Personal Computers (1980s)

The Xerox Alto was an early personal computer developed at Xerox PARC in 1973. Among the technologies incorporated in the Alto were
  • a bit-mapped graphics display,

  • a mouse, which was invented earlier,

  • a local area network, which became the precursor to the Ethernet, and

  • a user interface featuring a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor and interactive drawing programs.
The Xerox Alto was influential and affected the design of a wide variety of computers and software systems, including the Apple Macintosh, the IBM-compatible PC, Windows, and Sun and other early workstations.

In 1977, the Apple IIe set standards for low cost, high volume, and high reliability. The machine came standard with 64 KB RAM and a backport accessible DE-9 joystick connector. However, the IBM Personal Computer, announced in 1981, became the bestselling computer of any kind.

The success of IBM PCs gave Intel the most popular microprocessor and Microsoft the most popular operating system. The first IBM PCs had 16-bit processors, 64 Kbytes of memory, and a floppy disk drive.

Review: A Computer History
    Which component was NOT included in the Xerox Alto?

      Bit-mapped graphics display
      DOS (Disk Operating System)
      Mouse
      WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor
Result:        




      He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom.    
      ― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring