PC Components, Features, and System Design - Upgrading and Repairing PCs - page 19

Chapter 2. PC Components, Features, and System
Design
What Is a PC?
WhenIbeginoneofmy Upgrading and Repairing PCs seminars,Iliketoaskthequestion,
“WhatexactlyisaPC?”MostpeopleimmediatelyanswerthatPCstandsfor personal com-
puter , which in fact it does. Many continue by defining a personal computer as any small
computer system purchased and used by an individual, which is also true. However, while
it is true that all PCs are personal computers, not all personal computers are PCs. For ex-
ample, all of Apple's pre-2006 Motorola/IBM processor-based Macintosh systems, older
8080/Z-80 processor-based CP/M machines, and even my old Apple ][+ system are con-
sidered personal computers, but most people wouldn't call them PCs, least of all the Mac
users! For the true definition of what a PC is, we must look deeper.
Calling something a PC implies that it is something much more specific than just any per-
sonal computer. One thing it implies is a familial relation to the original IBM PC from
1981. In fact, I'll go so far as to say that IBM literally invented the type of computer we
call a PC today; that is, IBM designed and created the first one, and IBM's definition set
all the standards that made the PCdistinctive fromother personal computers. Note that I'm
not saying that IBM invented the personal computer; many recognize the historical ori-
gins of the personal computer in the MITS Altair, introduced in 1975, even though other
small computers were available prior. Clearly, IBM did not invent the personal computer;
however,itdidinventthetypeofpersonalcomputerthattodaywecallthePC.Somepeople
might take this definition a step further and define a PC as any personal computer that is
“IBM compatible.” In fact, many years back, PCs were called either IBM compatibles or
IBM clones , paying homage to the origins of the PC at IBM.
Some Personal Computer Trivia
Although the 1975 MITS Altair is often credited as the first personal computer, according to
the Blinkenlights Archaeological Institute ( www.blinkenlights.com ), the first personal com-
puter was the Simon, created by Edmund C. Berkeley and described in his 1949 topic, Giant
Brains, or Machines That Think .TheplansforSimonwereavailableforpurchasebyBerkeley
Enterprises as well as published in a series of 13 articles in Radio Electronics magazine from
1950 to 1951.
The term personal computer may have first appeared in a November 3, 1962 New York
Times article quoting John W. Mauchly (cocreator of ENIAC). The article was reporting on
Mauchly's vision of future computing, and he was quoted as saying, “There is no reason to
suppose the average boy or girl cannot be master of a personal computer.”