Programmer 7500/MAX_PROGRAMMERS.iso/PROGRAMS/UTILS/DOS_HELP/PCLEARN.ZIP/HISTORY.TUT

Text File | 1988-12-13 | 8.8 KB | 166 lines

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 A LITTLE PC HISTORY - WHERE WE'VE BEEN WITH NO IDEA WHERE WE'RE GOING
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In the beginning . . .

Computing or calculating by machine began in the middle east with the use
of pegs or stones in trays or channels. The Babylonians developed the idea
of stone or bead counters into the more modern abacus - modern in the sense
that the abacus is still in use today and in the hands of an experienced
operator can calculate results faster than a computer!

The beauty of the abacus is its simplicity in construction and operation.
Inexpensive beads of stone or wood and a simple frame make up the abacus
and the uneducated could quickly be trained in its use.

In the 8th and 9th centuries we note the rise of the arabic numerical
system which slowly to spread through Europe and the then civilized world.
Although a superior calculating system, arabic numerals required the user
to understand the more complicated numerical theory associated with the
system.

By the early 1600's Napier (often assocated with the development of
logarithms and their practical application) introduced a series of rods
which could be used for multiplication - a crude slide rule system.

Soon, ever more complicated "calculating engines" or primitive mechinical
computing devices appeared. One example is the complex Pascaline invented
by Blaise Pascal.

By 1791 the stage was set. Babbage, an English mathematician and
inventor with the help of Ada Byron (daughter of lord Byron, the famous
poet) developed the ideas for two mechanical calculators or "number
engines." The Difference Engine was a device to solve polynomial equations
by the methods of differences. The Analytical Engine (which was never
built)) was designed as a general computing device. Both were mechanical
in concept using gears, rods and cams to perform calculations.
Unfortunately neither machine was built since the tooling and machining
technology of the day was imprecise and could not construct the
accurate parts needed.

However the models and planning of Babbage and Byron did lead to important
preliminary computing concepts still in use today.

Next we jump to the United States. By 1880 a problem had arisen with the
United States census. By that time, it took 7 years to process all of the
information gathered by the Census Bureau since all tabulation was done by
hand on paper. It was assumed that the 1890 census might take 10 to 12
years to tabulate. Clearly a better method was needed to crunch the
volume of numbers and data. A public competition was held to produce a
better indexing or mechanical system to tabulate future census results.
Herman Hollerith, a census employee handily won by suggesting the use of
punch cards and a form of punch card reader which tabulated the results in
six weeks. Hollerith, wise in the ways of computing devices and seeing a
good oportunity went on to found the Tabulating Machine Company (later
changed to IBM). Hollerith might be thus thought of as our first computer
entrepreneur!

The advent of World War II provided the impetus for the development of
more developed computing devices. The Mark I was an electromechanical
device using relays. IBM built that computer for the Navy. Next the
Colussus was built for the British and used for wartime code breaking of
German radio transmissions. The ABC (Atanasoff-Berry Computer) was
constructed at Iowa State and was the first electronic digital computer.
Eniac was the most famous of the early computers and contained 18,000
vacuum tubes and was used by the Army for ballistics calculations.
Edvac was the first stored memory computing device which did away with
rewiring tasks associated with changing computer programs and represented
a true computer breakthrough. This first generation of machines running
from roughly 1951 through 1958 featured computers characterized by the use
of radio type vacuum tubes.

Second generation machines such as the famous Univac were designed
as  true general or universal purpose machines and could process
both alphabetic and numeric problems and data. Punch cards still formed
the major input path to the machines of this era and all programming
was done in complex low level machine language commands.

By 1959 and the invention of the transistor, computers began to shrink in
size, cost and operate faster and more dependably than the huge vacuum
tube models. Programming languages began to feature English-like
instructions rather than the cumbersome machine code or assembly language.
Fortran and Cobol are two modern "high level" languages developed during
this period and still in use today.

Finally we come to the present decade . . .

==August 1981. Original IBM PC (personal computer) introduced. Has
options for monochrome and CGA display. Receives generally good reviews
and acceptance by business users and a few home users. Original DOS 1.0
released which supported only single sided discs (160K capacity). Later
version 1.1 corrected bugs (problems) in the programming code and
provided double sided discs (320K capacity), and faster disc
access, date and time stamping and better serial communications.

==August 1982. Monochrome resolution of pc screen increased with introduction
of the hercules graphics card circuit.

==November 1982. Compaq portable arrives. First clone on the market.
The IBM pc standard is growing in popularity. Clone makers start to
copy the PC in earnest. Software companies such as Phoenix technologies
prepares BIOS and SYS programs which run the same as the IBM BIOS
program without the copyright violation which every clone computer
tries to avoid. BIOS stands for basic input and output system and is
the core software essential to keyboard, disc and screen input/output.
The BIOS is considered legally protected IBM software code, but can be
simulated (or emulated) closely by a clever programmer in an attempt
to "do the same job, without using exactly the same programming code."

==March 1983. IBM PCXT (increased memory and hard drive capability).
DOS 2.0 version released. This second DOS version includes hard drive
capability, filter commands (sort, find, more), and a new floppy
format system for 360K capacity per floppy. IBM bios code upgraded.

==October 1983. IBM PCjr released. Market disappointment for that
IBM entry into the home market with the underpowered pcjr. The larger
IBM PC standard is rapidly growing as the standard for personal
computers and clones.

==March 1984. IBM PC portable introduced. Portable clones already
on the market with some small (and growing success).

==August 1984. IBM PC AT machine arrives. More power, a new processor
(80286). New screen display standard (EGA). Also new version of DOS 3.0.
This version of DOS now takes into account the AT high density
floppy drive (1.2 meg or million characters of capacity), read only
files, a new disc write system for better file recovery in case of
errors. Shortly thereafter, DOS 3.1 addresses file sharing.

==November 1985. Microsoft windows graphic display environment released.
NEC multisync monitor is released.

==April 1986. IBM PC old standard model discontinued for newer models.
IBM PC convertable released.

==September 1986. Compaq jumps the gun on IBM with release of new (80386)
processor computer with more power than the PC AT.

==April 1987. IBM PS/2 models 30, 50 and 60 released. DOS 3.3 released.
VGA video standard arrives. IBM blesses the new 3.5 inch minifloppy already
in use on Apple Macintosh computers by offering that format on IBM machines.

==August 1987. Microsoft windows version 2.0 arrives.

==1988 Laptop computers, smaller versions of desktop computers, are sold
in large volumes. Size as well as features become issues in computer
sales.

==The future? Difficult to predict, but consensus of industry observers
is that the new IBM PS/2 computers will migrate into the
office scene while many home and home/office users will stay with
older PC and AT models. Prices continue to tumble on PC compatables
($400 to $500 range) and AT clones ($700 to $1000 range). The new
operating system for AT class machines (using 80286 processors) is
called OS/2 but requires more memory and the 80286 processor
found in AT class machines. It will eventually replace the older DOS
system, but for many users of home and home/office machines not needing
networks (many computers talk to each other and share data), the old
DOS standard will live a long time. In general expect things to happen
faster, computers to become still smaller and prices to descend still
further!



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