The Atari, RS model 1, and Apple 1 were first advertised in about 1976.
By the end of that year, I had built GJilDA, a computer for student use
in the local elementary school. With battery back up, it still runs and
may be destined for the Iowa State Historical Museum. Its not used
often. The Apple ][ was coming but didn't have any software at the
beginning.
My second production computer loosely named 604 for the FAA weather wire
it was made to monitor has a Z-80 with half a megabyte of RAM and ran
continuously from 1978 to 1997, missing only about 40 hours of
operation. It had more battery back up to allow runing for half an hour.
My first PC clone, an AT&T PC-6300 had its Y2K clock problem in 1984...
Wasn't hard to fix with a little TSR to update the clock but that needs
re assembling every 4 years... I don't know if it still works. Its here
under a pile somewhere.
For small quantities, there's no profit today in making a computer from
scratch these days.
The Osborne computer was a CP/M Z80 based portable. Only weighed 35 or
40 pounds with a 5" screen.
73, Jerry, K0CQ
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