First "threshold" apps? (Was: "First PC" and other nonsense

From: Mike Ford <mikeford_at_netwiz.net>
Date: Fri Apr 23 15:59:24 1999

Without question, to me, my first PC was the IBM 1130. The whole system fit
in one room with plenty of space for storage, card reader, and line printer
and all associated supplies. I could sit at the system console and do
stuff, or just punch in my data on one of the keypunches, slip a program
deck in front and dump it in the card reader hopper. No trips to the comp
center and putting things in a pigeon hole, then waiting perhaps a couple
hours at times for my low priority job to execute, it ran right in front of
me in real time.

I could program it, it did my homework, and more than any other system it
opened the door to computing for me.
Received on Fri Apr 23 1999 - 15:59:24 BST