Computers & Business Machines

• 

  Wang LOCI-2 Electronic Calculator

  Description

  One of the first programmable electronic calculators, this instrument was announced in 1964 and sold from 1965. It was designed by An Wang (1920-1990) and his associates. Wang, a native of Shanghai, immigrated to the United States after World War II, studied computer science at Harvard University, and worked at the Harvard Computation Laboratory. He started his own business in 1951, producing magnetic core memories and other electronic equipment on order. The LOCI or “logarithmic calculating instrument” was the first product marketed by the company. Two versions of the machine were announced: the LOCI I, which was not programmable, and the LOCI II, which was.

  The desktop machine has nine digit keys arranged in an array, as well as a zero bar and a decimal point key. Depressing other keys changes the sign of the number, shifts the decimal point, shifts from the logarithmic to the work register, and shifts from the work to the logarithmic register. Further keys are for arithmetic operations, squares, square roots, inverse squares, inverse square roots, inverse logarithms, and clearance of various registers. To the right are controls for the decrement counter, the program counter, and the operation code. According to company advertising, the machine offers ten-digit precision in addition and subtraction and eight-digit precision in multiplication, division, exponentiation, root extraction, and logarithm computation. It has five storage registers of ten-digit capacity and a ten-digit display, plus a display for the sign of the answer. A cooling fan and a cord are at the back. The card reader attachment that plugs into the back holds program cards.

  A tag on the front of the machine reads: LOCI-2. A tag on the back reads: ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS AND DEVICES (/) LOCI II (/) MODEL NO. 2AB (/) SERIAL NO. 2734 (/) TEWKSBURY, MASS. U.S.A. A paper tag on the back of the machine indicates that it was serviced 4/28/68, 9/12/68, and 2/9/71.

  According to a 1964 flier, the machine was to sell for $4,750.00. Kenney says that the initial price was $6,500. Wang Laboratories would go on to sell the 300 series of calculators (from 1966) and the 700 series (from 1969), and to manufacture minicomputers and networked microcomputers.

  For related objects and documents, see 1980.0096.02 through 1980.0096.10.

  Compare 1980.0096.01 with the later 1983.0171.01 (a Wang Series 700 calculator), and the even later 2011.0022.01 (a Wang Series 600 calculator).

  References:

  There is an extensive discussion of the LOCI II at the website of the Old Calculator Museum. See:http://www.oldcalculatormuseum.com/wangloci.html

  Wang Laboratories, Inc., “LOCI-2 Open New Vistas to your Personal Computing . . .,” Tewksbury, Ma., 1964. This is 1980.0096.08. A similar leaflet describes the LOCI-1 and has museum number 1980.0096.07.

  Charles C. Kenney, Riding the Runaway Horse: The Rise and Decline of Wang Laboratories, Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1992.

  date made

  1965 or later

  date received

  1980

  maker

  Wang Laboratories

  ID Number

  1980.0096.01

  catalog number

  1980.0096.01

  accession number

  1980.0096

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Apple I Microcomputer

  Description

  In 1975, Steve Wozniak designed the Apple I as his personal computer to use the ARPANET and play games. Its enthusiastic reception among the members of Silicon Valley’s Homebrew Computer Club prompted Wozniak and Steve Jobs to form Apple Computers to manufacture the Apple I. Wozniak designed the Apple I around two principles; making the machine affordable by minimizing the number of chips; and the ability to output video to a TV screen most users already owned. With the incorporation of the microprocessor and dynamic RAM, the Apple I proved how small, simple, and cheap a usable computer could be.

  The computer sold as a single board for $666.66 since Wozniak liked repeating digits. To complete the setup the board required a video display monitor, an ASCII encoded keyboard, and an AC connected power unit supplying 8 volts at 3 amps and 28 volts at 1 amp. Aside from the 6502 microprocessor running at 1.023 MHz, the Apple included four kilobytes of memory (enough to run BASIC), expandable to 8KB on board, or 64KB using expansion cards. A cassette interface was also available for the expansion slot, allowing for data storage and programming, such as easily loading the BASIC interpreter without having to program it in by hand.

  The Apple I heralded a shift in personal computing. In the years prior, most computers were sold as kits, or assembled at a premium by the manufacturer. The purchase of a board that was completely tested and in working order led to “hassle-free” computing, helping spur personal computing towards a more mainstream consumer market. In 1977, the Commodore PET, TRS-80, and Apple II were released as assembled PCs, and hardware and software companies surged into a newly created market.

