The Dot (computer)
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The Dot (computer)
The Dot was a portable computer released by Computer Devices, Inc. (CDI) in April 1983. It featured an Intel 8088 processor and up to 704 KB of RAM, while its screen was capable of producing graphics at a resolution of up to 1024 by 248 pixels. Despite running MS-DOS and being compatible with a smattering of popular MS-DOS software, the computer was not fully IBM PC compatible. The Dot was a commercial failure and was a major factor in CDI's Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November 1983. Specifications The Dot's primary microprocessor was an Intel 8088, although customers could have optionally purchased a Z80 expansion board that allowed it to run CP/M. It otherwise featured 32 KB of RAM stock (expandable to 704 KB); a 9-inch-wide, 5-inch-tall CRT monitor; and one 3.5-inch floppy disk drive (manufactured by Sony, inventors of that format). The computer was optioned with MS-DOS as a native operating system; a dual serial port card; a second 3.5-inch floppy drive; a ...
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Intel 8088
The Intel 8088 ("''eighty-eighty-eight''", also called iAPX 88) microprocessor is a variant of the Intel 8086. Introduced on June 1, 1979, the 8088 has an eight-bit external data bus instead of the 16-bit bus of the 8086. The 16-bit registers and the one megabyte address range are unchanged, however. In fact, according to the Intel documentation, the 8086 and 8088 have the same execution unit (EU)—only the bus interface unit (BIU) is different. The 8088 was used in the original IBM PC and in IBM PC compatible clones. History and description The 8088 was designed at Intel's laboratory in Haifa, Israel, as were a large number of Intel's processors. The 8088 was targeted at economical systems by allowing the use of an eight-bit data path and eight-bit support and peripheral chips; complex circuit boards were still fairly cumbersome and expensive when it was released. The prefetch queue of the 8088 was shortened to four bytes, from the 8086's six bytes, and the prefe ...
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Serial Port
A serial port is a serial communication Interface (computing), interface through which information transfers in or out sequentially one bit at a time. This is in contrast to a parallel port, which communicates multiple bits simultaneously in Parallel communication, parallel. Throughout most of the history of personal computers, data has been transferred through serial ports to devices such as modems, computer terminal, terminals, various peripherals, and directly between computers. While interfaces such as Ethernet, FireWire, and USB also send data as a serial Stream (computing), stream, the term ''serial port'' usually denotes Computer hardware, hardware compliant with RS-232 or a related standard, such as RS-485 or RS-422. Modern consumer personal computers (PCs) have largely replaced serial ports with higher-speed standards, primarily USB. However, serial ports are still frequently used in applications demanding simple, low-speed interfaces, such as industrial automation sys ...
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Osborne 1
The Osborne 1 is the first commercially successful portable computer, released on April 3, 1981 by Osborne Computer Corporation. It weighs , cost US$1,795, and runs the CP/M 2.2 operating system. It is powered from a wall socket, as it has no on-board battery, but it is still classed as a portable device since it can be hand-carried when the keyboard is closed. The computer shipped with a large bundle of software that was almost equivalent in value to the machine itself, a practice adopted by other CP/M computer vendors. Competitors quickly appeared, such as the Kaypro II. History The Osborne 1 was developed by Adam Osborne and designed by Lee Felsenstein, first announced in early 1981. Osborne, an author of computer books decided that he wanted to break the price of computers. The computer's design was based largely on the Xerox NoteTaker, a prototype developed at Xerox PARC in 1976 by Alan Kay. It was designed to be portable, with a rugged ABS plastic case and a handle ...
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Osborne Computer Corporation
The Osborne Computer Corporation (OCC) was an American computer company and pioneering maker of portable computers. It was located in Hayward, California, part of San Francisco Bay Area in California. The Henry Ford Blog: "The Rise and Fall of the Osborne Computer Corporation"
April 16, 2015 — with images.

August 3,1983
Adam Osborne, the founder of the company, developed, with design work from Lee Fe ...
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IBM PC DOS
IBM PC DOS (an acronym for IBM Personal Computer Disk Operating System),Formally known as "The IBM Personal Computer DOS" from versions 1.0 through 3.30, as reported in those versions' respective COMMAND.COM outputs also known as PC DOS or IBM DOS, is a discontinued disk operating system for the IBM Personal Computer, its successors, and IBM PC compatibles. It was sold by IBM from the early 1980s into the 2000s. Developed by Microsoft, it was also sold by that company to the open market as MS-DOS. Both operating systems were identical or almost identical until 1993, when IBM began selling PC DOS 6.1 with its own new features. The collective shorthand for PC DOS and MS-DOS was DOS, which is also the generic term for disk operating system, and is shared with dozens of disk operating systems called DOS. History The IBM task force assembled to develop the IBM PC decided that critical components of the machine, including the operating system, would come from outside vendors. This r ...
