23 replies to this topic

[Keatah]

I have lots of ideas, but I wanna hear from you guys what you think on this?

It's easy to say Atari and Commodore. But my vote is for Apple, and how they made products out of common off-the-shelf components. Perhaps not the most powerful or colorful, but solid products with a whole ton of versatility.

Edited by Keatah, Sun Jan 29, 2012 3:52 AM.

[Seob]

IBM is also interesting. How they thought there was never a market for computers in home, how they dealt with microsoft, how they tried to gain the IBM-compatible market back.
For consoles, Sega is also a good runner up.

Edited by Seob, Sun Jan 29, 2012 11:27 AM.

[GroovyBee]

Sinclair Research - Truly power without the price.

[atarian63]

Atari, Then Sega,then Nintendo,then Coleco

[high voltage]

Apple ][ created a market for computing (Triumph of the Nerds video is a must-see, it gives you the whole importance of Apple ][).

Edited by high voltage, Sun Jan 29, 2012 2:12 PM.

[potatohead]

I would totally vote for Apple in the US. Atari, Commadore are very close seconds.

I'm fascinated by the BBC Micro overseas. Sinclair is a close second as well.

[HuckleCat]

Apple, followed by the whole Atari/Commodore thing.

[desiv]

Thing that's great about the early industry, there are so many great stories...
The Apple ][, built in the garage, offered to HP and they said NO.... That's just awesome..

I also love the Amiga story; ex-Atari designers (and others) building a "game machine" funded by dentists, goes on to be a breakthru multitasking, multimedia machine... (Not saying it was the first to do either..)

Commodore with anything involving Jack Tramiel and Chuck Peddle..

Even the Mac, with the original Mac coming up to save the day from the Lisa release/price-point. (And the back story of killing the II line to enable the Mac, while the II line was keeping the company afloat...)..

Now, there's semi-truths in all of those, but that's part of what makes them great.. It's the story AND the myth..

I'm torn between the Apple ][ and Amiga stories being the best, but a lot of that is personal investments...

desiv

[Seob]

high voltage, on Sun Jan 29, 2012 2:10 PM, said:

Apple ][ created a market for computing (Triumph of the Nerds video is a must-see, it gives you the whole importance of Apple ][).

Love that video, the history of commodore amiga is also a must watch video for home computer collectors.

[Arkhan]

Apple. It involves LSD, and Steve Jobs.

Anything with that idiot involved is bound to be interesting.

[akator]

I think most of the 20th century gaming and computer companies have interesting stories. The Atari and Apple legends are well known, with Commodore distantly trailing because it's no longer an active brand. Tandy Radio Shack and their TRS-80s are massively underrepresented in popular nerd mythos, even though they were the best selling computers for years (contrary to Apple marketing at the time). TI computers replaced the TRS-80s as the best selling, but their impact has been mostly overlooked as well. Gary Kildall died in the early 90s so he missed the opportunity others have taken to self-promote his place in computer history, but he was massively influential to all small computer systems.

I think the TRS-80, TI computers, and Kildall/CPM all need more legitimate, vetted things written about them. I've read what's out there and can't help but feel there are major parts of the story missing...

[desiv]

akator, on Sat Feb 4, 2012 4:29 AM, said:

I think the TRS-80, TI computers, and Kildall/CPM all need more legitimate, vetted things written about them. I've read what's out there and can't help but feel there are major parts of the story missing...

True..
The Osborne story is great (well, in a bad way) too..
Kill your business by talking about your next model way too soon...

There's lots of really interesting stories out there..

desiv

[tyranthraxus]

All the stories behind those computer companies are great. Lots of treachery, backstabbing and all out cutthroat competition! It really was a wild west of technology in those days and the companies all have pretty lurid stories in their background.

As its the only company that I read a book on (On the Edge) I think the Commodore story is the most interesting. Although that book is disappointingly scant on details of Commodore's early days as calculator company (and lean on the Amiga years) you do get an interesting look at Jack Tramiel's business practice and the feats of engineering pulled of by Chuck Peddle. Jack is a controversial character on this board but he is quite an interesting character. This is a guy who'd make a huge order for computer parts from a company, then refuse to pay, and then once that company started to flounder he'd then buy it cheaply.

