Tech Rumors/Legends?

From: John Foust <jfoust_at_threedee.com>
Date: Thu Jun 1 16:13:01 2000

At 01:33 PM 6/1/00 -0700, Doug Coward wrote:
>1. "The person that designed the Mindset PC later designed
>the Amiga." I realize that computers like the Amiga are not
>designed by just one person, but does anyone know anything
>about the people that helped design these computers?

If you have a list of people who worked on Mindset, I'm sure
we can compare it to the more-well-known list of people who
worked on the Amiga. Did you ever see this rumor in print?
Or where did it come from?

>2. About 1982 I started hearing that it was possible to
>build a camera for your pc by "cooking" an EPROM under
>UV light for an extended period until the memory cells

I remember RAM chip-based cameras, not EPROM. I remember
a magazine project for the Apple II. Early Byte, maybe?

>4. I've heard somewhere, and the source is lost to age,
>that - the Altair for the January 1975 article was just
>a empty case and that no regular orders for the Altair
>8800 where filled until April 1, 1975.

This is well-documented... or at least Ed Roberts has maintained
this alibi over the years. Supposedly they shipped the first
unit to R-E for the cover shot, but it never made it. Cynics
say it wasn't ready. I, too, wonder why you'd send a "real"
unit for a beauty shot, when the empty case would do the same.

- John
Received on Thu Jun 01 2000 - 16:13:01 BST