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IBM Personal Computer
The IBM Personal Computer (model 5150, commonly known as the IBM PC) is the first microcomputer released in the IBM PC model line and the basis for the IBM PC compatible ''de facto'' standard. Released on August 12, 1981, it was created by a team of engineers and designers at International Business Machines (IBM), directed by William C. Lowe and Philip Don Estridge in Boca Raton, Florida. Powered by an x86-architecture Intel 8088 processor, the machine was based on open architecture and third-party peripherals. Over time, expansion cards and software technology increased to support it. The PC had a substantial influence on the personal computer market; the specifications of the IBM PC became one of the most popular computer design standards in the world. The only significant competition it faced from a non-compatible platform throughout the 1980s was from Apple's Macintosh product line, as well as consumer-grade platforms created by companies like Commodore and Atari. Mo ...
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Burlington, Massachusetts
Burlington is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 26,377 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. History It is believed that Burlington takes its name from the English town of Bridlington, Yorkshire, but this has never been confirmed. It was first settled in 1641, and was officially incorporated on February 28, 1799; several of the early homesteads are still standing, such as the Francis Wyman House, dating from 1666. The town is sited on the watersheds of the Ipswich River, Ipswich, Mystic River, Mystic, and Shawsheen River, Shawsheen rivers. In colonial times up through the late 19th century, there was an industry in the mills along Vine Brook, which runs from Lexington, Massachusetts, Lexington to Bedford, Massachusetts, Bedford and then empties into the Shawsheen River. Burlington is now a suburban industrial town at the junction of the Boston-Merrimack River, Merrimack corridor, but for most of its history, it was almost en ...
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Computer Terminal
A computer terminal is an electronic or electromechanical hardware device that can be used for entering data into, and transcribing data from, a computer or a computing system. Most early computers only had a front panel to input or display bits and had to be connected to a terminal to print or input text through a keyboard. Teleprinters were used as early-day hard-copy terminals and predated the use of a computer screen by decades. The computer would typically transmit a line of data which would be printed on paper, and accept a line of data from a keyboard over a serial or other interface. Starting in the mid-1970s with microcomputers such as the Sphere 1, Sol-20, and Apple I, display circuitry and keyboards began to be integrated into personal and workstation computer systems, with the computer handling character generation and outputting to a CRT display such as a computer monitor or, sometimes, a consumer TV, but most larger computers continued to require terminal ...
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Intel 8087
The Intel 8087, announced in 1980, was the first floating-point coprocessor for the 8086 line of microprocessors. The purpose of the chip was to speed up floating-point arithmetic operations, such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and square root. It also computes transcendental functions such as exponential, logarithmic or trigonometric calculations. The performance enhancements were from approximately 20% to over 500%, depending on the specific application. The 8087 could perform about 50,000  FLOPS using around 2.4 watts. The 8087 was an advanced integrated circuit, pushing the limits of manufacturing technology of the period. Basic operations on the 8087 such as addition and subtraction can take over 100 machine cycles to execute and some instructions exceed 1000 cycles. The chip lacks a hardware multiplier and implements calculations using the CORDIC algorithm. Sales of the 8087 received a significant boost when a coprocessor socket was incl ...
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Modem
The Democratic Movement (, ; MoDem ) is a centre to centre-right political party in France, whose main ideological trends are liberalism and Christian democracy, and that is characterised by a strong pro-Europeanist stance. MoDem was established by François Bayrou to succeed the Union for French Democracy (UDF) and contest the 2007 legislative election, after his strong showing in the 2007 presidential election. Initially named the Democratic Party (''Parti démocrate''), the party was renamed "Democratic Movement", because there was already a small Democratic Party in France. MoDem secured an agreement with La République En Marche! (LRM) — later Renaissance (RE) — in the 2017 legislative election after Bayrou had endorsed the candidacy of Emmanuel Macron in February. The two parties have since been in alliance, as of late named Ensemble. The party's founder and leader Bayrou has served as Prime Minister of France since December 2024. History Background MoDem tr ...
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Sony
is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (imaging and sensing), Sony Entertainment (including Sony Pictures and Sony Music Group), Sony Interactive Entertainment (video games), Sony Financial Group, and others. Sony was founded in 1946 as by Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita. In 1958, the company adopted the name Initially an electronics firm, it gained early recognition for products such as the TR-55 transistor radio and the CV-2000 home video tape recorder, contributing significantly to Japan's Japanese economic miracle, post-war economic recovery. After Ibuka's retirement in the 1970s, Morita served as chairman until 1994, overseeing Sony's rise as a global brand recognized for innovation in consumer electronics. Landmark products included the Trinitron color television, the Walkma ...
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Zilog Z80
The Zilog Z80 is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit microprocessor designed by Zilog that played an important role in the evolution of early personal computing. Launched in 1976, it was designed to be Backward compatibility, software-compatible with the Intel 8080, offering a compelling alternative due to its better Integrated circuit, integration and increased performance. Along with the 8080's seven Processor register, registers and flags register, the Z80 introduced an alternate register set, two 16-bit index registers, and additional instructions, including bit manipulation and block copy/search. Originally intended for use in embedded systems like the 8080, the Z80's combination of compatibility, affordability, and superior performance led to widespread adoption in video game systems and home computers throughout the late 1970s and early 1980s, helping to fuel the personal computing revolution. The Z80 was used in iconic products such as the Osborne 1, TRS-80, Radio Shack TRS-80, Col ...
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