D-ROGERS@EDWARDS-2060.ARPA (11/05/85)
From: ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxt!houxm!mtuxo!drutx!druhi!lbl@ucb-vax.berkeley.edu (LocklearLB) > No, I don't remember when "PC" meant "a personal computer" in any >generic sense. And I doubt if you do either. The only PC's that existed >before IBM were "Pocket Computers". IBM coined the term personal >computer. >Excuse me, but I certainly hope you meant to put a :) after that sentence. >If you didn't, I'm sure that you never heard of an Apple personal computer >or a Radio Shack personal computer. Both were introduced years before >IBM entered the market. Neither of these was the first personal computer >by a long shot. The term "personal computer" has been around a lot >long than IBM's PC has. I hope to shout! How about the PDP-1, PDP-8, & PDP-11 by Digital Equipment Corp. The PDP stood for "Personal Data Processor" and was probably the first standalone interactive computer that didn't require massive resources needed to support a mainframe. I believe the first dates to the early 60's. -------
MRC@SIMTEL20.ARPA (Mark Crispin) (11/06/85)
1) The term "personal computer" has been around since at least the early 70's. 2) A PDP-n from DEC is a "Programmed Data Processor", not a "Personal Data Processor." The name came about because DEC was selling to organizations which had managerial problems in buying "computers" (which were multi-million dollar machines even though DEC's machines weren't) but could easily purchase a "programmed data processor." -------
hen@bu-cs.UUCP (Bill Henneman) (11/07/85)
To the best of my recollection, DEC didn't use the word personal in
conjuction with computer until the late 70's: they certainly weren't
using it in the 60's. I qoute from my 1963 edition of the DEC PDP1
handbook:
PDP stands for *Programmed Data Processor* and is a trademark
of Digital Equipment Corporation.
The same quote appears in my July, 1969 edition of DEC's
Introduction to Programming
PDP-8 Family Computers
and my 1970 edition of DEC's
Small Computer Handbook
I can find no expansion of the PDP acronym in any DEC manual with
a publication data later than 1970.oyster@uwmacc.UUCP (Vicious Oyster) (11/07/85)
In article <12156932787.14.MRC@SIMTEL20.ARPA> MRC@SIMTEL20.ARPA (Mark Crispin) writes: >1) The term "personal computer" has been around since at least the early >70's. >2) A PDP-n from DEC is a "Programmed Data Processor", not a "Personal Data >Processor." The name came about because DEC was selling to organizations >which had managerial problems in buying "computers" (which were multi-million >dollar machines even though DEC's machines weren't) but could easily purchase a >"programmed data processor." >------- Just a few more tidbits (from DEC's _Guide to Personal Computing_): DIGITAL made quite a sensation in 1960 by announcing the first "personal" computer, the PDP-1. The PDP-1 was different in another more important way. Users could change its programming midstream and "talk" to it through a simple keyboard. It answered by displaying messages or data on a small video screen or by typing on a printer. [Ed. note: What a concept!] The PDP-1 was the first commercial computer to offer this capability. It also has a picture, which looks sorta like a heathkit product from ten years ago. Interesting. - joel ({allegra,ihnp4,seismo}!uwvax!uwmacc!oyster)