Toshiba's history a little squewed?

[EvanK]

So to throw a little more gas on the fire, Evan's post

Me, start trouble?

I definitely agree though, modern technology shouldn't be applied to a term in vintage technology. Otherwise you'd be seeking a device with a cd-rom (arguably not vintage), integrated mouse, etc.

Precisely.

One could argue that a Ford Model T (or whatever) was the "first modern car" but there's always someone who disagrees with the definitions of "first" and/or "modern". The important questions are, "Which cars defined the industry, which failed, what were the reasons, etc.?"

I'd agree I wouldn't be satisfied with a portable terminal or calculator as the answer though.

I agree with your agreement!

hx-20 due to it's portable nature, built-in screen, and battery power.

"Popular" and "pioneering" are different things. Epson, Grid, etc. were popular early laptops* but they weren't the only ones .... several others were more obscure but equally interesting. ( * I'm using the term "laptops" loosely because, as I explained earlier in this thread, the period-appropriate term is "briefcase computers" for the flat designs and simply "portables" for the clamshells; the suitcase computers were usually called "transportables". I'm not sure which was the first computer company to use the word laptop in any official capacity, although that wouldn't prove anything .... there were lots of small four-door trucks before some marketing schmo conjured the term "S.U.V." and lots of handheld digital organizers before Apple came up with "P.D.A." .... stupid terms to describe existing categories are not inventions!)

pc-compatible laptop (runs standard software

Now it's got to be PC-compatible? Yeesh! Tough crowd.

I've seen a few (once again: some being popular models, others less so) that are supposedly "IBM-compatible" .... details to be determined.

[EvanK]

PS - This thread should be in the handhelds/portables section.

[barythrin]

PS - This thread should be in the handhelds/portables section.

lol.. the *hijacked* thread would be in the portables section This was more me questioning Toshiba publishing their personal opinion of computer history. But yes, they did start by throwing me off with the whole "first laptop" (T1000) thing.

[Securix]

First laptop computer? Vintage? Completely portable, no tethering?

abacus-1-AJHD.jpg

[Chuck(G)]

...but we said "clamshell"...

[Securix]

That made me laugh for real!

Well, ok, so then another interesting but seldom remembered portable computer was the Athena I, which came out in late 1982, a little bit after the GRiD Compass and before the DG One, and whose features somewhat mimic those of today's laptops.

It weighed in at 15lbs, had a semi-clamshell design (the 4-line LCD screen flipped up to reveal the keyboard), ran a ROM-based CP/M, had dual Z80-compatiible NEC NSC-800 processors, and quite possibly was also the first "laptop" with a solid state RAM drive instead of a floppy drive, which you could order configured from 128k to 1MB. Plus it ran on battery as well as AC. It could run up to 2 hours on battery, and even featured a "standby mode" that could keep it alive up to 6 hours.

And a decently configured model was only $3,950.

It was even availalble with a "docking station" that included an actual floppy drive and also recharged the battery.

It came out later than the GRiD, but if I recall the GRiD wasn't battery powered, plus I think it started around $8,000.

An article for the Athena can be found here:

http://books.google.com/books?id=_C8...20cp/m&f=false

Scroll down to page 4 of the article for a picture of the Athena I.

There was also another portable called the Gavilan that came out in mid-1983, which looked a lot more refined than the Athena, and had a printer bolted to the back.

[Chuck(G)]

It helps to put the mood of Silicon Valley in perspective back then. I recall being asked to lunch about 1982 by a couple of guys who wanted to get me interested in their latest venture.

Out of his Samsonite case, one pulled a remarkably small computer--the "deck" was barely large enough to hold the keyboard keys. The display looked impressive at least in size--it covered nearly the entire lid.

Of course, it was a mock-up.

These guys were going to make a portable that was barely larger than today's netbooks (and be battery powered yet). I started asking them questions about how they were going to solve the practical engineering aspects and they had no real answers. Apparently, they hadn't calculated how large a battery it was going to take to run the thing, much less how they were going to shrink the "guts". I thanked them for lunch and politely declined. AFAIK, their venture never got off the ground.

So it wasn't that no one had thought of the idea of a compact full-funtion laptop; it was just that there were few who had managed to overcome the practical aspects of making one.

Anyone remember the VC conferences put on by EAC at Pebble Beach in the 80's? Lots of strange ideas there...

[LewreumE73]

Backup history is on by default.
I havent used it much bause I have a Perforce depot for my projects
It has been handy for the in between check ins questions

gb