The Power of Vintage
Apple II GS
"A Colorful Apple Always Tastes Better"
Manufactured from 1986 until 1992, the Apple IIGS was the first truly multimedia Apple computer. Steve Wozniak was involved in the design and layout of the computer. Based on a 16-bit CPU, the IIGS offers significantly improved graphics and sound compared to earlier Apple II models, while being fully compatible with them (via the Mega II chip). The computer was sold for $999 or about $2,640 in today’s money.
- About 1 million units were ever sold, and the first 50,000 units had a reproduced copy of Wozniak's signature at the front right corner of the case ("Woz Edition")
- GS stands for "Graphics and Sound"
FM Towns
"The Japanese Multimedia PC"
Manufactured by Fujitsu from early 1989 to 1997, FM Towns is a Japanese multimedia computer based on x86 Intel CPUs and a CD-ROM drive. The computer offered a 24-bit color palette, hardware graphics, and sound capabilities similar to an arcade system
- About 500,000 FM Towns were ever sold
- The initial price was 338,000 yen (something like $3,000 in today’s money)
About
About BinaryValue.com -A Tribute to Innovative Computers & their Engineers -
This website is a tribute to all vintage computers and their engineers who worked day and night to build these amazing machines.
Special thanks go to:
- Jay Glenn Miner (the Amiga's father and engineer on the Atari 2600 & Atari 8-bit family)
- Dave Haynie (chief engineer at Commodore International)
- Clive Sinclair (inventor of the ZX Spectrum)
- Steve Bosniak (the brains behind Apple computers)
- Tim Berners-Lee (inventor of the World Wide Web)
- Linus Torvalds (main developer of the Linux kernel)
Alto
Xerox Alto.. the Grandpa of Modern Computing
Designed in 1972 and released in March 1973, Xerox Alto is a revolutionary hardware built by Xerox PARC (Palo Alto Research Center). The innovations brought by Alto included the first-ever Graphical User Interface, LAN, optical mouse, and high-res bitmapped display. The Alto was also the first computer to use a laser printer, another invention by Xerox. The Xerox Alto wasn’t a commercial computer, it was a research prototype used by universities and the Xerox PARC.
- 120 Alto I and 2,000 Alto II were ever produced (universities used 500 machines)
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