Another thing that interests me with the Commodore story is the roll of their chief financier & owner Irving Gould. Very little photos or information is available on him on the internet and he lived a life where he'd jet between countries to avoid paying taxes. And after forcing Jack out he'd treat the company like a personal bank. I've also found it odd that for a man with such financial resources and a pivotal roll in computer history that there is so little written about him.

[Lumpbucket]

I recommend reading Brian Bagnall's books on Commodore history. Also fascinating is Electronic Brains: Stories from the Dawn of the Computer Age by Mike Hally.

[almightytodd]

high voltage, on Sun Jan 29, 2012 2:10 PM, said:

Apple ][ created a market for computing (Triumph of the Nerds video is a must-see, it gives you the whole importance of Apple ][).

I watched "Triumph of the Nerds" over the weekend, starting with the YouTube episodes, but finishing with a copy of the DVD that I borrowed from the library.

It was very enjoyable to watch, but the story ends in 1996 when the film was made, so it leaves out the story of Steve Jobs and the NEXT computer, his triumphant return to Apple, and more recent Apple successes such as the iMac, iPod, iPhone and iPad.

Something else that bothered me about it, was that it proposed a somewhat linear path of breakthrough technologies... Altair 8800>>Apple II>>IBM PC>>PC Clones>>Macintosh>>IBM compatibles with Windows 95. The story seems very incomplete without mention of the IMSAI 8080, the Processor Technology SOL, Commodore 8-bits, TRS-80 line, the Texas Instruments home computer, and of course the MOS 6502-based Atari machines and Tramiel-era ST machines. Even Apple's own Lisa machine is pretty much ignored, other than to say that it was too expensive and it wasn't a Macintosh.

I found a more complete telling of the story from the perspective of one of the early microcomputer retailers, Stan Veit. His website is here: http://pc-history.org/

[tyranthraxus]

Triumph of the Nerds is pretty much focused on the Apple vs IBM vs Microsoft story. Which is and continues to be a pretty interesting story and the one with widest interest around it. Since the business machine developed into the home machine, they pretty much ignored the 8 and 16 bit wars of the home machine to make a more focused story which might not have been fair to Atari, Commodore and the rest but was a smart move as far as making a focused film.

The Triumph sequel is focused on the internet and is quite as good. Would be nice to see them do a 3rd movie, on the dot com crash and the 2nd (or is it 3rd?) coming of Apple.

[Seob]

A other great movie about both steve's is "Pirates of Silicon Valley" a movie picture from 1999. I must say i'm impressed by the screening of the characters. They really look as if they where the real persons. Here is the link:

[Pengwin]

Seob, on Thu Feb 16, 2012 1:16 AM, said:

A other great movie about both steve's is "Pirates of Silicon Valley" a movie picture from 1999. I must say i'm impressed by the screening of the characters. They really look as if they where the real persons. Here is the link:

I'd have to agree with you there, a great film to watch.

Nintendo have a very interesting history, founded in 1889.
From Wikipedia:

Quote

During this period of time between 1963 and 1968, Nintendo set up a taxicompany, a love hotel chain, a TV network, a food company (selling instant rice, similar to instant noodles) and several other things.

Edited by Pengwin, Thu Feb 16, 2012 4:28 AM.

[high voltage]

Read 'Game Over', the green version, a very interesting history about Nintendo.
For MS, read 'Gates' also very interesting.

Edited by high voltage, Thu Feb 16, 2012 11:40 AM.

[Str@fe]

Very close between Apple and Atari. Have you seen http://www.onceuponatari.com/?!

[Keatah]

For better or worse, I wonder how the industry would be today if the 1st crash never happened. OR if it somehow got regulated and modulated and toned down in time enough to prevent the bust.

[high voltage]

Second crash

[gooner73]

something i found very interesting was that the MSX range of computers, europe and Asia mainly i think, not sure if they were released in the Us, but it was Microsofts first try at home computers and was Bill Gates attempt to bring a universal operating system to the mass market. I n other words the Msx machines were made by many different companies, Sony, Toshiba, Sanyo , panasonic etc. But all had the same operating system and were all universally compatible, much like our modern day Pc's.

it finally explained why i could always remember seeing all these different brand names selling the same computer, which was totally different to the c64, atari, spectrum , bbc etc that we had over in the uk.

[The Usotsuki]

There were 2 models of MSX marketted to the US, I believe, but they passed under the radar. The more common of the two would have been the SpectraVideo SVI-728/738. The other was, iirc, a Yamaha musicians' computer.