Berkeley Enterprises 1956 Report

From: Doug Yowza <yowza_at_yowza.com>
Date: Mon Jan 11 01:00:52 1999

On Sun, 10 Jan 1999, Mark Gregory wrote:

> Very interesting document, Doug, and fun to read. But I think that in 1956,
> a $4000 computer (Simon) could hardly be considered a home or personal
> computer. Wouldn't that have been more than most people's annual salary?
> I think on the price/performance scale, the Altair is the winner and still
> champion; it's price was probably in reach of more hobbyists.

$4000 was Berkeley's development cost. I've read that the plans for Simon
were published and that the estimated cost of parts was around $300. I
still haven't found those plans, however. If you wanted a lower cost (and
lower performance) personal computer, you simply need to read a little
further down the list about the Geniac ($17.95) and Tyniac ($9.95) kits.

Simon is the first personal computer I'm aware of, but it's certainly not
the only pre-Altair personal computer. Slowly but surely, I'll put up web
pages for about a dozen others from the 1950's, 1960's and 1970's.

-- Doug
Received on Mon Jan 11 1999 - 01:00:52 GMT