  Apple Computers gave owners the option to trade in their Apple I for an Apple II, mainly to free Wozniak from his customer services duties as the only designer of the computer. With about only 200 made, and many removed from circulation due to the returns, Apple I’s have become a valuable collector’s item.

  date made

  1976

  co-founder of Apple Inc.

  Jobs, Steve

  Wozniak, Steve

  maker

  Apple Computer, Inc.

  ID Number

  2015.0001.01

  catalog number

  2015.0001.01

  accession number

  2015.0001

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Federal Express SuperTracker

  Description

  This is a Federal Express SuperTracker handheld barcode scanner, first introduced in 1986. The SuperTracker is a critical part of FedEx’s Customers, Operations, and Services Master On-line System (COSMOS) used to track packages and confirm deliveries. Customer agents, couriers, and sorting personnel use the SuperTracker to scan barcodes on packages as they move through the Federal Express system. Providing information about a package’s location, status, and movement became an integral part of delivery companies, with every major carrier implementing a package tracking system.

  Reference:

  Carl Niehls, “Custodial Package Tracking at Federal Express,” in Managing Innovation: Cases from the Services Industries, ed. Bruce R. Guile and James Brian Quinn (Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 1988), 57–81.

  date made

  1986

  ID Number

  1993.0228.01

  catalog number

  1993.0228.01

  accession number

  1993.0228

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Monitor, Radio Shack TRS-80 Monitor

  Description

  Don French, a buyer for the consumer electronics chain Tandy Radio Shack (TRS), believed that Radio Shack should offer an assembled personal computer and hired engineer Steve Leininger to design it. In the summer of 1977, Radio Shack introduced the TRS-80 for $599. You could purchase the computer without a display for $399.95, but the most common configuration was buying the computer, monitor, and datacassette recorder for $599. For the accompanying keyboard and computer, see 1983.0169.01.

  date made

  1977-1981

  maker

  Tandy Corporation

  ID Number

  1983.0169.02

  catalog number

  1983.0169.02

  accession number

  1983.0169

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  IBM DENKE (THINK) Sign

  Description

  This rectangular plastic desk sign reads "DENKE" in black lettering. “Denke” is German for “Think,” the slogan developed by Thomas Watson Sr. when he was a sales manager for the National Cash Register Company, exhorting his salesmen to use their heads, not their feet—their job was to think. As IBM CEO during the 1920s, Watson continued to encourage innovation and “THINK” became a ubiquitous slogan in IBM paraphernalia including notepads, advertising, products—even the title of the company magazine. By 1950 IBM had offices in seventy-nine countries and created “THINK” signs in local languages.

  References:

  IBM 100, A Culture of Think, accessed September 4, 2014, A Culture of Think

  Kevin Maney, The Maverick and His Machine: Thomas Watson, Sr. and the Making of IBM (Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2003), 147–160.

  maker

  IBM

  ID Number

  2013.3049.02

  nonaccession number

  2013.3049

  catalog number

  2013.3049.02

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 1 Personal Computer

  Description

  In the early 1970s, most personal computers came as hobbyist kits requiring a high level of technical expertise to assemble. Don French, a buyer for the consumer electronics chain Tandy Radio Shack (TRS), believed that Radio Shack should offer an assembled personal computer and hired engineer Steve Leininger to design it. In the summer of 1977, Radio Shack introduced the TRS-80 for $599. This offering included a BASIC language interpreter, four kilobytes of RAM, a Zilog Z80 processor at 1.77 megahertz, a twelve-inch video monitor, a cassette recorder, a power supply, and a cassette tape containing the games Blackjack and Backgammon. While some Tandy executives were skeptical about the success of the PC market, the availability of the TRS-80 on five thousand Radio Shack store shelves helped the Model 1 sell over one hundred thousand units during its first year, which was 50 percent of the total PCs sold in 1978.

  The TRS-80 had its microprocessor inside its keyboard. While you could purchase just the TRS-80 for $400, most opted for the package that included the twelve-inch monitor and cassette recorder for $600. This example of the object includes the TRS-80 Expansion Interface for $299 (the monitor sits on it) that gave the machine an extra thirty-two kilobytes of memory. Also part of the system are two Mini-Disk drives that sold for $499 and a suitcase for carrying all this around.

