 and included twice as many built-in machine instructions.

  • First computers installed in the White House

    First computers installed in the White House
    While the US government had funded many computing projects dating back to the 1940s, it wasn't until the Carter administration that a computer is actually installed in the White House. Staffers were given terminals to access a shared Hewlett-Packard HP3000 computer, and the technology department acquired a Xerox Alto for the Oval Office.