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MITS Altair
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Computers
The January edition of Popular Electronics featured the Altair 8800 computer
kit, based on Intel's 8080 microprocessor, on its cover. Within weeks of the
computer's debut, customers inundated the manufacturing company, MITS, with
orders. Bill Gates and Paul Allen licensed BASIC as the software language for
the Altair. Ed Roberts invented the 8800 -- which sold for $297, or $395 with
a case -- and coined the term "personal computer." The machine came
with 256 bytes of memory (expandable to 64K) and an open 100-line bus structure
that evolved into the S-100 standard. In 1977, MITS sold out to Pertec, which
continued producing Altairs through 1978.
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Networks
Telenet, the first commercial packet-switching network and civilian equivalent
of ARPANET, was born. The brainchild of Larry Roberts, Telenet linked
customers in seven cities. Telenet represented the first value-added network,
or VAN -- so named because of the extras it offered beyond the basic service of
linking computers.
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Felsenstein's VDM
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Computers
The visual display module (VDM) prototype, designed in 1975 by Lee Felsenstein,
marked the first implementation of a memory-mapped alphanumeric video display
for personal computers. Introduced at the Altair Convention in Albuquerque in
March 1976, the visual display module allowed use of personal computers for
interactive games.
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Tandem-16
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Computers
Tandem Computers tailored its Tandem-16, the first fault-tolerant computer, for
online transaction processing. The banking industry rushed to adopt the
machine, built to run during repair or expansion.
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