The First West Coast Computer Faire is held, in San Francisco's Brooks
Civic Auditorium. Nearly 13,000 attended the weekend event.
Commodore Business Machines Inc. unveils its PET computer at the West Coast
Computer Faire. The PET includes a 6502 CPU, 4KB RAM, 14KB ROM, keyboard,
display, and tape drive, for US$600.
Apple Computer introduces the Apple II at the West Coast Computer Faire.
The computer features a 6502 CPU, 4KB RAM, 16KB ROM, keyboard, 8-slot motherboard,
game paddles, graphics/text interface to color display, and built-in BASIC,
for US$1300. It is the first personal computer with color graphics.
Microsoft ships "Microsoft FORTRAN" for CP/M-based computers.
August, 1977
The PC 77 convention is held in Atlantic City the 27 and 28 of Aug. 150
manufacturers display their computer creation, one of the speaker is Dr
John Mauchly.
Radio Shack (a division of Tandy Corp.) announces the TRS-80 microcomputer,
with Z80 CPU, 4KB RAM, 4KB ROM, keyboard, black-and-white video display,
and tape cassette for US$600.
Apple Computer demonstrates its first working prototype Apple II disk drive
at the Consumer Electronics Show, in Las Vegas.
Ward Christianson and Randy Suess begin building the Computerized Bulletin
Board System, in Chicago, Illinois.
February, 1978
The first major microcomputer bulletin board, run by Ward Christensen and
Randy Seuss, goes online, in Chicago, Illinois, USA.
March, 1978
The Second West Coast Computer Faire is held, in San Jose, California.
May, 1978
Intel begins production of the 8086 microprocessor.
June, 1978
Intel releases its 8086 microprocessor. It uses 16-bit registers, a 16-bit
data bus, and 29,000 transistors. Price is US$360. It can access 1 MB of
memory.
Microsoft ships Microsoft COBOL.
Apple Computer introduces the Disk II, a 5.25 inch floppy disk drive linked
to the Apple II by cable. Price: US$495, including controller card.
The National Computer Conference is held in Anaheim, California. Attendance
is 57,240.
Pertec ceases production of the Altair.
August, 1978
MicroPro introduces WordMaster.
Digital Equipment opens a retail store in a shopping mall, for selling
small computer systems priced below US$10,000.
Paul Terrell demonstrates the Z80-based Exidy Sorcerer at the Personal
Computing Show in Philadelphia.
October, 1978
The first Personal Computer Expo is held, in New York City.
The first issue of SoftSide is published, for TRS-80 enthusiasts.
December, 1978
Epson announces the MX-80 dot matrix printer, which established a new standard
in high performance with low price for printers.
Atari announces the Atari 400 and 800 personal computers, using the 6502
microprocessor. The Atari 800 was code-named "Colleen".
Hermann Hauser founds Acorn Computers, in England.
1979
January, 1979
Microsoft moves its offices from Albuquerque, New Mexico to Bellevue, Washington.
February, 1979
Intel introduces the 8088 microprocessor. It was created as a stepping
stone to the 8086, as it operates on 16 bits internally, but supports an
8-bit data bus, to use existing 8-bit device-controlling chips.
Apple Computer releases DOS 3.2.
March, 1979
Zilog ships samples of the 16-bit Z-8000 processor.
April, 1979
Microsoft 8080 BASIC wins the ICP Million Dollar Award, the first microprocessor
product to do so.
Taito first shows the Space Invaders game, in Japan.
May, 1979
Software Arts demonstrates VisiCalc at the 4th West Coast Computer Faire.
Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankston wrote it during 1978-79, under the company
name Software Arts, under contract to Personal Software.
A group of Apple Computer engineers is given a demo of Xerox Palo Alto
Research Center's Alto computer system, in exchange for Xerox buying 100,000
Apple Computer shares for US$1 million.
Seagate Technologies (hard disk maker) is founded, in Scotts Valley, California.
(month unknown), 1979
The National Computer Conference is held in New York.
(month unknown), 1979
Tim Patterson of Seattle Computer Products demonstrates his 8086 card with
Microsoft at the LifeBoat Associates booth at the National Computer Conference.
(month unknown), 1979
Apple Computer begins work on "Sara", the code name for what will be the
Apple III.
IBM introduces the IBM 3800 laser printer, capable of printing 20,000 lines
per minute.
(month unknown), 1979
D.C. Hayes introduces the 110/300 baud Micromodem II for the Apple II,
for US$380.
1980
January, 1980
Mike Harvey begins the Nibble magazine for Apple Computer products.
Universal Data Systems announces the 103LP 300 bps modem, connecting directly
into the phone line, requiring no additional power. Price: US$195.
Morrow Designs advertises the 26 MB DISCUS M26 hard drive system for US$5000.
The first issue of S-Eighty is published, for TRS-80 enthusiasts.
The first issue of Computer Shopper is published.
Hewlett-Packard completes work on the Capricorn
project, producing the HP-85. With a 32-character wide CRT display, small
built-in printer, cassette tape recorder, and keyboard, it sold for US$3250.
