[vcf-midatlantic] our new museum -- micro exhibit -- pick 28!

[Bob Applegate]

>>> 
> For the most part, I agree with Dean's choices, except that I would INCLUDE the SWTPC 6800 and EXCLUDE the home brew PDP-8 clone.  Back in the mid seventies, if you were shopping for a computer system there were 2 primary bus choices in play, the S-100 bus and the SS-50 bus.  SWTPC was a major player in the day, offering a real alternative to the Intel/Zilog world for Motorola enthusiasts. SWTPC was big in the kit business dealing directly with hobbyists. Even though I built an IMSAI, I feel the SWTPC was very important for the time. Your PDP-8 clone while very unique, isn't historically significant for me.  Well that's my $.02. 
> Regards,
> Jeff Galinat 

I agree with Jeff,  SWTPC was a very successful kit company that went into the micro business using their well-honed manufacturing know-how to produce inexpensive but high quality kits.  They probably dragged people into the microcomputer revolution because someone would have interest in their other products but then see something about a COMPUTER in their nice brochures.  “A computer?  Say what?  I can build my own computer as well as one of these nice audio amps?"

Atari could easily be included because the SIO bus, which people thought was a joke back then, formed the basis for USB.  Ie, a “game” computer introduced a technology that everyone uses today.  It also had a formally defined operating system interface and expansion methods.  From an engineering perspective those were a big step forward from other “gaming” computers of the era, but the average person doesn’t appreciate that.  Sometimes the technology is significant, not necessarily the machine itself.

One of the big concepts that the display should show is that there was no overly dominate ANYTHING back in the early days.  Find me a home computer today that isn’t Intel or AMD based… pretty much none.  Between Windoze, OS X and Linux, that’s 99.99% of the market.  Many people don’t realize you could go to a computer club meeting in the 70s and the room was arguing over whether the 8080/6502/6800,2650/etc was the best processor, the assortment of disk operating systems, busses, octal versus hex, etc.  Having too many peecee based designs implies that IBM designs ruled from day one, which they did not.  The original IBM PC is significant, the rest are just modifications.

Bob