Arty computers

[Scott Austin]

I like the looks of the Olivetti Underwood Programma 101.  It even had two blinky lights: green (solid=ready, blinking=busy) and red (error)
http://www.silab.it/frox/p101/boxbig.gif

If I recall correctly it was the first computer(*) I programmed. Back in '72-73, while in Jr. High (btw, not "Middle School").

Several interesting things about the P101:

Introduced in 1965 (same year as PDP-8).

No ICs; all discrete components.  The boards were placed component side to component side, designed with one board's components fitting in the spaces between the components of the other board.

Programs were stored on magnetic cards, which Olivetti received patents for (HP had to pay about $900K in royalties for the technology use in the HP9100)

Its approximate 240 bytes of memory used acoustic delay line technology.

Scott Austin

(*) Computer? Programmable Calculator?  I'll let someone else debate about this.






 
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