PDP-11/44 boot prompt

From: Allison J Parent <allisonp_at_world.std.com>
Date: Sun Nov 1 20:35:21 1998

< personal computer. I would not consider the PDP a personal computer if
< I had one because it's not a personal computer. If you used a sedan

But, there were versions of the PDP-11 that were marketed as personal
computers. I can name not less than three different offering that were
desktop, personal, single user computers.

< to haul around heavy things, would you call it a truck?

No but it was never anything else nor could it be other than a taxi!
The problem is the computers were never called trucks or sedans.

Small computers that fit on a desk and are generally single user and
affordable by the then current standard were "personal computers".

Oh, a PC with an eithernet connection to a host is a WORKSTATION and
that is a valid use of the term.

The very flexibility and usefulness of small (desktop or deskside)
computers lent them to many different descriptions, names and uses
most overlaping.

Allison
Received on Sun Nov 01 1998 - 20:35:21 GMT