--
Before their operating system became
the de facto standard for the PC,
these two early pioneers of micro-
computer software founded Traf-O-Data.
Paul Allen and Bill Gates
--
He wrote the technical manual for
the Intel 4004 processor. His
publishing company was later merged
with McGraw Hill.
Adam Osborne
--
NERD
Two of the three engineers who are
credited with the invention of the
transistor.
Dr. John Bardeen, Dr. Walter Brattain,
and Dr. William Shockley
--
Which German is now recognized as
having invented the first stored
program computer in 1937.
Konrad Zuse
-----
PORTABLE COMPUTING
Although not the first to market a
portable IBM PC compatible computer,
this company is best known for it.
Compaq
--
This portable computer, while not the
first notebook, was very popular among
members of the press.
Tandy Model 100
--
The only portable computer ever sold
by Commodore International.
The Commodore SX-64
--
This relatively unknown portable
computer, which integrated the display,
keyboard and storage unit into one
luggable case, beat the widely regarded
"first" portable by almost 5 years.
THINK!
IBM 5100, released 1975, included a
CRT, tape drive, and featured BASIC and
APL interpreters
--
This computer is regarded as the first
notebook computer.
Epson HX-20, released November 1981
-----
ACRONYMS
The "TRS" in TRS-80 stands for this.
Tandy-Radio Shack
--
Xerox PARC is not a place where you go
to have picnics, but actually stands
for this.
Palo Alto Research Center
--
The Sun company name is derived from
this college acronym.
Stanford University Network
--
What does the PDP in PDP-8 and PDP-11
stand for?
Programmed Data Processor
--
What the "KIM" of the MOS Technologies
KIM-1 single board computer stands
for.
"Keyboard Input Monitor"
-----
LANGUAGES COMPUTERS SPEAK
This language is named after a great
16th century philosopher and
mathematician.
Pascal
--
Dr. Grace Murray Hopper was involved
in the development of this still widely
utilized business programming language.
COBOL
--
The cursor in this graphically
oriented language was replaced
by a "turtle".
LOGO
--
This language is stack based. Its name
does not designate what order it came
in.
FORTH
--
APL stands simply for this.
A Programming Language
-----
COMPUTERS IN THE MOVIES
What computer system did the character
David Lightman use in the movie
War Games?
IMSAI 8080
--
What palm-top computer did John Conner
in Terminator 2 use to hack the bank's
ATM and then later the Skynet door
locks?
Atari Portfolio
--
What computer did Flynn use to hack
into Encom in the movie Tron?
An Apple ///
--
The computer that was used to render
the graphics in The Last Star Fighter.
Cray 1
--
The computer that was used to render
the graphics in Tron.
PDP-10
-----
Round 2
KILLER APPS
Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankson invented
this killer app.
VisiCalc, released December 1979
--
It usurped VisiCalc's grip on the
spreadsheet market by riding on the
success of the IBM PC.
Lotus 123
--
This was the first in Infocom's long
line of text-based adventure games.
Zork
--
This popular program by Broderbund
allowed you to print your own greeting
cards, posters and banners.
Print Shop
--
SUPER NERD
Broderbund means this in Norwegian.
"Brother bond" (the company was founded
by two brothers, Doug and Gary
Carlston).
-----
OLD IRON
The computer game "Space War" was first
programmed on this old iron.
DEC PDP-1
--
When it was introduced in 1976, this
legendary supercomputer was the fastest
computer the world had ever seen.
Cray 1
--
The first English computer to implement
the stored program concept.
The EDSAC, completed in 1949
[Note from Sam: This was the one. The correct answer was, um, er, uh,
"BABY" in Manchester...right? :) ]
--
After their involvement on the ENIAC
project, J. Presper Eckert and John
Mauchly went on to build this early
dinosaur of computing.
UNIVAC, 1951
--
This system developed by IBM and
derived from the SAGE project was used
by the airline industry to handle
reservations.
SABRE (Semi-Automatic Business-Related
Environment), developed for American
Airlines
-----
HISTORICAL UNIX
Korn, Bourne and C are all versions of
this.
Unix command shells
--
Bill Joy authored this (in)famous Unix
text editor.
vi
--
These two programmers developed Unix
on a PDP-7.
Dan Thompson and David Ritchie
--
What does the "BSD" in the BSD flavor
of Unix stand for?
Berkeley Software Distribution
--
This was the first computer not
manufactured by DEC that Unix was
ported to.
Interdata 8/32
-----
OPERATING SYSTEMS
This was the first computer to feature
a graphical user interface.
The Xerox Alto, created in 1973 at the
Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, or
PARC.
--
Before being acquired and modified by
Microsoft for the then nascent IBM PC
in 1980, MS-DOS was formerly known as
this.
QDOS (Quick and Dirty Operating System)
by Seatle Computer Products.
Also 86-DOS and SCP DOS
--
Multiplexing Information and Computing
Service is better known as this early
operating system.
Multics
--
The policy of this operating system was
"No advertising, no support, no bug
fixes, payment in advance".
Unix
--
The first microprocessor-based computer
to run Unix.
The Z8000-based Onyx C8002 in 1980
-----
NERDPOURRI
This first mass-marketed kit computer
was named after the planet the crew of
the starship Enterprise were visiting
in that week's episode of Star Trek.
Altair 8800
--
Apple's GUI-based predecessor to the
Mac. While advanced for its time, it
was extremely expensive, costing
upwards of $10,000.
Apple Lisa, released in 1982
--
Of the Apple ][, the Commdore PET and
the TRS-80 Model 1, the computer which
was not exhibited at the first West
Coast Computer Faire.
TRS-80 Model 1, introduced in August
of 1977
--
This computer measured 12" wide by 12"
high by 12" deep and was all black,
except for the multi-colored logo.
NeXT
--
SUPER NERD
The year and month the IBM PC was first
introduced.
August 1981
-----
FINAL QUESTION (voided due to technical foul-up :)
COMPUTER INNOVATIONS
Originally invented by IBM as a way to transfer microcode updates, this
medium can be either hard-sectored or soft-sectored.
Floppy disk
-
FINAL QUESTION (actual)
SERIAL NUMBERS
It was the serial number of the first Apple ][ off the assembly line.
2001
Sam Alternate e-mail: dastar_at_siconic.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ever onward.
Coming in 1999: Vintage Computer Festival 3.0
See http://www.vintage.org/vcf for details!
[Last web site update: 09/21/98]
Received on Sat Oct 03 1998 - 20:08:25 BST
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.3.0 : Fri Oct 10 2014 - 23:31:23 BST