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original cassette version of AVS . Arpin described this, modestly,
as a coincidence. “When people switched from tape to disk,
it was absolutely compatible, their code would just work on a
disk. I didn't foresee that … but this [design] was just a mar-
velous solution that we came to, it just worked so well when we
went to disk.”
The original design of the MCM /70 also called for a power
failure protection system. It was a subsystem of the computer's
power supply that allowed continuous operation by battery in
the event of power failure. For extended power loss, the com-
puter initiated an orderly shutdown: it automatically provided a
system back-up by copying the content of RAM to a cassette be-
fore shutdown. The system was automatically reinstated when
power was restored and batteries were recharged. Unfortu-
nately, the engineering problems with this type of power failure
protection system unnecessarily delayed the introduction of the
MCM /70 to the market.
The work on the MCM /70's prototypes had culminated with
the first official showing of the computer in May 1973 during
the APL conference in Toronto. MCM used the conference
venue to make it official: small but powerful personal comput-
ers were coming and MCM was going to make them. To make
its message loud and clear, the company would spend the rest of
the year extensively promoting its APL computer across North
America and Europe.
 
 
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