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The history of the personal computer as a mass-market consumer electronic device began with the microcomputer revolution of the 1970s. A personal computer is one intended for interactive individual use, as opposed to a mainframe computer where the end user's requests are filtered through operating staff, or a time-sharing system in which one large processor is shared by many individuals.
It was the first commercially successful personal computer. [3] Interest in the Altair 8800 grew quickly after it was featured on the cover of the January 1975 issue of Popular Electronics [ 4 ] and was sold by mail order through advertisements there, in Radio-Electronics , and in other hobbyist magazines.
TV indicates the factory configuration produces composite video compatible with a home TV receiver. Some computers came with a built-in RF modulator to allow connection to the TV receiver antenna terminals; others output composite video for use with a free-standing monitor or external RF modulator. Still others had built-in or proprietary monitors.
The Macintosh was the first successful mass-market all-in-one desktop personal computer with a graphical user interface, built-in screen, and mouse. [33] It was first demonstrated by Steve Jobs in the first of his famous Mac keynote speeches, and though the Mac garnered an immediate, enthusiastic following, some labelled it a mere "toy". [34]
The 1970s and ’80s were filled with innovations such as VCRs, cordless phones, and personal computers that changed the way we live. It was also a time of tech flops and marketing missteps even ...
This "peripherals sold separately" approach is another defining characteristic of the home computer era. A first-time computer buyer who brought a base C-64 system home and hooked it up to their TV would find they needed to buy a disk drive (the Commodore 1541 was the only fully-compatible model) or Datasette before they could make use of it as ...
[6] [7] The first machines were introduced on March 1, 1973, [8] and in limited production starting one decade before Xerox's designs inspired Apple to release the first mass-market GUI computers. The Alto is contained in a relatively small cabinet and uses a custom central processing unit (CPU) built from multiple SSI and MSI integrated circuits .
One of the earliest electronic displays is the cathode-ray tube (CRT), which was first demonstrated in 1897 and made commercial in 1922. [1] The CRT consists of an electron gun that forms images by firing electrons onto a phosphor-coated screen. The earliest CRTs were monochrome and were used primarily in oscilloscopes and black and white ...