  One also could purchase such accessories as a TRS-80 Telephone Interface II for $199 that allowed for network communication and printer for $399. Examples of these are in the Smithsonian collections, although they were not received with this specific microcomputer.

  References:

  Radio Shack, A Tandy Company, 1978 Catalog No. 289, page 166, accessed September 1, 2014, http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/catalogs/1978

  Radio Shack, A Tandy Company, 1979 Catalog No. 302, pages 79–82, accessed September 1, 2014, http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/catalogs/1979

  “BYTE News,” BYTE, May 1979, 117.

  Peggy A. Kidwell and Paul E. Ceruzzi, Landmarks in Digital Computing (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1994), 96–99.

  date made

  1977-1981

  maker

  Tandy Corporation

  ID Number

  1983.0169.01

  catalog number

  1983.0169.01

  accession number

  1983.0169

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Mainframe Computer Component, Magnetic Wire Cartridge for the SEAC Computer

  Description

  This metal cartridge contains wire used to enter programs on the SEAC computer. A paper ring atop the cartridge lists programs on it. The object is mounted on a wooden backing with a metal plaque that describes the contents of the cartridge.

  A wire cartridge was used to enter data onto the SEAC from at least 1954. The machine went out of service in 1964. This is not the first version of the demonstration cartridge. Hence the date assigned.

  date made

  ca 1960

  maker

  National Bureau of Standards

  ID Number

  2013.0084.02

  accession number

  2013.0084

  catalog number

  2013.0084.02

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Reel of Magnetic Tape with COBOL Compiler

  Description

  Programs and data were entered into many early computers, including those made by Univac and RCA, using reels of magnetic tape like this one. This particular tape carried a compiler for the programming language COBOL. It was used in December 1960, when a COBOL program first ran successfully on computers made by two different manufacturers. Thus it stands as a symbol of the birth of one of the first common programming languages. Computer programmers would come to expect that different brands of computers ran the same languages. COBOL became a routine tool for business programming.

  The reel is marked: UNIVAC. It is also marked: COBOL. A piece of tape attached to the back reads: 12/6/60 UNIVAC COBOL COMPILER 2319 UC.

  date made

  1960

  maker

  Remington Rand Univac

  ID Number

  CI.317980.01

  catalog number

  317980.01

  accession number

  317980

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Mainframe Computer Component, Williams Tube Electrostatic Memory from the Ferranti Mark I Computer

  Description

  Not long after the end of World War II, developers in both the United States and Great Britain set out to build new forms of room-sized mainframe computers. One challenge was storing the information generated by with a computer program. Frederick C. Williams and Tom Kilburn headed a team at the University of Manchester in Manchester, England, that developed a computer memory in which bits of data were stored on the charged screen of a cathode ray tube. Information on the screen was refreshed every fifth of a second. Such an electrostatic memory came to be called a Williams tube.

  Williams tubes were first used on the Manchester Mark I, a computer built at the university there in 1948 and used until 1950. Impressed by the machine, the British government contracted with the Manchester firm of Ferranti, Ltd., to build nine commercial versions of it. These appeared between 1951 and 1957. This Williams tube comes from the Ferranti Mark I built for the AVROE Company in Manchester in 1954. That computer was used there for ten years to solve problems associated with aircraft design, management, and programmable machine tools.

  There are six vacuum tubes across the front of the amplifier, all marked: MULLARD. The first on the right is markedL 606VD, the second: 606UB, the thrid: 6064SL. A mark in the upper right corner reads: FERRANTI.

  The contents of the memory of a Mark I was represented by a grid of dots on the screens of the Williams tubes. As early as 1951, British schoolmaster Christopher Strachey began work on a program that allowed him to play draughts (checkers) on the Ferranti Mark I at the University of Manchester. Using this program, it was possible to make the screen of one Williams tube appear like a checkerboard – though not to show moves of individual pieces. Other computer programmers – and later video game enthusiasts – would go further.

  References:

  Accession file.

  Martin Campbell-Kelly, “Christopher Strachey,” , 7, #1, January, 1985, pp. 19-42.

