Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
and a few hints that made the mystery of the esoteric new hard-
ware from
MCM
even more alluring:
MERS KUTT IS BACK WITH MINICOMPUTERS
New technology is behind a range of minicomputers to
be announced, probably next month, by Micro Computer
Machines Ltd, Toronto … Kutt is tight-lipped on specifics,
but told
CD
[
Canadian Datasystems
] the computers are
extremely small and will have a “dramatic impact” on the
market. High-density chips and circuits are said to make
them unlike anything now available.
3
While readers of
Canadian Datasystems
were puzzling over the
phrase “'dramatic impact' on the market,” the prototype of the
MCM
/70 was on its European tour, which began with the
APL
Congress held in Copenhagen, Denmark, 22 to 24 August. The
Copenhagen event was the largest gathering of
APL
research-
ers and practitioners in 1973 and an invaluable opportunity for
MCM
to showcase its
APL
computer.
MCM
's demonstration was indeed unique; the
MCM
/70 ar-
rived from Canada in an attaché case. This unusual packaging
was not meant to protect the computer from possible damage
during the trip; it was the computer's actual case, housing all
the
MCM
/70's hardware and the Ni-Cd batteries that powered
this crude laptop. In short,
MCM
was bringing to Copenhagen
a small, luggable,
APL
computer - the first microcomputer in a
briefcase. “Ted did carry the briefcase model onto the plane,”
recollected Glen Seeds. “Can you imagine trying to get a lash-
up prototype in a briefcase containing electronic devices con-
nected to several heavy 1½ inch by 3 inch cylinders past airport
security today?!” But it was not passing through airport secur-
ity with the first laptop that should be recorded as a landmark
in computing history, but the first in-flight operation of such a
