The computer is always replacing a stationary computer in our homes. Its portability and ability to connect to wireless internet significantly expands the scope of its use. However, the first laptop appeared a little over 30 years ago and its dimensions did not differ much from modern analogues.
Who Invented the Laptop?
The creation of the world's first laptop was carried out by Americans everywhere. By the middle of the twentieth century, the size of an average computer reached an entire room, equipped with hardware. In this case, a non-dedicated person could not easily use, as now.
Solving other problems faced by developers, the experts tried to tackle the problem of computer access to the average consumer, which at the time was considered very difficult. In 1968, laptop maker Alan Kay came up with a very bold idea, he proposed to create a portable device that would be no more than a notebook. At the same time, its capabilities should be no less than those of large cars and the user interface should be understandable to any user.
In 1978, the closest device to Kay's ideas was introduced by William Mogridge on behalf of NASA. It was called the "Grid Compass".
“What was the first laptop?”, Ask. His body was made of magnesium alloy, and the exposure was placed on the hanging cover and was luminescent. The information was stored on cylindrical magnetic disks. In the year of creation, it had a large capacity at the time - 340 kilobytes.
Ordinary users, however, believe that it is necessary to examine 1981, the time when the first laptop was created. After all, it was this year that Adam Osborn appeared in universal court. His descendants had a name consonant with the surname of the creator and was called Osborne 1.
Domestic computer industry
In the Soviet Union, too, was a laptop, its price was much higher than the average salary, but even for the big money to buy it was not real. This is why data on the domestic model can only be taken as reference information, as it was not available to the masses.
The first laptop in the family had a simple name "Electronics", like all products in the country, under the casing of which were hidden capacitors or transistors. In mass production model MC 1504 came in 1991. Its appearance, and technical specifications, a complete copy of the flying model T1100 Plus from Toshiba.
Of course, the parameters of "Electronics" were significantly different from the American pioneer. RAM was already 640 kilobytes, and the CGA video adapter was capable of a resolution of 650x200 pixels.
Few people know, but this month is marked by a very important anniversary, which is important for anyone who has ever had a laptop at their disposal. In April 2011, humanity celebrates the 30th anniversary of the first laptop on the market. Sure, you would be surprised, but Apple has nothing to do with this event, as the first such car was the Osborne 1 computer, which was sold in 1981.
The founder of Osborne Computer Corporation Adam Osborne (Adam Osborne) introduced this computer weighing 11 kg in April 1981, when the parents of your humble author thought only of the age of the child. However, another three months passed before the computer went into mass production.
It is worth noting that the Osbourne 1 was not the first car of its kind. However, it became the first personal computer that could be purchased. Five years before his appearance engineer Alan Kay (Alan Kay) designed and colleagues Doug Fairbairn (Doug Fairbairn), Adele Goldberg (Adele Goldberg) and Larry Tesler (Larry Tesler) gave birth to a prototype of a notebook laptop called (pictured below). Created this device was in the laboratory Xerox laboratory in the research center of Palo Alto, after which no light appeared nine more prototypes of laptops. Recall that at that time in the laboratory of this company were created many revolutionary technologies, one of which was a graphical user interface that implied the use of a mouse. It was after the visit to this laboratory,
If you look at Osbourne 1 and NoteTaker, the similarities between them can not be seen. So you can be very sure that Adam Osborn probably had the opportunity to get acquainted with the prototype from Xerox. Even if he did not, then most likely, it was possible to do it with designer Lee Felsenstein.
Needless to say, both Osborne and Felsenstein were regular members of the Homebrew Computer Club (HCC), founded in 1975, and became a place of worship for computer enthusiasts from all over California. The club was attended by tech fans from Silicon Valley, many of whom later became top industry leaders or even true masters of sentencing generations. Who are just the founders of Apple, Steve Jobs, and who were also members of this club. Therefore, we can assume that through HCC in Felsenstein and Osborn and got the opportunity to see the look of the NoteTaker. However, anyone who tried to create a laptop computer in the late '70s eventually came up with something very similar to the NoteTaker.
The Osborne 1, designed to fit the passenger seat on an aircraft, was made of durable plastic ABS and had two 5.25-inch floppy drives and a 5-inch CRT display with 52 symbols and 24 rows. All this fits under the plastic cover, which opened and had latches. Also under the cover was a 69-key keyboard, connected to the main device via a winding telephone cable.
Beneath the drives and screen, the Osborne 1 had ports: the IEEE 488 parallel port and the RS-232 serial connector. Behind them was the motherboard as well as the power transformer. Due to the lack of an integrated battery, the portability of the computer was very limited. The user could take it with him to work, but could not work with it wherever he wanted.
