Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
its own sake, simply to see if it could be done. Gradually other
individuals and companies produced other personal computers and
peripherals that would allow more complex interactions. Many of
these, such as the machine produced by the IMSAI company,
have been forgotten, though they all contributed to developing the
personal computer as a viable commercial proposition.
The exception to the generally ephemeral existence of these
technologies and the firms who made them was a machine unveiled
at a
Homebrew meeting. Designed by a gifted engineer from
Hewlett Packard, Steve Wozniak, and promoted by his friend Steve
Jobs, this machine was the first Apple Computer, the Apple I (illus.
42
1976
). It was just a board loaded with chips. But owing to Wozniak's
programming and hardware skills it was recognized as an excellent
piece of hardware, which, when plugged in to a keyboard and a
TV monitor could allow the user to achieve what seemed then extra-
ordinary things, such as display graphics. The next computer, the
Apple II, was far more sophisticated, incorporating a version of
the BASIC programming language, and the ability to output colour
graphics all housed in an elegant casing. Though it still had to be
plugged into the TV, it was clearly a complete working computer.
The combination of Wozniak's programming genius, and Job's
42 Apple 1, 1976.
The first computer
made by Apple
Computers Inc.
