Computer

A computer is a device or system capable of performing a specified, well-defined sequence of operations. These are most often operations of numerical calculations and data manipulation, but this includes input and output operations. The description of the sequence of operations is called a program. An electronic computer, a computer is a complex of technical means designed for automatic processing of information in the process of solving computational and information problems.

The name "computer", adopted in the Russian-language scientific literature, is synonymous with a computer. Currently, it has almost been ousted from everyday use and is mainly used by digital electronics engineers as a legal term in legal documents, as well as in the historical sense - to refer to computer equipment of the 1940s and 1980s and large computing devices, as opposed to personal ones.

The first personal computers (1960-2021s)

• In 1969, Honeywell released the "Kitchen Computer" H316 — the first home computer (cost $ 10,600).
• In 1972 , Magnavox was released .
• In 1971, the first personal microprocessor called "Intel-4004" was put up for sale. It was created in 1971 by Intel.
• In 1972, Computer Terminal Corporation (CTC) released a personal computer with a Datapoint 2200 display on an Intel 8008 single-chip microprocessor. The Datapoint 2200 computer was planned to be delivered already in 1971, but due to the failure of the contract by the Intel campaign and the rejection of Texas Instruments, the circuitry of this computer was originally built from about a hundred discrete TTL chips.
• Since 1973, several thousand Xerox Alto has been produced as a research prototype — the first personal computer with a graphical interface and a desktop metaphor.
• In 1974, MITS began production of the Altair 8800 computer, which is believed to have marked the beginning of all amateur personal computers. One of the reasons for the success of this computer was the simplicity of the architecture in relation to the "mainframes".
• In 1975, MOS Technology, Inc. began production of the KIM-1 computer, which, at a cost of $245, had a more user-friendly interface compared to the popular and more expensive Altair 8800, which made it very popular with radio amateurs and enthusiasts.
• In 1976, the artisanal release of the Apple I — computer began, which served as the forerunner of the development of one of the modern manufacturers of personal computers, Apple Computer.
• In June 1977, the first mass-produced Apple II offered users an integrated keyboard, color graphics, sound, a plastic case and eight expansion slots. Unlike the previous commercially released PCs, the Apple II looked more like an office device rather than a set of electronic equipment, had a built-in Basic interpreter, and was significantly more friendly towards an unprepared user. Thus, the "Apple II" marked the beginning of a revolution in the field of personal computers: it was a machine for the masses, not just for amateurs, scientists or engineers.
• In August 1977, the release of the Tandy Radio Shack TRS-80, the first home computer that cost less than $600, began.
• In December 1977, the Commodore PET appeared — the first computer, which included a keyboard, a monitor, a magnetic tape drive (a special branded tape recorder).
• In 1978, the Sinclair Mk14 went on sale at a price of only 39.95 British pounds.
• In November 1979, mass sales of Atari 400/800 home personal computers began. Being the development of the popular Atari 2600 console, these models served as the start for a whole line of very popular home computers.
• In 1980, the TRS-80 Color Computer used the multi-user and multitasking OS-9 operating system for the first time in a personal computer.
• In 1980, the Sinclair ZX80 was released for sale — the first personal computer for home use at a price of less than 100 British pounds.
• In June 1981, the Texas Instruments TI-99/4A was released — the first home computer with a 16-bit Texas Instruments TMS9900 processor.
• In 1981, the Xerox 8010 Star Information System was released, the first computer to include a computer mouse.
• In 1981, the first black-and-white video adapter (video card) MDA and the first color video adapter CGA were released.
• On August 12, 1981, IBM presented to the general public the first model of the IBM PC 5150 personal computer, which became the actual ancestor of modern personal computers based on the Intel x86 architecture.
• In 1981, sales of the Commodore VIC-20 began. At the start of sales, it was the cheapest personal computer in the United States (the price is below $ 300). However, a similar Sinclair ZX81, released at the same time at the start of sales in Britain, costs only 49.95 British pounds. Nevertheless, the VIC-20 is the first computer in the world to break the bar of one million copies sold.
• In 1981, the Sinclair ZX81 appeared - it cost only 49.95 British pounds in the form of a kit for assembly and 69.95 pounds - assembled and ready for use.
• In April 1982, the ZX Spectrum was the best-selling English computer; it helped establish the software industry in the United Kingdom. In particular, for his services to the development of society (not only the production of computers), the founder of Sinclair Research, Sir Clive Sinclair, was awarded the lowest noble title "Knight of the Royal Order".
• In August 1982, sales of the Commodore 64 began - it became the best-selling computer of all time: more than 20 million cars were sold.
• In 1982, Sony and Philips launched the production of the first compact discs (CDs).
• In 1983, the MSX standard for the architecture of a household computer was developed; computers of this standard were produced by various companies mainly in Japan.
• In 1983, the IBM PC was replaced by the IBM PC/XT, which included a hard disk.
• In March 1983, Compaq began selling the Compaq Portable, the first portable computer, as well as the first clone of the IBM PC series of computers.
• In 1983, sales of the Apple Lisa began — an ambitious Apple project that failed, but paved the way for the success of both the Apple Macintosh and Microsoft Windows (first the graphical environment, and then the operating system)
• In January 1984, the first successful mass-produced personal computer with a mouse-type manipulator and a fully graphical interface, called the Apple Macintosh, that is, the first successful computer that implemented the ideas laid down in Xerox Alto on an industrial scale.
• In 1984, the Amiga Corporation represented by Robert J. Mikal and Dave Morse arrange a demonstration of the world's first personal multimedia computer Amiga 1000. The Boeing demonstration showed how a three-dimensional ball, painted with red and white squares, flies in a three-dimensional room and hits the walls with a bang.
• In 1984 — the first mass-produced domestic personal computer "AGAT".
• April 3, 1986 — the first IBM PC Convertible laptop from IBM.
• In 1986, the first external sound card (sound card) from Covox Inc. went on sale.