The Osborne 1 ran the CP / M 2.2 operating system and had a 4 megahertz Zilog Z80 processor. As for memory, its volume was 64 kilobytes, which is more than many computers of that time.
The computer costs $ 1795 (considering inflation this is equivalent to $ 4349 today) and comes with an impressive software package : BASIC Translator from Microsoft, Ashton-Tate dBase II database, PeachTree sales accounting software, program of Sorcim SuperCalc and MicroPro WordStar dynamic spreadsheets. In addition, Osborn included the game Colossal Cave and Infocom Deadline, which made this car not only a tool for work, but also a fun tool.
A large set of games and applications was a very attractive factor, however, the high sales of Osborne 1 ensured first of all its portability. People were very excited about the idea of a computer you could take with you. As a result, by the end of 1981, 11,000 machines had been sold, which is a very good result in the new computer market.
Osborne Computer Corporation became not only the first company to start selling laptops, but also the first to turn technology into a business. However, for a long time this success was not to be fate: ironically, the company managed to commit suicide in the market and the reason for this was its new production. In the textbooks for entrepreneurs you can find the concept of "Osborne Effect", and the name was given to this phenomenon in honor of this company.
Tell customers that they will soon get something even more interesting and stop buying the current model. So it was with the Osborne company, which took the self-improvement course, which also ruined it. However, everything is fine.
Osborne announced that in late 1982, the successor to the Osborne 1 computer, called the Osborne Executive, would enter the market. However, this did not happen until May 1983. The computer had a 7-inch widescreen display. But this was not the only parameter by which it exceeds Osborne 1: its price was $ 2,495, i.e., it was $ 700 more expensive than its predecessor. Of course, this was already a bust and the Executive was selling badly.
However, then it did not matter, since the sales volume of Osborne 1 and did not intend to decrease. This continued until the company announced the immediate release of the Vixen model, also known as the Osborne 4, which was designed to draw clientele from the first Osborne computer. As a result, this has led to a sharp drop in demand for Osborne 1, and even drastic price reductions (in August 1983 the cost of cars only $ 999) could not save the situation.
In September 1983, without waiting for Vixen to enter the market, Osborne Computer Company announced its bankruptcy. Adam Osborn himself was removed from the head position, and the company still existed for some time under the supervision of bankruptcy commissioners appointed by the court. The Vixen computer was still introduced in October 1984, and sales only went on the following year. However, at that time the world already had a new beast - the IBM PC, and Osborne was out of work. A year later, the company officially announced the cessation of its existence. Adam Osborne died in 2003 at the age of 64.
During this time, the development of laptops managed to pass some important milestones. Their computing power increased, battery life increased, and dimensions decreased. If in 1981, Osborne and the company without what transformed the idea that they began to develop, they would probably have experienced a great shock, changing the sense of pride in their basic creation.
For ingenuity I suggest you first browse Page Up and search on the first Osborne 1 laptop, and then go down and look at the final fruit of this evolutionary process - an ultra-thin and ultra-light MacBook Air 2011 I bet you definitely have in memory of the legendary scene from the Stanley Kubrick movie "2001: A Space Odyssey", where the bone is thrown a Neanderthal, "transformed" into a spaceship from the future. Although in this case it has not gone a few million, and a total of 30 years, comparing the MacBook Air and Osborne 1 is really comparable to comparing the spacecraft and bones.
The idea of creating a laptop, "the size of a notebook, which has a flat screen monitor, and who knows how to connect to the wireless network" appointed head of Xerox's research lab Alan Kay (Alan Key) in 1968, a machine called a notebook Today you can easily buy online by going to the site Euro-technika.com.ua. In the same place you will find many different techniques!
In 1979, at the behest of NASA, William Mogridge (Grid Systems) created the world's first Grid Compass notebook (340KB RAM, Intel 8086 8 MHz processor, fluorescent display). This notebook was used in the Shuttle Space program.
Usual first model Osborne-1 (weight 11 kg, RAM 64K, Zilog Z80A CPU with a clock frequency of 4 MHz, two 5.25-inch drive, three ports, including a modem, a monochrome screen 8,75h6,6 cm , containing 24 lines of 52 characters, 69 keys) was created by inventor Adam Osborne in 1981 and released on the market at a price of $ 1795. Due to a marketing error that the start of sales of the Osborne-1 was announced long before the first cars were put up for sale, the company went bankrupt.
In 1982, the company successfully introduced the Compaq IBM PC-compatible laptop based on the Intel 8080 processor. Since 1983, many computer technology manufacturers have had their own line of laptops (e.g. Epson HX-20) . In 1984, Apple released the first laptop with an LCD. In 1986, IBM introduced the first "transformable" notebook model based on the Intel processor (5.4 kg weight, 3.5 inches) at $ 3,500.
