home computer

Children playing Paperboy on an Amstrad CPC 464 in the 1980s.

Most home computers, such as this Tandy Color Computer 3, featured a version of the BASIC programming language.

A home computer was the description of the second generation of desktop computers, entering the market in 1977 and becoming common during the 1980s. They are also members of the class known as personal computers. These computers typically cost much less than business, scientific or engineering-oriented desktop personal computers, and were generally less powerful in terms of memory and expandability. However, a home computer often had better graphics and sound than contemporary business personal computers, and was usually sold for purposes of education, game play, and personal productivity use.

The home computer became affordable for the general public due to the mass production of the silicon chip based microprocessor and, as the name indicates, tended to be used in the home rather than in business/industrial settings. In contrast to their predecessors, they were designed to used by the average consumer, not necessarily an electronics hobbyist. Very typically a home computer would have had a version of the BASIC programming language in read-only permanent memory. To save the cost of a dedicated monitor, the home computer often would have connected either directly or through an RF modulator to the family TV set as video display and sound system.

Background

After the success of systems like the RadioShack TRS-80, the Commodore PET and the Apple Inc. Apple II in 1977, large numbers of new machines of all types began to appear during the late 1970s and early 1980s. The boom was further facilitated by the 1979 release of VisiCalc, a software application which helped extend computer usage into business markets. Some offerings became market mainstays for years, such as the BBC Micro, ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64.

To some extent, low-end home computers competed with video game consoles. The markets weren't entirely distinct, as both had the ability to be used for games. During the peak years of the home computer marketplace, scores of types of machines were produced, usually with little or no compatibility between manufacturers or even within product lines of one manufacturer.

The introduction of the IBM Personal Computer in August 1981 eventually lead to standardization in personal computing, largely due to the system's open architecture, which encouraged production of third-party clones of the unit. While the Apple II would eventually be displaced by the IBM PC, Apple Computer's 1984 release of the Apple Macintosh would create a new model for the home computer which IBM-compatible computers would eventually emulate.

The declining cost of IBM-compatible "office" personal computers on the one hand, and the greatly increased graphics, sound, and storage capabilities of dedicated video game consoles on the other, eventually made the market segment for home computers vanish before 2000. A computer purchased for home use today will be very similar to those used in offices, with compatible peripherals, operating systems, and application software.

Technology

Many home computers were superficially similar, some having a very cheap-to-manufacture keyboard integrated into the processor unit and displaying 20–40 column text output on a home television. The use of a television set is very nearly a definition of a home computer, although monitors dedicated for use with a computer were also available in this market segment. Most home computers used the ubiquitous compact audio cassettes as a (notoriously slow and sometimes unreliable) storage mechanism since floppy disk drives were very expensive at the time.

In contrast to modern computers, home computers most often had their OS stored in one or more ROM chips. The OS was usually only a BASIC interpreter, with the applications performing all other OS duties. The term software commonly denoted application programs sitting 'above' the OS to perform a specific task, e.g. wordprocessors or games.

Home computers were mostly based on 8-bit microprocessor technology, typically the MOS Technology 6502 or the Zilog Z80. A notable exception was the TI-99 series, released in 1979 with a 16 bit TMS9900 CPU.

Use today

As many older computers have become obsolete, it has become popular amongst enthusiasts^[1] to simulate these machines, their environments and popular software titles^[2] with emulation software. One of the more well known emulators is the Multiple Emulator Super System which can emulate most of the better known home computers. One system for which many emulators exist is the MSX. A more or less complete list of home computer emulators can be found here.

Notable home computers

The 1977 Apple II.

The list below shows the most popular and/or historically significant home computers of the late 1970s and of the 1980s. It includes their initial year of release as well as their region/country of origin. The most popular releases (pre-1985) in the USA were: the TRS-80 (1977), the Apple II (1977), the Atari 400/800(1979), the Commodore VIC-20 (1980), the IBM PC (1981), the Commodore 64 (1982), and the Apple Macintosh (1984).

Until the introduction of the IBM PC in 1981, computers such as the Apple II and TRS 80 also found considerable use in office work. The division of personal computers into the "office" segment and the "home" segment was more definite after the IBM PC standardized the expectations of an office computer. Previously this segment would have been typified by CP/M microcomputers usually requiring the services of specialists or dedicated early adopters to make them usable in a commercial environment.