  J. W. Cortada, Historical Dictionary of Data Processing Technology, New York: Greenwood Press, 1987, pp. 256-258.

  Simon Lavington, Early British Computers, Bedford, Massachusetts: Digital Press, 1980.

  date made

  1954

  maker

  Ferranti Limited

  ID Number

  CI.334386

  catalog number

  334386

  accession number

  309902

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Woman's Federal Express Uniform

  Description

  This 1990s-era Federal Express uniform consists of black pants, a white blouse with orange and purple stripes, a black wind breaker, a pair of striped white socks, a black belt, and a black cap. The windbreaker and cap are embroidered “FEDERAL/EXPRESS.”

  Fred Smith, the founder of Federal Express, believed that customers desired mass-produced electronic gadgets but that the decentralization of American industry created a logistics problem. Smith’s company provided door-to-door delivery by operating its own aircraft from a centralized sorting depot in Memphis, Tennessee. Federal Express was founded in 1971 in Little Rock, Arkansas, before moving to Memphis in 1973.

  Reference:

  Christopher Lovelock, “Federal Express (B),” (case study, Harvard Business School, Boston, 1982).

  date made

  ca 1992

  ID Number

  1993.3115.01

  catalog number

  1993.3115.01

  nonaccession number

  1993.3115

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Educational Software for Use with the Commodore 64 Microcomputer, Word Shuttle

  Description

  This group of five educational computer programs was developed for the Commodore 64 during the 1980s. Each program has its original box, the 5 ¼” software diskettes, and the user manual.

  Word Shuttle

  This word processing program was released in 1985 and included a 42-page user guide and two keyboard overlays. Word Shuttle was the official word processor of the Young Astronaut Program which operated between 1984 and 2004. The objective of this international educational curriculum was to promote greater interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) through space-themed activities, experiments, and conferences.

  Sky Travel

  This astronomy program, designed for persons ages 12 and up, was released in 1984 and included a 138-page manual. It provided an interactive guided tour of the universe—in the past, present, and future. The universe model could show the location of more than 1,200 stars, 88 constellations, 8 planets, deep sky objects, and the (then) future appearance (1986) of Halley’s comet. The program had four basic modes: map, set, sky, and chart. Map was used to select the location on Earth; month, day, year, and time were determined in set; optional displays were chosen in sky; and chart was used to project the sky on a celestial sphere with coordinate lines for creating, viewing, and printing your own star charts.

  JUST IMAGINE…

  This creative writing program, released in 1984 for individuals of all ages, included a 20-page manual. The user could create colorful animated stories by selecting up to three animated characters from the twenty-five provided, choosing one of nine backgrounds, and a few of the 48 stationary objects. The author then wrote a story to match the selected graphics. While different parts of the program loaded it displayed random trivia facts from the 300 stored on the diskette. The story could be played back and saved to diskette. The introduction in the manual states that “JUST IMAGINE… is another example of Commodore’s commitment to excellence-in-education through technology.”

  Reading Professor

  This reading program, released in 1984, was designed to teach reading skills to high school-age students as well as adults. Included with the two software diskettes was a 40-page user guide. The program provided a series of ten 20-minute lessons to increase reading speed and improve comprehension by presenting specific techniques for eliminating bad reading habits and developing new skills. It has a library of reading materials with three reading levels--High School, College and Adult, and Professional--each level with 32 reading selections. The program used seven types of exercises to monitor and log progress and success.

  Typing Professor

  This typing program, released in 1984 for individuals ages 12 and up, included a 20-page manual, two cassettes for use with a Commodore 16, and a diskette for use with either a Commodore 64 or Commodore Plus/4.

  Students could learn the basics of touch typing or learn to improve their typing speed. The program had 19 exercises which increased in difficulty. Each exercise contained a score chart that calculated and recorded the number of errors, error rate, and typing speed. The exercises were timed and the student could not exceed the acceptable error rate before beginning the next exercise. The allowed error rate started at 4% for lesson 1 and decreased to 1% for lessons 16-19. The goal for lesson 19 was 35 words per minute with a less than 1% error rate.

  maker

  Commodore Business Machines, Inc.

  ID Number

  2006.0132.28.03

  catalog number

  2006.0132.28.03

  accession number

  2006.0132

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Employee Badge for Michael Dell

  Description

  This employee badge was used by Dell Inc. founder and CEO Michael Dell and provided global access to all Dell facilities. The ID badge was used from around 1994 until the time it was donated to the Museum in 2007. The badge is white with a blue Dell logo at the top and a head shot of Michael Dell in the center. The bottom of the badge features the employee's name, "Michael Dell," and his employee number, "1.” An image of Dell Inc.’s headquarters, Round Rock 1, is in the background, and the badge is covered with a holographic layer to prevent tampering.

  date made

  1984

  maker

  Dell Inc.