In 1990, Intel introduced the first dedicated mobile processor, the Intel386 SL, and also offered a technology to reduce supply voltage, which increased battery life.
Laptop device
Laptop is basically an almighty computer. But to ensure mobility, portability and energy independence, all components have unique features.
The laptop keyboard is made using a special technology and represents several thin plastic layers with pads, which allows you to reduce the thickness to a few millimeters.
The laptop case is usually made of strong plastic. Inside, it is covered with a special thin foil to insulate the electronic charge from the effects of external electromagnetic fields. On the perimeter, as a rule, made of metal cord, which gives extra strength to the body.
As a targeted device in laptops is widely distributed so-called touchpad - touch panel , which reacts with the touch of a finger.
The laptop matrix is a full liquid crystal monitor. Inside the top cover of the screen is put everything that is necessary for its full operation - direct matrix, trains data transmission, an inverter for the backlight lamp and some other devices (for example, a webcam, speaker, microphone, antenna wireless Wi-Fi and Bluetooth modules).
The laptop machine is free of mechanics, pushing the tray, so it was possible to make it so thin, while retaining all the functions of a complete machine. Most modern discs have standard DVD-RW, but in expensive multimedia notebooks you can often find a Blu-ray standard.
Laptop RAM due to the higher density arrangement of chips with a smaller size has features comparable to the memory of a conventional computer.
Laptop cooling system consists of the refrigerator, which draws air from the vents at the bottom of the notebook (which is why a laptop can only be used on a solid flat surface, otherwise interrupted cooling) and blows it through the radiator, e which is a copper heating lines connected to the processor and motherboard sometimes chipset.
The laptop processor in appearance and size is very similar to the processor of a conventional computer, however, a large number of technologies that reduce power consumption and heat production, for example, Centrino technology, are implemented within it.
The notebook hard drive, despite its small size (due to the use of magnetic media with a diameter of 2.5 inches), has a volume comparable to the hard drive volume for a desktop computer. The most common interface for SATA connection, but quite often you can meet the IDE interface, especially on older laptops. Recently appeared the so-called solid state hard drives (SSDs), developed on the basis of flash memory.
Creating new equipment always has an interesting history. Someone invented, then created a prototype, then faced the first obstacles. Sometimes, with complete luck, it is possible to get out and a new technological marvel appears in an incredible way before humanity.
The world's first computer has gone through a lot to become the one that is installed in the computers of many of us. We will further examine the history of the formation of this device.
What is this?
Now hardly anyone does not know what it is for. Unless some nationalities in Africa can not deal with this marvel of technology. Most modern people know that this is personal computer , which is mainly known for its ease of transportation. Inside it are all the traditional components that are inherent in the PC.
In front of us - all the same screen, keyboard, mouse analogue, sometimes the mouse itself. There is also an option to use disks, flash drives and so on. Inside the system goes a processor that has been slightly modified, as the dimensions do not allow the installation of large chips. Also, the video card looks different. RAM memory models are built motherboards , and the hard drive has another format, which varies in device size.
The world's first laptop had similar features, on the one hand, but was completely different from modern devices.
idea
You can argue for a long time on which the device was first. But all the reflections lead us to Alan Curtis Kay. This American scientist has long studied computer systems. As early as 1970, the researcher began working at Xerox. He immediately became one of the prototype developers of network workstations. Interestingly, these developments were not ignored and were later used by Apple Computer experts.
This is how the scientist approached the creation of the first laptop. Kay suggested the Dynabook concept. This option already describes the device, which is now very similar to a laptop. But this option was designed for mobile training and did not embody all the available capabilities of the device.
Overall, Alan Kay's idea appeared in 1968. He then suggested creating a personal mobile device that would mimic a notebook. But its capabilities and functions should not be inferior to full machines.
Real effort
In 1976, the world's first NoteTaker laptop was released. Alan Kay, Larry Tesler, Adele Goldberg, Douglas Fairbairn have worked on it. The prototype was shown to everyone but was not released in production. About ten models were assembled to continue further work on the development of this device.
However, even then the NoteTaker had a monochrome display, a flip cover, a keyboard, a floppy disk and a mouse. The RAM was only 128 KB and the chip clock speed did not exceed 1 MHz. Operating system The Smalltalk version was developed earlier.
Despite the seemingly conceptual idea, the world’s first laptop was not very portable. Her weight was 22 pounds. Although the device operated autonomously and was also used by some employees on the plane, it was still far from the modern model. What Kay did not capture the moment and translate their ideas into production would be devastating for him as he would be able to earn a lot of money.
A successful endeavor
And instead, Bill Mogridge did it. He started working with this device on behalf of NASA. Serial production began in 1982. But he did not use the application because the power supply was not available on this model.
