The First West Coast Computer Faire is held, in San Francisco's Brooks
Civic Auditorium. Nearly 13,000 attended the weekend event.
Commodore Business Machines Inc. unveils its PET computer at the West Coast
Computer Faire. The PET includes a 6502 CPU, 4KB RAM, 14KB ROM, keyboard,
display, and tape drive, for US$600.
Apple Computer introduces the Apple
II at the West Coast Computer Faire. The computer features a 6502 CPU,
4KB RAM, 16KB ROM, keyboard, 8-slot motherboard, game paddles, graphics/text
interface to color display, and built-in BASIC, for US$1300. It is the
first personal computer with color graphics.
Radio Shack (a division of Tandy Corp.) announces the TRS-80 microcomputer,
with Z80 CPU, 4KB RAM, 4KB ROM, keyboard, black-and-white video display,
and tape cassette for US$600.
Apple Computer demonstrates its first
working prototype Apple II disk drive at the Consumer Electronics Show,
in Las Vegas.
Ward Christianson and Randy Suess begin building the Computerized Bulletin
Board System, in Chicago, Illinois.
February
The first major microcomputer bulletin board, run by Ward Christensen and
Randy Seuss, goes online, in Chicago, Illinois, USA.
March
The Second West Coast Computer Faire is held, in San Jose, California.
May
Intel begins production of the 8086
microprocessor.
June
Intel releases its 8086 microprocessor.
It uses 16-bit registers, a 16-bit data bus, and 29,000 transistors. Price
is US$360. It can access 1 MB of memory.
Hermann Hauser founds Acorn Computers, in England.
1979
January
Microsoft moves its offices from
Albuquerque, New Mexico to Bellevue, Washington.
February
Intel introduces the 8088 microprocessor.
It was created as a stepping stone to the 8086, as it operates on 16 bits
internally, but supports an 8-bit data bus, to use existing 8-bit device-controlling
chips.
Zilog ships samples of the 16-bit Z-8000
processor.
April
Microsoft 8080 BASIC wins the ICP
Million Dollar Award, the first microprocessor product to do so.
Taito first shows the Space Invaders game, in Japan.
May
Software Arts demonstrates VisiCalc at the 4th West Coast Computer Faire.
Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankston wrote it during 1978-79, under the company
name Software Arts, under contract to Personal Software.
Seagate Technologies (hard disk maker)
is founded, in Scotts Valley, California.
(month unknown)
The National Computer Conference is held in New York.
(month unknown)
Tim Patterson of Seattle Computer Products demonstrates his 8086 card with
Microsoft at the LifeBoat Associates booth at the National Computer Conference.
(month unknown)
Apple Computer begins work on "Sara",
the code name for what will be the Apple III.
IBM introduces the IBM
3800 laser printer, capable of printing 20,000 lines per minute.
(month unknown)
D.C. Hayes introduces the 110/300 baud Micromodem II for the Apple II,
for US$380.
1980
January
Mike Harvey begins the Nibble magazine for Apple
Computer products.
Universal Data Systems announces the 103LP 300 bps modem, connecting directly
into the phone line, requiring no additional power. Price: US$195.
Morrow Designs advertises the 26 MB DISCUS M26 hard drive system for US$5000.
The first issue of S-Eighty is published, for TRS-80 enthusiasts.
The first issue of Computer Shopper is published.
Hewlett-Packard completes work on the Capricorn
project, producing the HP-85. With a 32-character wide CRT display, small
built-in printer, cassette tape recorder, and keyboard, it sold for US$3250.
Microsoft begins development on
an 8086 version of AT&T's UNIX operating
system.
Sinclair Research announces the ZX80 computer in the North American market.
It uses a 3.25-MHz NEC Technologies 780-1
8-bit microprocessor, and comes with 1KB RAM and 4KB ROM.
Atari ad: "Atari promises to be the most popular Personal Computer System
of the 1980's!".
