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1<?php
2        $seiten_id = 'personalcomputer';
3        $version = '$Id$';
4        $titel = 'Historical Personal Computers: The first PCs';
5       
6        require "../../lib/technikum29.php";
7?>
8   <header class="teaser seitenstart">
9        <img src="/shared/photos/rechnertechnik/header-wang2200.jpg" width="940"  height="545">
10        <h2>Historical Personal Computers</h2>
11</header>
12
13<h3 id="wang2200"><b>WANG 2200B</b> with an extensive set of peripherals</h3>
14
15<p>An often posed question is that of how to define the notion of a "personal
16computer". We would answer like this: "A personal computer is a single-user
17system with attached display (back then typically a CRT) and a suitable
18complement of peripherals to store and retrieve data and for input/output of
19data and programs. It is also easily transportable."<br>
20
21One of the first personal computers, PC for short, is the WANG 2200 A/B dating
22back to 1973. Wang realized pretty early that a key component for such a device
23was an electronic display capable of displaying multiple lines at once.
24Comparable HP systems from that time only had a single line LED-display. A nice
25comparison between these two types of machines can be found here:
26<a href="http://www.wang2200.org/docs/internal/HP_Competitive_Analysis_9830_vs_Wang_2200B_Mar_1974.pdf" target="_blank"> HP competitive Analysis 9830 vs WANG 2200B (PDF)</a>.
27<br> 
28This is, in fact, a comparison performed by HP and was suited to aid the
29salesperson when he or she faced a situation where HP had to compete agains a
30Wang offer. HP and WANG were THE opponents in these days when it came to
31scientific calculators and early PCs.  <br>
32        The system 2200 and its successors featured a plethora of peripheral devices as
33well as a vast library of programs for a variety of scientific and commercial
34problems. Though, there was no assembler or access to machine language at all.
35The system was programmed in a BASIC dialect.<br>
36       
37  The system on display here is unique in Germany with its set of peripheral
38devices: Paper tape reader (2203), card reader (2234), marker card reader
39(2214), triple 8 inch diskette drive (2270-3) and a disk subsystem (2230-1)
40with 14 inch disks. The weight of the disk subsystem alone is about 100 kg, and
41it cost a whopping 24 000 DM back in its days. Its total capacity is 5 MB for
42programs and data.</p>
43       
44        <h3 id="wang2200s"><b>WANG 2200S</b></h3>
45       
46        <div class="box center">
47        <img src="/shared/photos/rechnertechnik/wang-2200s.jpg" width="350"  height="304" />
48        <img src="/shared/photos/rechnertechnik/wang-2200s-detail.jpg" width="429"  height="304" />
49        </div>
50       
51        <p>This new acquisition (December 2017) is a smaller version of the WANG 2200B,
52built in 1974/75, the "S" probably denoting "small". The additional magnetic
53tape unit (2217) allows to store 1.7 kB of data on one meter of tape at a
54transfer rate of 326 characters/second. It is equipped with three independent
55motors and capable of reading/writing in both directions. The tape is always
56written/read in blocks of 256 bytes. As slow as it is, the low price of the
57storage media more than compensated for that. <br>
58
59Also interesting is the golf-ball typewriter as output device. Thanks to the
60unique stepper motor driven mechanics, the system can also be used to plot
61graphs.  The model 2202 is identical with the model 702 typically used in
62conjunction with a <a class="go" href="/en/computer/ic-technology.php#WANG_700" target="_blank">WANG 700 system.</a> </p>
63
64         <p class="small">We would like to express our thanks to the University of Muenster who donated this system.</p>
65       
66         
67         <h3 id="cbm"><b>Commodore (CBM) PET 2001, 8096-SK</b></h3><br>
68         
69        The Commodore computers are popular amongst the vintage computing community and thus not too interesting for our exhibition.
70        Anyway, for completeness, we have some devices in our collection.
71       
72        <br>
73         
74        In 1977, most pupils already heard about the new computer technology and wanted to gain experience.
75       
76          <div class="box left">
77        <img src="/shared/photos/rechnertechnik/ur-pet.jpg" width="300"  height="266" />
78        </div>
79         <div class="box right">
80        <img src="/shared/photos/rechnertechnik/pet+floppy.jpg" width="500"  height="266" style="margin-top:1em" />
81        </div>
82       
83        <p>
84        The PET 2001 is a 2000 DM (~1000 US $) device by Commodore and thus was also affordable by schools. Virtually overnight
85        computer pool rooms were created where one had to sign up in a waiting list in order to get entry -- or to wait up to
86        late in the evenings (after 6pm) to enter.
87       
88        <p>In the beginning, the PET offered 7kB RAM and the very slow "datasette". This long term storage medium was nothing
89        more than a standard 1970s compact cassette recorder. The PET was programmed in BASIC.
90        <br>Soon it was obvious that this general purpose computer was also suitable for games. In our
91        birthday workshops we observe that today's pupils are fascinated by these classical computer games
92        with their high level of abstraction and apparently no attempt to recreate reality.
93       
94        <p>The successor model replaced the miniature keyboard (actually quite suitable for children) by a regular one.
95        Given the money, it was possible to upgrade the machine with a 5,25" floppy disk drive which was as expensive as the
96        computer itself. However, with the disk drive it was possible to solve real world problems which made the computer
97        attractive for small buisnesses.
98         <div class="box left">
99        <img src="/shared/photos/rechnertechnik/commodore-8096.jpg" width="300"  height="276" />
100        </div>
101       
102        <p>In the subsequent models, the design was revised. Personal computers shall look elegant and beautiful, as demonstrated
103        by the 19080s model 8096-SK (also nicknamed "the egg"). 80 means 80 characters per row, 96 means 96 kB RAM and SK means
104        seperate keyboard -- the keyboard is removable. The monitor can be leant and rotated and can display big and small letters.
105        The workspace was completed with a dot matrix printer.
106        <br>Special software allowed to operate the computer without further knowledge.
107        <br>Some technical data:<br>
108       
109        Central processor: MOS 6502<br>
110        Processor frequency: 1 MHz<br>
111        RAM: 96 kByte,  ROM: 18 kByte<br>
112       
113       
114        <p>At this time, the mass production of personal computers started and our exhibition ends, since we concentrate on
115        rarities and very early computing in the 20th century.
116         
117       
118   
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