  ID Number

  2007.0042.05

  catalog number

  2007.0042.05

  accession number

  2007.0042

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Simon Electronic Game, 1978

  Description

  The Father of the Video Game was also the inventor of Simon.

  Inventor Ralph Baer is best known for developing the first video game system, but he accomplished far more. In 1975, Baer started an independent consulting business and began to work in association with Marvin Glass & Associates in Chicago, the toy design firm responsible for some of the most successful American toys of the 20th century. Baer’s job was to develop electronic toys and games. The best-known result of this partnership was Simon.

  Named for the children’s game of “Simon Says,” the game was inspired by an Atari arcade game called Touch Me. Baer and Howard Morrison, a partner at Marvin Glass, first saw Touch Me at a trade show in 1976. Both agreed that while the execution of the arcade game was horrible, the game itself—trying to repeat a musical sequence the machine created—was worthy of exploration. The two set about creating a handheld game around the same concept.

  Like Touch Me, Simon had four different colored buttons. Each button played a unique note. Players had to be able to repeat an increasingly long string of tones that Simon created. If you got the order wrong, you lost. Baer was aware that choosing Simon’s four tones was a critical decision. He and Morrison both felt that one of Touch Me’s main failings was that its sounds were unpleasant.

  But how to choose four notes that could be played in any sequence and not hurt the ears? Baer found the answer while looking through his children’s Compton's Encyclopedia. He discovered that the bugle can only plays four notes. So, Simon would play those same four bugle notes.

  Simon was released by Milton Bradley in 1978 with much fanfare, including a midnight release party at Studio 54, the elite disco in New York City. An instance success, the game reached its peak during the 1980s and continued to sell for decades thereafter.

  Baer was very careful to document in his patent application that Simon was based on Atari’s Touch Me, given his past history with the company. Years earlier, Atari was sued for patent rights infringement. At the center of the controversy were the video game prototypes invented by Ralph Baer. With Simon, Baer found himself on the other side of the story. His patent was to protect his innovations, rather than an original game idea.

  Date made

  1978

  inventor

  Baer, Ralph H.

  manufacturer

  Milton Bradley Company

  ID Number

  2006.0102.09

  catalog number

  2006.0102.09

  accession number

  2006.0102

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Software, Basic for the Altair on Paper Tape

  Description

  In the mid-1960s, Dartmouth College professors John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz developed a computer language intended to be easy to learn and use. They called it BASIC--Beginners' All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code. Students learned BASIC on a teletype terminal that communicated with a central computer. Several terminals were linked to one computer as part of a system called timesharing. Students on remote terminals could use the computer without seeing it--or even knowing what kind of computer it was. This particular BASIC tape was used with an MITS Altair 8800, a later microcomputer.

  date made

  ca 1975

  ID Number

  1986.0463.24

  catalog number

  1986.0463.24

  accession number

  1986.0463

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  National Semiconductor 103A Handheld Electronic Calculator

  Description

  This handheld electronic calculator comes in a checkbook and is designed to assist in balancing checking accounts. It has a total of thirty-one plastic keys. On the left side are ten digit keys, a clear entry/clear key, a decimal point key, and four arithmetic function keys. At the center are a % key, a total key, an off key, an on key, and a DB key. On the right is a row of keys for a checking account for entering checks and deposits, and finding balances. A second row of three keys is for indicating charges, payments, and balances in a charge account. A third row of keys for a second charge account. At the bottom right corner is a grand total key.

  Behind the keyboard is an eight-digit LCD display. To the right of it are three brightly colored dots. Text to the left reads: NSC National Semiconductor 103A.

  The back of the calculator is riveted to the calculator, so marks there were not recorded. A mark on the circuit board reads: NS-103B-1 (/) A=5 (/) B=10.

  Text on the inside of the checkbook reads: MADE IN TAIWAN. The checkbook also includes space for a pen.

  Compare 1986.0988.227 and 1986.0988.336.

  References:

  Frank Macias, “Calculating Friends: Delegate That Everyday Balancing Act to These Little Guys with Big Brains,” Los Angeles Times, November 19, 1978, p. O64.