A plethora of home computers came out during this period, but most failed to have a significant impact on the US market or the history of home computing and as such are not mentioned (this includes machines not sold/known in the USA). Different models in a line of compatible computers are listed as a whole, such as the Apple II and TRS-80 families.

(For a comprehensive overview of home computers, i.e. not just the most notable ones given below, see the List of home computers.)

1970s

• November 1976: Sol-20 (North America) (Intel 8080, QWERTY keyboard, 12" monitor, enclosed case, power supply and tapedeck)
• June 1977: Apple II (North America) (color graphics, eight expansion slots)
• August 1977: Tandy Radio Shack TRS-80 (N. Am.) (first home computer for less than US$600) (used a dedicated monitor for FCC rules compliance).
• December 1977: Commodore PET (N. Am.) (first all-in-one computer: keyboard/screen/tape storage)
• 1979: Atari 400/800 (N. Am.) (first computer with custom chip set and programmable video chip and built-in audio output)
• 1979: TI-99/4 (first home computer with a 16 bit processor)

1980s

No computer has sold more units than the Commodore 64 did.^{[citation needed]}

• 1980: Commodore VIC-20 (N. Am.) (under US$300; first computer in the world to pass the one million sold mark)
• 1980: TRS-80 Color Computer (N. Am.) (Motorola 6809, optional OS-9 multi-user multi-tasking)
• June 1981: Texas Instruments TI-99/4A (based on the less-successful TI-99/4) (Second home computer with a 16-bit CPU, first to add sprite graphics)
• August 1981: IBM PC (N. Am.) - the progenitor of the IBM PC compatible hardware platform. The original model was designated the IBM 5150. It was created by a team of 12 engineers and designers under the direction of Don Estridge of the IBM Entry Systems Division in Boca Raton, Florida While this became the definitive office personal computer, in a version equipped with a TV-compatible video card and cassette storage, it had some of the qualities (except low price) of a typical home computer.
• 1981: Sinclair ZX81 (Europe) (£49.95 in kit form; £69.95 pre-built) (released as Timex Sinclair 1000 in US in 1982)
• 1981: BBC Micro (Europe) (premier educational computer in the UK for a decade; advanced BASIC with integrated 6502 machine code assembler; designed with a myriad of I/O ports)
• April 1982: ZX Spectrum (Europe) (best-selling British home computer; "made" the UK software industry)
• August 1982: Dragon 32, became, for a short time, the best-selling home micro in the United Kingdom.
• August 1982: Commodore 64 (N. Am.) (best-selling computer model of all time: ~ 17 million sold)
• 1983: Coleco Adam
• 1983: MSX (Japan) (a computer 'reference design' by ASCII and Microsoft, manufactured by several companies: ~ 5 million sold)
• 1983: VTech Laser 200 (entry level computer aimed at being the cheapest on market).
• January 1984: Apple Macintosh (N. Am.) (first commercially successful mouse driven, fully GUI-based home/personal computer; first 16/32-bit)
• 1984: Amstrad/Schneider CPC & PCW ranges (Europe) (British std. prior to IBM PC; German sales next to C64)
• 1985: Atari ST (N. Am.) (first with built-in MIDI interface; also 1MB RAM for less than US$1000)
• July 1985: Commodore Amiga (N. Am.) (custom chip set for graphics and sound; multitasking OS)
• 1987: Acorn Archimedes (Europe) (based on the powerful Acorn-developed 32-bit ARM microprocessor; most powerful home computer in its class on its debut)

References

1. ^ http://www.xtrazone.com/computer-software-games/reviving-old-computer-games.html
2. ^ http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details?url=http%3A%2F%2Fgametap.com

See also

• Computer magazines
• History of computing hardware (1960s-present)
• List of home computers
• List of home computers by category
• List of home computers by video hardware
• List of video game consoles
• Microprocessor development board and List of early microcomputers, first microprocessor based systems used by hobbyists
• Personal computer
• Pirates of Silicon Valley - docu-fiction focused on Apple and Microsoft evolution
• Triumph of the Nerds
• Video Display Controller, chips that were used to create the video graphics of many early home computers

External links

• Rune's PC Museum
• Collection of old analog and digital computers at Old Computer Museum
• Computer History Museum – An online museum of home computing and gaming
• HCM - Home Computer Museum
• "Total share: 30 years of personal computer market share figures" – From Ars Technica
• The Classic Computing and Gaming Show, Yearly event held at the end of May in Cleveland, Ohio

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