Mathatron & other stuff

From: Doug Yowza <yowza_at_yowza.com>
Date: Wed Aug 19 17:41:17 1998

On Wed, 19 Aug 1998, Alex Knight wrote:

> One of the more interesting machines that I have written
> an article about for my Web site is called a Mathatron, which
> was advertised as a desktop calculator/computer and sold as
> early as 1964.

Hi, Alex. I really think this is the coolest find yet. I have a desktop
programmable computer from 1959, but mine is analog. I haven't heard of
any desktop programmable solid-state digital machine that predates your
Mathatron.

> Another "crossover" machine that I have a little info
> (mainly pictures) of is the HP 9830, called a calculator
> but in fact a computer with BASIC.

The 9830 doesn't get discussed much, but it's one of my favorites.
There's a lot of noise on this list about the Altair, a "PC" from 1975
that was just a big box with lights and toggles. In 1972, the HP 9830 was
an elegant light-weight desktop computer with full alphanumeric keyboard,
built-in secondary storage, built-in display, built-in BASIC, and it just
plain works. There was nothing else remotely like it at the time, and it
was even reasonably priced (around $5000, I think).

-- Doug
Received on Wed Aug 19 1998 - 17:41:17 BST

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