In Pictures: Iconic Machines From Computing History

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dudemcduderson

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I actually like the slide show thing, keep it up Tom's! In the modern era I feel like the Yoga or Surface Pro should have at least made the list because they run full featured x86 OSes unlike the iPad.
 

yannigr

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You forgot the oldest analog computer
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism

The Antikythera mechanism is an ancient analog computer designed to calculate astronomical positions. It was recovered in 1900–1901 from the Antikythera wreck, but its significance and complexity were not understood until a century later. Jacques Cousteau visited the wreck in 1978 but, although he found new dating evidence, he did not find any additional remains of the Antikythera mechanism. The construction has been dated to the early 1st century BCE. Technological artifacts approaching its complexity and workmanship did not appear again until the 14th century AD, when mechanical astronomical clocks began to be built in Western Europe.
 

belardo

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Imagine what would have happened if Steve Jobs never saw the GUI computer at Xerox?
The Amiga computer was in development before the Mac was released to the public. It's still amazing that the apple II sold as well as it did considering the C=64 was so much cheaper yet better.
 

PapaCrazy

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34/35 is not a computer, its the anti-computer. And 35/35 appears blank... a bad omen, or just spooky? Either way, it's also anti-climactic. And this slideshow thing is demeaning for some reason. Makes me feel like I'm in nerd kindergarten.
 

Ioannis Doukakis

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I believe that you must include two more computers:
a) Epson HX-20, the first actual notebook with battery
b) ZX-Spectrum one of the most popular personal computers
 

varun706

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Very enlightening, but computers featuring discreet GPUs were absent. And the whole slideshow system is crap..

Tom's please get over it.
 
My period of personal computing began in the late 70's and I see some of those machines I used here and can't help but wonder... How could I have enjoyed using those machines... so limited, lol
I'm not a fan of the slideshow but it could be worse so I'm okay with it
 

blads

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What about an entry about the storage-less Net-tops, that were supposed to become the next big thing in business computing back in the late 90's (I believe it was)...?
 

Spinoza1

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Also, amazingly, you forgot to include the Atari ST, which competed with, and was in many ways better, than the Amiga. It's certainly a more significant computer than the PS/2.
 

morpheas768

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[citation][nom]PapaCrazy[/nom]34/35 is not a computer, its the anti-computer. And 35/35 appears blank... a bad omen, or just spooky? Either way, it's also anti-climactic. And this slideshow thing is demeaning for some reason. Makes me feel like I'm in nerd kindergarten.[/citation]
Although I do agree with you, partially, the slideshow type of article makes separating each item better than a proper article would.

Also, 35/35 isnt meant to be a place for another computer in the article. Tom's always leaves a blank page at the end, in order to link you to other slideshow articles.
 

Uberschall

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You missed one device which was hugely-popular with journalists during the '80s: the Tandy Model 100. Radio Shack sold several million units, and it was around for many years until the advent of small full-featured laptops.
 

Uberschall

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You missed one device which was hugely-popular with journalists during the '80s: the Tandy Model 100. Radio Shack sold several million units, and it was around for many years until the advent of small full-featured laptops.
 

beetlejuicegr

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"The original PC, the IBM 5150, used an Intel 8088 processor running at 4.77 MHz, two 5.25” diskette drives, and either 16 or 64 KB of RAM. BASIC was its programming language, and PC-DOS its operating system."
MY IBM PC had 256Kb ram!
 

maxinexus

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Remember 5.25" floppy and monochromatic screens? Childhood well spend I tell ya.
I also remember for the first time opening my PC tower and cleaning dust off and finding an extra floppy power cable...thinking that I must have unplug it from somewhere...so I end up plugin it into a motherboard jumpers lol That was my 386DX...I needed an update anyway :) Got 486 133Mhz...loved the turbo button
perhaps they should bring it back
 

morpheas768

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[citation][nom]maxinexus[/nom]Remember 5.25" floppy and monochromatic screens? Childhood well spend I tell ya. I also remember for the first time opening my PC tower and cleaning dust off and finding an extra floppy power cable...thinking that I must have unplug it from somewhere...so I end up plugin it into a motherboard jumpers lol That was my 386DX...I needed an update anyway Got 486 133Mhz...loved the turbo buttonperhaps they should bring it back[/citation]
That turbo button has become Intel's Turbo Boost technology, so it would be rather pointless.
 
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