  [Advertisement], Washington Post, February 13, 1981, p. A41. On sale for $29.95, regularly $34.95.

  date made

  1978-1981

  maker

  National Semiconductor Corporation

  ID Number

  1986.0988.148

  catalog number

  1986.0988.148

  accession number

  1986.0988

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Hewlett-Packard HP-35 Handheld Electronic Calculator

  Description

  The HP-35 was the first handheld electronic calculator to display all the functions represented on a slide rule. It has a black plastic case and a total of thirty-five square or rectangular plastic keys. These include ten digit keys, a decimal point key and a pi key, all colored tan. In addition there are four arithmetic function left of the digit keys, a relatively long enter key, a change sign key, an enter exponent key, a clear x key, and a clear key, all in blue. Additional black keys are for powers, logs to base ten, natural logs, exponents, square roots, trigonometric functions (sine, cosine, tangent and the inverses of these), simple inverses, exchange, roll down, store, and recall. Above the keys is an on-off switch. There is no hole next to the switch to indicate that the display is on, as there was in the very first HP-35 calculators. Behind the switch is a red LED display that shows results. Numbers with absolute value between one hundredth and 10 billion are given in decimal form. Smaller or larger figures appear in scientific notation, with the appropriate power of ten occupying the three rightmost digit places (two for digits, one for a sign). The negative sign for the result, if needed, is at the far left. A mark on the front edge of the calculator reads: hp HEWLETT•PACKARD.

  The back of the calculator has a plug for a three-prong power adapter, a compartment for a battery pack, four rubber feet, and a sticker entitled: HEWLETT•PACKARD MODEL 35 INSTRUCTIONS. Text below the sticker reads: HEWLETT-PACKARD (/) 3.75V 500MW (/) MADE IN USA PATENT PENDING. A sticker inside the battery pack reads: HEWLETT-PACKARD (/) SER.NO. 1249A 11780. The portion 1249 of the serial number indicates that it was made in the forty-ninth week of 1972. A red sticker on the lid of the battery pack reads: CAUTION (/) USE ONLY H. P. BATTERY PACK (/) MODEL NO 82001A (/) OTHER BATTERIES MAY DAMAGE CIRCUITS. A sticker on the outside top of the calculator reads: PROPERTY OF (/) Dr. R. E. Zupko.

  In addition to the calculator, the gray plastic case contains a power adapter (1991.0210.01.2) labeled in part: HEWLETT - PACKARD (/) MODEL 82002A. It also has a carrying pouch (1991.0210.1.3). For the related manual, see 1991.0210.02.

  In this and a few other early HP-35 electronic calculators, entering the function 2.02 ln (e ^x) gave a result of 2 rather than 2.02. In this example, the owner chose not to have the error fixed.

  The donor, Ronald E. Zupko, was an historian of weights and measures and a professor at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

  References:

  W.A.C. Mier-Jedrzejowicz, A Guide to HP Handheld Calculators and Computers , Tustin, California: Wilson/Burnett Publishing, 1997, pp. 36–39, 132.

  David G. Hicks, The Museum of HP Calculators, http://www.hpmuseum.org/, accessed July, 2014.

  Thomas M. Whitney, France Rodé, and Chung C. Tung, “The ‘Powerful Pocketful’: an Electronic Calculator Challenges the Slide Rule,” Hewlett-Packard Journal, June 1972, pp. 2-9.

  Accession file.

  date made

  1972

  maker

  Hewlett-Packard Company

  ID Number

  1991.0210.01.1

  catalog number

  1991.0210.01.1

  accession number

  1991.0210

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Personal Digital Assistant, Apple Cadillac PDA

  Description

  This portable, pen-operated personal digital assistant has a black plastic case and a clear screen. A space for an electronic pen is above the screen, although the pen presently with the device does not fit into the space. The pen can be plugged in to either the left or the right side of the Cadillac.

  Below the screen is an Apple logo. A tag on the left of the screen reads: SEUTØ13. A tag on the back reads: SEUTØ13 (/) IC.

  The Cadillac is a manufacturer’s prototype of the Newton personal digital assistant – Apple would sell the Newton from 1993 until 1998. This example of the Cadillac was owned by Rodney Sol Furmanski (1963-2009), a mechanical engineer by training who worked at Claris as a test engineer. He used the object to test the Newton operating system.