Microsoft begins development on an 8086 version of AT&T's UNIX operating
system.
Sinclair Research announces the ZX80 computer in the North American market.
It uses a 3.25-MHz NEC Technologies 780-1 8-bit microprocessor, and comes
with 1KB RAM and 4KB ROM.
Atari ad: "Atari promises to be the most popular Personal Computer System
of the 1980's!".
Microsoft Corp. announces its first hardware product, the Z-80 SoftCard
for the Apple II. This card gives the Apple II CP/M capability, contributing
greatly to Apple Computer's success. The card includes CP/M and Microsoft's
Disk BASIC, all for US$349. The announcement is made at the West Coast
Computer Faire in San Francisco. Tim Patterson of Seattle Computer Products
had built several prototypes before Microsoft's Don Burtis took over the
project. In its first year of release, 25,000 units are sold.
Satellite Software International ships WordPerfect 1.0 for Data General
minicomputers.
At the West Coast Computer Faire, Adam Osborne approaches Les Felsenstein
with the idea of starting a computer company.
April, 1980
Tim Patterson begins writing an operating system for use with Seattle Computer
Products' 8086-based computer.
Data General announces the Eclipse MV/8000. Code name during development
was Gallifrey Eagle.
Seattle Computer Products decides to make their own disk operating system
(DOS), due to delays by Digital Research in releasing a CP/M-86 operating
system.
May, 1980
Apple Computer introduces the Apple III at the National Computer Conference,
in Anaheim, California. The Apple III uses a 2-MHz 6502A microprocessor,
and includes a 5.25-inch floppy drive. Price ranges from US$4500 to US$8000.
Radio Shack introduces the TRS-80 Pocket Computer. It features a 24 character
display, with 1.9KB of programmable memory. Price is US$230.
Radio Shack introduces the Daisy Wheel Printer II for US$1960.
The last issue of S-Eighty is published.
IBM representatives meet with Microsoft's Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer
to talk about Microsoft products, and home computers.
IBM asks Bill Gates to write the operating system for their upcoming PC.
August, 1980
IBM meets with Microsoft again, and shows plans for Project Chess, a personal
computer. The code name for the computer is "Acorn". Bill Gates argues
that IBM should use the 16-bit 8086, rather than the 8-bit 8080 processor.
QDOS 0.10 (Quick and Dirty Operating System) is shipped by Seattle Computer
Products. Even though it had been created in only two man-months, the DOS
worked surprisingly well. A week later, the EDLIN line editor was created.
EDLIN was supposed to last only six months, before being replaced.
Hal Lashlee and George Tate form Software Plus. The company later changes
its name to Ashton-Tate.
Microsoft announces the Microsoft XENIX OS, a portable and commercial version
of the UNIX operating system for the Intel 8086, Zilog Z8000, Motorola
M68000, and Digital Equipment PDP-11.
Apple Computer releases DOS 3.3.
September, 1980
Microsoft decides to propose to IBM that they provide the operating system
for IBM's microcomputer.
The "Dirty Dozen" is formed, the 12 engineers assembled to design and build
the IBM PC, in Boca Raton, Florida. The PC's code name is Acorn.
Apple Computer sells over 78,000 Apple II computers during the fiscal year.
The first issue of Softalk magazine for Apple Computer products appears.
Tim Patterson shows Microsoft his 86-DOS, written for the 8086 chip.
Software Publishing ships the pfs:File database program.
IBM meets with Microsoft again, to formalize plans to work together in
creating a new microcomputer.
October, 1980
Microsoft's Paul Allen contacts Seattle Computer Products' Tim Patterson,
asking for the rights to sell SCP's DOS to an unnamed client (IBM). Microsoft
pays less than US$100,000 for the right.
Bill Gates, Paul Allen, and Steve Ballmer meet with IBM in Boca Raton,
Florida, to deliver a report to IBM. They propose that Microsoft be put
in charge of the entire software development process for IBM's new microcomputer,
including converting Seattle Computer Products' SCP-DOS to run on the computer.
Sol Libes quote in Byte magazine's ByteLines: "The 32-bit machine would
be 'overkill' for a personal computer.".
November, 1980
Microsoft and IBM sign a contract for Microsoft to develop certain software
products for IBM's microcomputer.
Atari sponsers the First National (US) Space Invaders Competition, in New
York. Bill Heineman of Whittier, California scores 165,200 to win an Asteroids
Table Top Video Game.
December, 1980
The archetypical fantasy adventure game, Zork, is brought from a mainframe
at M.I.T. into the world of microcomputers by Infocom, which was founded
for the purpose.
IBM delivers the first PC prototype to Microsoft, so they can begin developing
BASIC and the machine's operating system.
Apple Computer becomes a publicly held company, selling 4.6 million shares
at US$22 per share. More than 40 Apple employees and investors become instant
millionaires.
Seattle Computer Products renames QDOS to 86-DOS, releasing it as version
0.3. Microsoft then bought non-exclusive rights to market 86-DOS.
(month unknown), 1980
(fall) Apple Computer ships the first Apple III units in limited quantity.
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