Microsoft Corp. announces its first
hardware product, the Z-80 SoftCard for the Apple II. This card gives the
Apple II CP/M capability, contributing greatly to Apple
Computer's success. The card includes CP/M and Microsoft's
Disk BASIC, all for US$349. The announcement is made at the West Coast
Computer Faire in San Francisco. Tim Patterson of Seattle Computer Products
had built several prototypes before Microsoft's
Don Burdis took over the project. In its first year of release, 25,000
units are sold.
Satellite Software International ships WordPerfect 1.0 for Data
General minicomputers.
At the West Coast Computer Faire, Adam Osborne approaches Les Felsenstein
with the idea of starting a computer company.
April
Tim Patterson begins writing an operating system for use with Seattle Computer
Products' 8086-based computer.
Data General announces the Eclipse MV/8000.
Code name during development was Gallifrey Eagle.
Seattle Computer Products decides to make their own disk operating system
(DOS), due to delays by Digital Research in releasing a CP/M-86 operating
system.
May
Apple Computer introduces the Apple
III at the National Computer Conference, in Anaheim, California. The Apple
III uses a 2-MHz 6502A microprocessor, and includes a 5.25-inch floppy
drive. Price ranges from US$4500 to US$8000.
Radio Shack introduces the TRS-80 Pocket Computer. It features a 24 character
display, with 1.9KB of programmable memory. Price is US$230.
Radio Shack introduces the Daisy Wheel Printer II for US$1960.
The last issue of S-Eighty is published.
IBM representatives meet with Microsoft's
Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer to talk about Microsoft
products, and home computers.
IBM asks Bill Gates to write the operating
system for their upcoming PC.
August
IBM meets with Microsoft
again, and shows plans for Project Chess, a personal computer. The code
name for the computer is "Acorn". Bill Gates argues that IBM
should use the 16-bit 8086, rather than the 8-bit 8080 processor.
QDOS 0.10 (Quick and Dirty Operating System) is shipped by Seattle Computer
Products. Even though it had been created in only two man-months, the DOS
worked surprisingly well. A week later, the EDLIN line editor was created.
EDLIN was supposed to last only six months, before being replaced.
Hal Lashlee and George Tate form Software Plus. The company later changes
its name to Ashton-Tate.
The first issue of Softalk magazine for Apple
Computer products appears.
Tim Patterson shows Microsoft his
86-DOS, written for the 8086 chip.
Software Publishing ships the pfs:File database program.
IBM meets with Microsoft
again, to formalize plans to work together in creating a new microcomputer.
October
Microsoft's Paul Allen contacts Seattle Computer Products' Tim Patterson,
asking for the rights to sell SCP's DOS to an unnamed client (IBM). Microsoft
pays less than US$100,000 for the right.
Bill Gates, Paul Allen, and Steve Ballmer meet with IBM
in Boca Raton, Florida, to deliver a report to IBM.
They propose that Microsoft be put in charge of the entire software development
process for IBM's new microcomputer, including
converting Seattle Computer Products' SCP-DOS to run on the computer.
Sol Libes quote in Byte magazine's ByteLines: "The 32-bit machine would
be 'overkill' for a personal computer.".
November
Microsoft and IBM
sign a contract for Microsoft to
develop certain software products for IBM's
microcomputer.
Atari sponsers the First National (US) Space Invaders Competition, in New
York. Bill Heineman of Whittier, California scores 165,200 to win an Asteroids
Table Top Video Game.
December
The archetypical fantasy adventure game, Zork, is brought from a mainframe
at M.I.T. into the world of microcomputers by Infocom, which was founded
for the purpose.
IBM delivers the first PC prototype to
Microsoft, so they can begin developing
BASIC and the machine's operating system.
Apple Computer becomes a publicly held
company, selling 4.6 million shares at US$22 per share. More than 40 Apple
employees and investors become instant millionaires.
Seattle Computer Products renames QDOS to 86-DOS, releasing it as version
0.3. Microsoft then bought non-exclusive
rights to market 86-DOS.
(month unknown)
(fall) Apple Computer ships the first
Apple III units in limited quantity.