  Source:

  Accession file.

  date made

  ca1990

  maker

  Apple Computer, Inc.

  ID Number

  2010.0023.1

  accession number

  2010.0023

  catalog number

  2010.0023.1

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Altair 8800 Microcomputer Plug-In Card

  Description

  A computer board for the Altair 8800 microcomputer.

  Not long after Intel introduced its 8080 microprocessor, a small firm in Albuquerque, New Mexico, named MITS (Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems) announced a computer kit called the Altair, which met the social as well as technical requirements for a small personal computer. MITS succeeded where other, more established firms had failed, and it was their machine that inaugurated the personal computer age. MITS got its start in computing in 1971, when it introduced an electronic calculator kit. Several thousand sold before 1974, when the sharp reduction in calculator prices drove the company out of that market.

  H. Edward Roberts, the Florida-born former U.S. Air Force officer who headed MITS, decided to design a small, affordable computer around the Intel 8080. His daughter named the new machine after the star Altair. It was the first microcomputer to sell in large numbers. In January 1975, a photograph of the Altair appeared on the cover of the magazine Popular Electronics. The caption read “World's First Minicomputer Kit to Rival Commercial Models.” According to the magazine, the machine sold as a kit for $395, and assembled for $498. Roberts had hoped to break even by selling 200 Altairs. Within three months he had a backlog of 4,000 orders.

  Enthusiasm for the Altair and other personal computers spawned computer hobbyist clubs, computer stores, newsletters, magazines, and conventions. By 1977, a host of companies, large and small, were producing microcomputers for a mass market. This phenomenon was abetted by a design decision to make the Altair an "open" machine. In other words, it passed data along a channel called a bus, whose specifications were not kept a secret. That way both MITS and other companies could add memory cards, cards to control a printer or other devices as long as they adhered to the published standards.

  This particular Altair was collected by the Smithsonian because it documents how hobbyists would outfit the machine with additional parts and components. The user added his own keyboard, monitor, disk drive, and 17 plug-in boards to expand the computer’s capability. Unfortunately, the original owner of the kit is unknown. The computer was donated to the Smithsonian by a second owner, Mark Sienkiewicz, who purchased it as a collectable item and never used it.

  date made

  1975

  maker

  Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems

  ID Number

  2007.0032.05.01

  catalog number

  2007.0032.05.01

  accession number

  2007.0032

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Apple Newton MessagePad Model H1000

  Description

  Apple released the Newton MessagePad Model H1000 in 1993 as one of the first personal digital assistant (PDA) devices. The device sported a 20 megahertz ARM 610 processor with 630 kilobytes of RAM and was powered by four AAA batteries. The MessagePad was designed to store contacts, notes, and calendars, and to provide word processing and rudimentary Internet browsing. The MessagePad’s most revolutionary feature was that it accepted handwriting input via a pen stylus. The novelty of handwriting recognition soon became notorious due its buggy translations, lampooned in popular culture, most notably in a week of Doonesbury comic strips.

  References:

  Apple, Inc., Newton Apple MessagePad Handbook, 1995.

  Kevin Strehlo, “Apple’s MessagePad is an Expensive Gadget at Best,” Info World, August 30, 1993, 1 & 104.

  date made

  1993

  maker

  Apple Computer, Inc.

  ID Number

  1999.0290.01

  accession number

  1999.0290

  catalog number

  1999.0290.01

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Microcomputer, Google Glass

  Description

  The Google Glass, a wearable microcomputer, consists of a silver and black colored headset with an optical display (glass), worn like a pair of glasses. The wearer communicates with the internet via touch and voice commands. Information is displayed on the glass (screen) mounted just above the right eye or it may be read to the wearer. The power button is located on the inner side near the temple. The device is designed with built in camera (for pictures and videos, located on the front next to the glass) and a speaker (located on the inner side of the arm, behind the right ear). The battery is located near the end of the right arm.

  Accessories included are two carrying cases, clear shield with protective case, sun shades with a protective case, power adapter, USB power cord, and nose guards.

  This example was received with a box marked Explorer Edition model no. XE-B.

  It was worn by Google executive Vinton Cerf.

  date made

  ca 2013

  wearer

  Cerf, Vinton

  maker

  Google, Inc.

  ID Number

  2016.0058.01

  model number

  XE-B

  accession number

  2016.0058

  catalog number

  2016.0058.01

  maker number

  ELDMB132215684

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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