• In 1990, Microsoft released Windows 3.0.
• Tim Berners-Lee developed the HTML language (Hypertext Markup Language; the main format of Web documents) and a prototype of the World Wide Web, as well as the first web browser WorldWideWeb and the first website info.cern.ch .
• In 1991, the JPEG graphic format was developed
• Philip Zimmerman came up with PGP, a public key message encryption system.
• A Wi-Fi communication standard has been created.
• The first webcam was launched.
• The first free operating system with great features appeared — Linux. The author of this system, Finnish student Linus Torvalds decided to experiment with Intel 80386 processor commands and posted what happened on the Internet. Hundreds of programmers from around the world began to add and redo the program. It has turned into a fully functional working operating system. History is silent about who decided to call it Linux, but how this name appeared is quite understandable. "Linu" or "Lin" on behalf of the creator and "x" or "ux" - from UNIX, since the new OS was very similar to it, only it now worked on computers with x86 architecture.
• In 1992, DEC introduced the first 32-bit RISC Alpha processor.
• The HTTP data transfer protocol has appeared.
• Microsoft released Windows 3.1.
• In 1993, Intel released a 32-bit Pentium microprocessor, which consisted of 3.1 million transistors and could perform 112 million operations per second.
• The MPEG video compression format has appeared.
• A markup language for hypertext documents appeared on the HTML World Wide Web.
• W3Catalog appeared, the first search engine to search for websites on the Internet.
• In 1994, the Power Mac company launched the Apple Computers — Power PC series.
• The Bluetooth specification has been released.
• In 1995, DEC announced the release of five new models of Celebris XL personal computers.
• NEC has announced the completion of the development of the world's first crystal with a memory capacity of 1 GB.
• The Windows 95 operating system appeared, in which USB and Plug and Play support appeared for the first time.
• SUN introduced the Java programming language. Netscape introduced the JavaScript programming language, which has a syntax similar to Java.
• The RealAudio format has appeared - an alternative to MPEG.
• In 1996, Microsoft released Internet Explorer 3.0— a fairly serious competitor for Netscape Navigator.
• The release of the first DVD format media has begun.
• The first public version of the Opera web browser has been released.
• In 1997, Apple released the Macintosh OS 8 operating system.
• In 1998, Microsoft released the Windows 98 operating system.
• Apple has released the first generation of the iMac desktop computer.
• The Google search engine appeared.
• In 2000, Microsoft released the Windows ME and Windows 2000 operating systems.
• The specification of the USB 2.0 standard
• has been released. The first USB flash drive was created in the Israeli company M-Systems.
• In 2001, Microsoft released the Windows XP operating system, which in the 2000s was the most popular OS in the world (76.1% in January 2007).
• Apple has released the OS X operating system (Mac OS X, macOS).
• In 2002, the Mozilla Firefox open source web browser was released.
• In 2004, the first version of the most popular Linux distribution, Ubuntu, was released.
• In 2005, Apple released the Mac mini computer.
• In 2006, Microsoft released the Windows Vista operating system.
• Apple has released a MacBook Pro laptop.
• The release of Blu-ray Disc format media has begun.
• In 2008, Google released the Google Chrome web browser.
• The specification of the USB 3.0 standard has been released.
• Apple has released MacBook and MacBook Air laptops.
• In 2009, Microsoft released the Windows 7 operating system, which as of 2016 is the most popular OS in the world.
• In 2012, Microsoft released the Windows 8 operating system.
• In 2015, Microsoft released the Windows 10 operating system.
• In 2018, IBM Corporation invents a quantum computer.
• In 2021, Microsoft released the Windows 11 operating system

H316 - the first home computer