I’ve been trying to decide how to replace/ refurbish my aging self-built home workstation (XP, 4 GB RAM, 2.13Ghz Core 2 Duo processor). I have all the software I need for a software and web development powerhouse, so I need a platform to really take advantage of the toolkit.
With those thoughts in the back of my mind, I came across an article on Tech Republic entitled “Dust off that dinosaur computer”. Naturally, that got me thinking about – not my next, but my first computer (ca. 1983).
It was a Kaypro II with an 8-bit Zilog Z80 processor, 64KB of RAM and two 195KB 5-1/4” floppy drives. It ran the CP/M operating system and set me back 1,600 1983 dollars. It was “portable” (at about 26 pounds) with a keyboard that folded up and covered the floppy drives and 9” monochrome, text-only monitor. Its main claim to fame was the fact that Arthur C. Clarke used one to collaborate via modem from Sri Lanka on the screenplay for 2010, the sequel to 2001: A Space Odyssey.
With a “cheap” Epson dot-matrix printer (about $300), I was set up to write class materials, magazine articles, and software in assembly language, COBOL, and, later, Turbo Pascal (well, I only wrote enough COBOL on that machine to write a review). I also learned SQL using a public domain package named Silver SQL.
The aforementioned article provides a concise summary of the most important/most popular personal computers from the ‘70s and ‘80s. I recommend it for anyone who used these machines or who is curious about the early days of what were once called “microcomputers”.
