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KF5JRV > TECH 09.04.16 03:37l 26 Lines 1215 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 1222_KF5JRV
Read: GUEST
Subj: Kenbak Computer
Path: IW8PGT<IZ3LSV<DB0ERF<OK0NAG<IK6ZDE<F1OYP<CT1ENI<N0KFQ<KF5JRV
Sent: 160409/0132Z 1222@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA BPQK1.4.65
First Personal Stored Program Computer
In 1970 John Blankenbaker of Kenbak Corporation, Northridge, California
designed and produced the Kenbak-1. The machines, of which only forty
were ever built, were designed as educational tools and offered for sale
in Scientific American and Computerworld for $750 in 1971. The company
closed in 1973.
Unlike many earlier machines and calculating engines, the Kenbak-1 was
a true stored-program computer that offered 256 bytes of memory, a wide
variety of operations and a speed equivalent to nearly 1MHz. It was thus
the first stored-program personal computer.
"Since the Kenbak-1 was invented before the first microprocessor, the
machine didn't have a one-chip CPU but instead was based purely on discrete
TTL chips. The 8-bit machine offered 256 bytes of memory. The instruction
cycle time was 1 microsecond (equivalent to an instruction clock speed of
1 MHz), but actual execution speed averaged below 1000 instructions per
second due to architectural constraints such as slow access to serial
memory.
"To use the machine, one had to program it with a series of buttons and
switches, using pure machine code. Output consisted of a series of lights"
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