What was the first desktop computer

Due to the slow nature of the system, it never quite gained traction among home PC users. On April 4, after the success of this first endeavor, the two childhood friends form their own software company, Microsoft. It sold like crazy. For the first time, non-geeks could write programs and make a computer do what they wished. It offers color graphics and incorporates an audio cassette drive for storage. I was the technical brains — I figured out how to do it, and did it, and documented it.

It has an Intel chip, two floppy disks and an optional color monitor. It also popularizes the term PC. It also features a drop-down menu and icons. It flops but eventually evolves into the Macintosh. The Gavilan SC is the first portable computer with the familiar flip form factor and the first to be marketed as a "laptop.

This was the company's response to Apple's GUI. Commodore unveils the Amiga , which features advanced audio and video capabilities. In early , Adam Osborne introduced the first portable computer.

The first laptop computer also arrived in , the Epson HX a. The HX was about 8. It displayed 4 lines of 20 characters on an LCD screen above the keyboard. Of course, the most significant event of for the personal computing industry was the introduction of the IBM PC on August Pretty much everything was an option, and everyone recognized that the IBM PC was based on ideas perfected in the Apple II, particularly general use expansion slots.

This paved the way for the clone industry, which in the end marginalized the influence of Big Blue. That was also the year that Microsoft Word 1. Apple introduced the first consumer machine with a mouse and graphical user interface, the Lisa. Personal Computer History Index: , , , , Present. Low End Mac is funded primarily through donations. Sales were weaker than projected, despite being widely praised by the press for its active matrix display, removable trackball, and high performance.

The line was discontinued less than two years later. It would serve as the model for several other significant multi-processor systems that would be among the fastest in the world. Based on Charles Babbage's second design for a mechanical calculating engine, a team at the Science Museum in London sets out to prove that the design would have worked as planned.

Apple's Macintosh Portable meets with little success in the marketplace and leads to a complete redesign of Apple's line of portable computers. All three PowerBooks introduced featured a built-in trackball, internal floppy drive, and palm rests, which would eventually become typical of s laptop design.

The PowerBook was the entry-level machine, while the PowerBook was more powerful and had a larger memory. The PowerBook was the high-end model, featuring an active matrix display, faster processor, as well as a floating point unit. The PowerBook line of computers was discontinued in Based on the Touchstone Delta computer Intel had built at Caltech, the Paragon is a parallel supercomputer that uses 2, later increased to more than four thousand Intel i processors.

More than one hundred Paragons were installed over the lifetime of the system, each costing as much as five million dollars. The Paragon at Caltech was named the fastest supercomputer in the world in Paragon systems were used in many scientific areas, including atmospheric and oceanic flow studies, and energy research.

Apple enters the handheld computer market with the Newton. The handwriting recognition software was much maligned for inaccuracy. The Newton line never performed as well as hoped and was discontinued in The Pentium introduced several advances that made programs run faster such as the ability to execute several instructions at the same time and support for graphics and music.

Using dual PowerPC CPUs, and featuring a large variety of peripheral ports, the first devices were used for software development. While it did not sell well, the operating system, Be OS, retained a loyal following even after Be stopped producing hardware in after less than 2, machines were produced. Officially known as the Track Write, the automatically expanding full-sized keyboard used by the ThinkPad is designed by inventor John Karidis. The keyboard was comprised of three roughly triangular interlocking pieces, which formed a full-sized keyboard when the laptop was opened -- resulting in a keyboard significantly wider than the case.

Palm Inc. Sony had manufactured and sold computers in Japan, but the VAIO signals their entry into the global computer market.

The first VAIO, a desktop computer, featured an additional 3D interface on top of the Windows 95 operating system as a way of attracting new users. The VAIO line of computers would be best known for laptops were designed with communications and audio-video capabilities at the forefront, including innovative designs that incorporated TV and radio tuners, web cameras, and handwriting recognition.

The line was discontinued in Until the year , it was the world's fastest supercomputer, able to achieve peak performance of 1. The machine was noted for its ease-of-use and included a 'manual' that contained only a few pictures and less than 20 words. The camera had a maximum resolution of 0. The J-Phone line would quickly expand, releasing a flip-phone version just a month later. Cameras would become a significant part of most phones within a year, and several countries have even passed laws regulating their use.

A consortium of aerospace, energy, and marine science agencies undertook the project, and the system was built by NEC around their SX-6 architecture. To protect it from earthquakes, the building housing it was built using a seismic isolation system that used rubber supports. The Earth Simulator was listed as the fastest supercomputer in the world from to Leaving Palm Inc.

After retiring their initial Visor series of PDAs, Handspring introduced the Treo line of smartphones, designed with built-in keyboards, cameras, and the Palm operating system. The Treo sold well, and the line continued until Handspring was purchased by Palm in With a distinctive anodized aluminum case, and hailed as the first true bit personal computer, the Apple G5 is the most powerful Macintosh ever released to that point. While larger than the previous G4 towers, the G5 had comparatively limited space for expansion.

Harkening back to the hobbyist era of personal computing in the s, Arduino begins as a project of the Interaction Design Institute, Ivrea, Italy. Each credit card-sized Arduino board consisted of an inexpensive microcontroller and signal connectors which made Arduinos ideal for use in any application connecting to or monitoring the outside world.

