Computer Timeline by Daniel Hughes

Hewlett-Packard is founded

30hughesd1 — 2024-08-29 13:24:58 UTC

David Packard and Bill Hewlett found their company. Their first product, the HP 200A Audio Oscillator, rapidly became a popular piece of test equipment for engineers.

First Computer Program to Run on a Computer

30hughesd1 — 2024-08-29 13:34:45 UTC

University of Manchester researchers Frederic Williams, Tom Kilburn, and Geoff Toothill develop the Small-Scale Experimental Machine (SSEM). The Baby was built to test a new memory technology developed by Williams and Kilburn

Direct Keyboard input to computers

30hughesd1 — 2024-09-03 13:17:46 UTC

At MIT, researchers begin experimenting with direct keyboard input to computers, a precursor to today´s normal mode of operation. An experiment conducted five months later on the MIT Whirlwind computer confirmed how useful and convenient a keyboard input device could be.

The Atlas Computer debuts

30hughesd1 — 2024-09-03 13:26:15 UTC

A joint project of England’s Manchester University, Ferranti Computers, and Plessey, Atlas comes online nine years after Manchester’s computer lab begins exploring transistor technology.

First Kenback-1 is sold

30hughesd1 — 2024-09-03 13:31:20 UTC

One of the earliest personal computers, the Kenbak-1 is advertised for $750 in Scientific American magazine. Designed by John V. Blankenbaker using standard medium-- and small-scale integrated circuits, the Kenbak-1 relied on switches for input and lights for output from its 256-byte memory.

Apple introduces the Lisa computer

30hughesd1 — 2024-09-03 13:33:10 UTC

Lisa is the first commercial personal computer with a graphical user interface (GUI). It was thus an important milestone in computing as soon Microsoft Windows and the Apple Macintosh would soon adopt the GUI as their user interface, making it the new paradigm for personal computing.

Intel Paragon is operational

30hughesd1 — 2024-09-03 13:39:08 UTC

Based on the Touchstone Delta computer Intel had built at Caltech, the Paragon is a parallel supercomputer that uses 2,048 (later increased to more than four thousand) Intel i860 processors. More than one hundred Paragons were installed over the lifetime of the system, each costing as much as five million dollars.

The Amazon Kindle is realesd

30hughesd1 — 2024-09-03 13:41:11 UTC

Many companies have attempted to release electronic reading systems dating back to the early 1990s. Online retailer Amazon released the Kindle, one of the first to gain a large following among consumers. The first Kindle featured wireless access to content via Amazon.com, along with an SD card slot allowing increased storage. The first release proved so popular there was a long delay in delivering systems on release.

Apple Watch

30hughesd1 — 2024-09-03 13:42:08 UTC

Building a computer into the watch form factor has been attempted many times but the release of the Apple Watch leads to a new level of excitement. Incorporating a version of Apple's iOS operating system, as well as sensors for environmental and health monitoring, the Apple Watch was designed to be incorporated into the Apple environment with compatibility with iPhones and Mac Books.