This first laptop already weighed up to 3 kilograms, which compared to 22 is a big breakthrough. Its thickness was 5 centimeters. In addition, it had a rechargeable portable battery, a bright monochrome display, and an integrated modem.
The processor inside the Intel 8086 worked at a frequency of 8 MHz, which was already a major breakthrough. RAM - 256 KB. It had an RS-232 serial port. The modem operated at a rate of 1200 bits per second. Thanks to him, it was possible to use the online software store and data from the company for free.
Interestingly, since 1979, when this laptop was developed, it could not yet use MS-DOS because by that time it had not yet been created. But the laptop got it right after 1988, when the new Intel 80386 processor was working inside.
After that, the device became multifunctional and immediately worked on several tasks. So within it it was possible to use proprietary technologies, among which was a prototype of a modern control panel, a print manager, a text editor, a spreadsheet, a file manager and much more.
Successful were not only part of this car, but also its shell. The body is magnesian, had stable dynamic loads, respectively, immediately attracted the attention of the army and NASA. Therefore, first of all this car came into circulation in these departments. As a result, the Grid Compass was used as the coordinator and manager of combat units, and was repeatedly sent into space.
For the people
Photos of the world’s first laptop show us another applicator for the title of firstborn. They became Osborne 1. Despite the fact that it became known later than all of the aforementioned, it is considered the first laptop to have commercial success. It was this model that went to the masses in 1981. Behind it was the American company Osborne Computer Corporation.
The peculiarity of this model was that on one side of the device there was a handle for transport, and on the other side there was a keyboard that was made into a hanging lid. Inside was a monochrome screen with a five-inch screen. Also, the design is equipped with two disk drives and the ability to connect a monitor or modem.
The operating system was CP / M. Inside was a text editor, a desktop processor and several language translators. The main drawback of this device was its weight - 11 kilograms, with the first laptop getting a price of 1795 dollars. Therefore, despite the spread of the machine to the masses, not everyone could afford this miracle of technology.
Inside was the Z80 processor with a frequency of 4 MHz. RAM was only 64 KB. The fate of this company was tragic. Due to the large number of competitors who were in a hurry to make the best equipment, the manufacturer decided to inform the world about the start of sales of the next model before the equipment goes into effect. The move was unsuccessful, hitting Osborne 1 sales, and then completely bankrupting the firm.
Interestingly, pictures of the world’s first laptop lead us to the interior prototype. It was called "Electronics" and was released in 1991. Outside, it resembled branded brands that had already been promoted. Interestingly, its technical features were slightly better than those of the first American versions. For example, RAM was already 640 KB.
The problem with this model was that its cost exceeded the average salary in the country, but even if the user had the opportunity to buy such a car, he still could not do it due to its inaccessibility. Therefore, almost nothing is known about the technical features, and information about this prototype was left only on paper, as this laptop did not come to the masses.
From the middle of the last century, people started thinking about the time when big computers were put in a small suitcase. In the late 60s, this idea was expressed by Alan Key, who at the time was the head of the research lab at Xerox.
In English, notebook means a notebook, a personal laptop that combines a processor, keyboard, screen, all of which are integrated into one module, which is powered by a rechargeable battery. Usually in size it can be compared to an A4 sheet of paper, weighing several kilograms.
By order of NASA in 1979, the world's first laptop was created, its creator was Grid Systems. Grid Compass - a laptop based on Intel i80x86 operating memory processor whose was 340 KB, with a clock speed of 8 MHz, with a magnesium alloy body and a phosphor display.
Adam Osborn created the first public model, opening his own company in 1980. On the market in 1981, the Osborne-1, a laptop with a 5-inch screen, RAM which is 64 KB, the screen was 8.8h6 monochrome , 6 cm. This model had three ports, two drives and a large collection of software. Along with the laptop he was offered a battery for autonomous work.
With this 11 kg battery, a computer that was worth $ 1,795 at the time is considered the first notebook in the world. But the company was still bankrupt. She announced the early sales, long before the goods appeared on the shelves.
Compaq started selling a laptop in 1982, based on the Intel 8080 processor. Gavilan Computer Company founder Manny Fernandez in 1983 for business purposes developed a laptop that had a portable printer. Since 1983, many manufacturers have already developed their own notebooks. Apple in 1984 released the first laptop for sale.
Laptop development continues. They perform the same functions as computers. But at the same price, the laptop is "weaker" than the computer. Computers and laptops are almost no different "stuffing". They only differ in size - the details of the laptops are more miniature. Laptops consume energy efficiently.
Today's laptops continue to use batteries, and there are also opportunities to work through adapters. Lithium-ion batteries are widely used and developments regarding the power supply of laptops continue. And in this and in this store all sorts of technical innovations are dazzling on the shelves. Small and large, thin and ultra thin. And no one knows how much progress will go.
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