Nearly a quarter century after IBM launched their PC in , they had become merely another player in a crowded marketplace. Lenovo became the largest manufacturer of PCs in the world with the acquisition, later also acquiring IBM's server line of computers. Named in honor of the space shuttle which broke-up on re-entry, the Columbia supercomputer is an important part of NASA's return to manned spaceflight after the disaster.

Columbia was used in space vehicle analysis, including studying the Columbia disaster, but also in astrophysics, weather and ocean modeling. At its introduction, it was listed as the second fastest supercomputer in the world and this single system increased NASA's supercomputing capacity fold. The first offering to the public required the buyer to purchase one to be given to a child in the developing world as a condition of acquiring a machine for themselves.

By , over 2. Many companies have attempted to release electronic reading systems dating back to the early s. Online retailer Amazon released the Kindle, one of the first to gain a large following among consumers. The first Kindle featured wireless access to content via Amazon. The first release proved so popular there was a long delay in delivering systems on release.

Follow-on versions of the Kindle added further audio-video capabilities. Apple launches the iPhone - a combination of web browser, music player and cell phone - which could download new functionality in the form of "apps" applications from the online Apple store.

The touchscreen enabled smartphone also had built-in GPS navigation, high-definition camera, texting, calendar, voice dictation, and weather reports. Apple introduces their first ultra notebook — a light, thin laptop with high-capacity battery. The Air incorporated many of the technologies that had been associated with Apple's MacBook line of laptops, including integrated camera, and Wi-Fi capabilities. To reduce its size, the traditional hard drive was replaced with a solid-state disk, the first mass-market computer to do so.

The Roadrunner is the first computer to reach a sustained performance of 1 petaflop one thousand trillion floating point operations per second. It was used to model the decay of the US nuclear arsenal, analyze financial data, and render 3D medical images in real-time. The Jaguar was used to study climate science, seismology, and astrophysics applications. It was the fastest computer in the world from November to June Since the release of the Macintosh in , Apple has placed emphasis on high-resolution graphics and display technologies.

With a screen resolution of up to pixels-per-inch PPI , Retina displays approached the limit of pixel visibility to the human eye. The display also used In Plane Switching IPS technology, which allowed for a wider viewing angle and improved color accuracy.

The machines were used by the Chinese Academy of Sciences to run massive solar energy simulations, as well as some of the most complex molecular studies ever undertaken. The iPad combines many of the popular capabilities of the iPhone, such as built-in high-definition camera, access to the iTunes Store, and audio-video capabilities, but with a nine-inch screen and without the phone. Apps, games, and accessories helped spur the popularity of the iPad and led to its adoption in thousands of different applications from movie making, creating art, making music, inventory control and point-of-sale systems, to name but a few.

Despite using 98, PowerPC chips, Sequoia's relatively low power usage made it unusually efficient. Scientific and defense applications included studies of human electrophysiology, nuclear weapon simulation, human genome mapping, and global climate change. Conceived in the UK by the Raspberry Pi Foundation, this credit card-sized computer features ease of use and simplicity making it highly popular with students and hobbyists. In October , the one millionth Raspberry Pi was shipped.

Only one month later, another one million Raspberry Pis were delivered. The University of Michigan Micro Mote M3 is the smallest computer in the world at the time of its completion.

Three types of the M3 were available — two types that measured either temperature or pressure and one that could take images. The motes were powered by a tiny battery and could gain light energy through a photocell, which was enough to feed the infinitesimally small amount of energy a mote consumes 1 picowatt.

An ecologist, for example, could sprinkle thousands of motes from the air onto a field and measure soil and air temperature, moisture, and sunlight, giving them accurate real-time data about the environment.

Building a computer into the watch form factor has been attempted many times but the release of the Apple Watch leads to a new level of excitement. Incorporating a version of Apple's iOS operating system, as well as sensors for environmental and health monitoring, the Apple Watch was designed to be incorporated into the Apple environment with compatibility with iPhones and Mac Books.

Almost a million units were ordered on the day of release. The Watch was received with great enthusiasm, but critics took issue with the somewhat limited battery life and high price. Timeline of Computer History. By Year By Category Search. Computers Popular Culture Curt Herzstark designs Curta calculator Curta Model 1 calculator. Harvard Mark 1 is completed Harvard Mark 1 is completed. Plans to build the Simon 1 relay logic machine are published Simon featured on the November Scientific American cover.

Minuteman I missile guidance computer developed Minuteman Guidance computer. The Atlas Computer debuts Chilton Atlas installation. Olivetti Programma is released Olivetti Programma Intel introduces the first microprocessor Advertisement for Intel's Micral is released Micral.

Wang Laboratories releases the Wang Wang Tandem Computers releases the Tandem Dual-processor Tandem 16 system. Intel and Zilog Z Zilgo Z microprocessor. Steve Wozniak completes the Apple-1 Apple-I. Motorola introduces the microprocessor Die shot of Motorola Osborne 1 introduced Osborne I.

Sun Microsystems is founded Sun-1 workstation. The Amiga is released Music composition on the Amiga Laser is released Laser Apple II clone. Macintosh Portable is introduced Macintosh Portable. PowerBook series of laptops is introduced PowerBook laptop computer. Intel Paragon is operational Intel Paragon system. Sony Vaio series is begun Sony Vaio laptop. Handspring Treo is released Colligan, Dubinsky, Hawkins left to right.