Computing Innovations

People and organizations that made history...

Computing Innovations

←1940→

  • ENIAC, the 1st generally-programmable computer by the US Army (1946)
  • PLANKALKUL, the 1st High-Level Programming Language by Konrad Zuse (1948)

←1950→

  • SIMON, the 1st Personal Computer by Edmund Berkeley (1950)
  • AN/FSQ-7, the 1st computer with RTG Display by IBM (1951)
  • HD, the world's 1st computer hard disk drive (IBM, 1956)
  • FORTRAN, the 1st High-Level Programming Language by John W. Backus (1957)
  • BELL 101 MODEM, the first commercial-use modem (Bell Laboratories, 1959)

←1960→

  • PACKET SWITCHING (theory) by Leonard Kleinrock (MIT, 1961)
  • BASIC PROGRAMMING language by John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz (Dartmouth College, 1964)
  • SIMULA, the 1st Object-Oriented Programming Language by Ole-Johan Dahl & Kristen Nygaard (1967)
  • PEROTTINA (Programma 101), the 1st commercial desktop computer by Pier Perotto (Olivetti, 1965)
  • ARPANET, the father of today's internet by the US Army (1967)
  • FD (Floppy disk drive), invented by IBM (1967)
  • DRAM (Dynamic Random-Access Memory) by Robert Dennard (1968)
  • UNIX, the large-scale networking OS by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, and other developers (Bell Labs, 1969)
  • LASER PRINTER, invented by Gary Starkweather (Xerox, 1969)

←1970→

  • INTEL 1103, the 1st DRAM chip (1970)
  • TCP/IP protocol suite by Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn (1970)
  • INTEL 4004, the 1st CPU on a single chip by Federico Faggin, Ted Hoff, and Stanley Mazor (1971)
  • eMail, invented by Ray Tomlinson (ARPANET, 1971)
  • C Programming language, invented by Dennis Ritchie (1972)
  • ETHERNET, invented by Robert Metcalfe (Xerox, 1973)
  • XEROX ALTO, 1st personal computer with a mouse-driven GUI (1973)
  • SEQUEL (later SQL), invented by Donald Chamberlin and Raymond Boyce (IBM, 1974)
  • APPLE 1, the 1st computer with a single-circuit board and ROM by Steve Wozniak (Apple, 1976)
  • COMMODORE PET, 1st widely-available educational computer (Commodore, 1977)

←1980→

  • VRAM (Video RAM), by F. Dill, D. Ling, and R. Matick (IBM, 1980)
  • MIDI, the 1st MIDI interface designed by Dave Smith and Chet Wood (1981)
  • ARM1, the 1st commercial RISC processor by Sophie Wilson and Steve Furber (Acorn, 1985)
  • AMIGA, the 1st multimedia personal computer (Commodore, 1985)

←1990→

Compare 16-bit Computers

A comparison of 16-bit computer systems (IBM, Apple, Amiga, Atari, and Acorn Archimedes).A comparison of 16-bit computer systems

By comparing the features and the price tag (in today's money) of different systems, we can understand how well these computers were competing against each other.

Notes:

  • The Sinclair QL and the Acorn Archimedes computers were originally priced in British Pounds. Therefore, today's money figures in the table are calculated based on the relative exchange rate between GBP and USD. Today, the GBPUSD exchange rate is at 1.22.

Table: Comparing major 16-bit Computer Systems

Comparing major 16-bit Computer Systems

 

■ Compare Popular 16-bit Computers

BinaryValue.com (c) 2022

 

> FIND MORE

□ BinaryValue.com
 » About » Retro Collection » Posters (+)
» Sega Saturn » Atari Jaguar » Vectrex
» GameBoy    
» Psygnosis » Lucasfilm » Roland MT-32 Midi