History of Computers

[Karl-Ludwig Butte]

Hi hp41cx,

congratulation and thanks for the lovely booklet. Besides the historic machines its pictures, it's also a reminder of how difficult it is to produce a complete volume of computers of a certain time period. So I hope you don't mind when I'm adding the Rair Blackbox and the ICL PC (based on the Rair Blckbox) to the list of missing machines. The first generation of the ICL PC was based on the Intel 8085 CPU with Digital Research MP/M operating system. Yes, ICL offered a multi user operating environment for 4 RS232 terminals with 256 KB of main memory (4 x 64 KB) and pre-emptive multitasking. Later they upgraded to 8088 and 8086 processors and up to 1 MB of memory. When the IBM-PC arrived with single-tasking, single-user MS-Dos I wondered "who want this kind of machine?".

Although the eBook format you choosed is fun to look at on the screen, I'd like a pdf version for download regardles of a more complete book with suggested machines added or as it is now. If you could make a pdf downloadable version available it would be very much appreciated.

Thank you very much in advance.

Best regards

Karl