Chuck Colby was an electronics engineer and chief-inventor, founder and president of Colby Systems Corporation (later Colby Computer, Inc.), a company that created the first DVR-based video surveillance systems but is also very notable as a pioneer in portable computing, being the first to market both

DOS DOS (, ) is a family of disk-based operating systems for IBM PC compatible computers. The DOS family primarily consists of IBM PC DOS and a rebranded version, Microsoft's MS-DOS, both of which were introduced in 1981. Later compatible syste ...

and

Macintosh Mac is a brand of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 1984. The name is short for Macintosh (its official name until 1999), a reference to the McIntosh (apple), McIntosh apple. The current product lineup inclu ...

portable computers, as well as a remarkable number of other technological firsts.

Early Inventions

Colby's first invention was the Colby TR-2 transistor radio, which he designed at the precocious age of 12 and sold to family, friends and customers on his paper-route, and is possibly the first pocket transistor radio. At 15, he built for his high school science project the world's first home earth satellite station capable of receiving signals from the Russian satellite Sputnik. As a college student, his passion for radio and inventing brought him attention in the LA Times when he and a friend built their own TV stations to broadcast video to each other over the airwaves. Shortly afterwards, he built a video security system for use by

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

. Chuck Colby also helped design the "Syzygy" original prototype of Atari Pong that was built into a suitcase so that it could be carried around and demonstrated to potential investors. On July 10, 2003, he donated the prototype to the

DigiBarn Computer Museum The DigiBarn Computer Museum, or simply DigiBarn, is a computer history museum in Boulder Creek, California, United States. The museum is housed in a 90-year-old barn constructed from old-growth Redwood in the Santa Cruz Mountains, which is adja ...

. In the 1980s, Colby created and marketed the first PC clone motherboard and was among the first to market with portable, expandable DOS-compatible computer such as the Colby PC-1 and PC-5 while most other companies were only producing portable computers that ran

CP/M CP/M, originally standing for Control Program/Monitor and later Control Program for Microcomputers, is a mass-market operating system created in 1974 for Intel 8080/Intel 8085, 85-based microcomputers by Gary Kildall of Digital Research, Dig ...

. This is a notable milestone as CP/M systems were generally fixed to 64Kb while the DOS offered applications the ability to directly address a full megabyte, allowing for larger and considerably more powerful applications. Colby Systems would continue this trend by producing some of the very earliest portable

Macintosh conversion To date, two methods have been used to make a personal computer, not offered by Apple, but able to run a Mac operating system: either create a Macintosh conversion or build a Macintosh clone. Unlike Mac clones that contain little or no original Ap ...

s, such as the ruggedized "luggable" MacColby and the WalkMac laptop, which could be purchased with a

68030 The Motorola 68030 ("''sixty-eight-oh-thirty''") is a 32-bit microprocessor in the Motorola 68000 family. It was released in 1987. The 68030 was the successor to the Motorola 68020, and was followed by the Motorola 68040. In keeping with ge ...

-based SE/30 motherboard which generated sales even after Apple's first laptop hit the market because Apple's Macintosh Portable was only available with the considerably slower

68000 The Motorola 68000 (sometimes shortened to Motorola 68k or m68k and usually pronounced "sixty-eight-thousand") is a 16/32-bit complex instruction set computer (CISC) microprocessor, introduced in 1979 by Motorola Semiconductor Products Sector ...

microprocessor as used in the original Macintosh, the

Macintosh 128K The Macintosh, later rebranded as the Macintosh 128K, is the original Mac (computer), Macintosh personal computer from Apple Inc., Apple. It is the first successful mass-market All-in-one computer, all-in-one desktop personal computer with a gr ...

. Colby is also mentioned in

Steve Wozniak Stephen Gary Wozniak (; born August 11, 1950), also known by his nickname Woz, is an American technology entrepreneur, electrical engineer, computer programmer, philanthropist, and inventor. In 1976, he co-founded Apple Inc., Apple Computer with ...

's book '' iWoz'' as having introduced Wozniak to early

satellite television Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location.ITU Radio Regulations, Section IV. Radio Stations and Systems ...

, which was mentioned as the impetus for Wozniak to leave Apple so he could design, then start a company to market, the first programmable learning TV remote, the

CL 9 CL 9 was a company that developed a universal TV remote control. It was started by Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple Inc. and designer of the Apple I and Apple II personal computers. CL 9 was in business for three years, from 1985 to 1988, launc ...

Nolan Bushnell Nolan Kay Bushnell (born February 5, 1943) is an American businessman and electrical engineer. He established Atari, Inc. and the Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre chain. He has been inducted into the Video Game Hall of Fame and the Consu ...

, who founded

Atari Atari () is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French holding company Atari SA (formerly Infogrames) and its focus is on "video games, consumer hardware, licensing and bl ...

and Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza-Time Theaters, wrote "Chuck Colby is a fountain of ideas and represents the best of a creative person one that thinks of things and then can build them." In November 2020, Colby's estate attested that he had passed away.

Inventions

* Classmate Tablet Computer * IBM Clone Motherboard * Portable DOS machine * PDA and Wearable Computer * Telephone Answering Machine * Cassette Fast-Winder * Cantaloupe Grading Machine * Home Satellite Earth Station * Low Cost TV Camera * Police Hostage Phone * DVD Jukebox * Police Radar Detector * Police CarMac * Underwater TV Camera * Pocket Transistor Radio * Video Modem * Portable Video Editor * Pocket Data Terminal * Corded Keyboard/Trackball * Low Cost 1" Sq TV Camera * Low Cost Digital Stopwatch * Plasma Display Mac * Driver Awake * Color Organ * Low Cost Video Earth Station * Police Car DVR/Computer * Wireless Telephone * Digital Airport Security System * Casino Recorder in Las Vegas * Low Cost Video Conferencing System * Video Security System for NASA * MPEG-2 Digital Video Recorder * MPEG-1 Digital Video Recorder * Portable Mac * Mac Laptop * Heads-up Display Mac * Tempest Mac * Portable Pong * Video thru Cellular Transmission System * Low Cost Carry-on PeopleMover * Wireless 2-Way Video Conferencing System * Ergonomic Robotic Controller * One way motion sensing switch * Customized '49 Studebaker * TV production Van with 4 Channel Audio * Citizen Band Walkie-Talkies * Hand Held Laser Pointer * Robot with 4-way Articulating Wheels * Voice Activated Switch * Portable Paging Center * Portable Video Editing System * Colby DVR-5000 * Mobile TV Units for the Army * Telephone Remote Activation Switch * Color Videomodem VM-4 * Wireless Video Cameras * Phone Card Dialer * Video editing system using 2 " tape * TV Camera in Viewfinder of 35mm Film Camera * Sing and Strum Wireless guitar Pickup * Scuba Slurp Gun * Rack mount PC * Low cost folding motorized wheelchair * Low-cost VideoPhone * Transportable Satellite Uplink Station * Streaming MPEG Video via T1 Line System * MPEG-2 Portable DVR * Low-Cost 360 Degree TV Camera

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Colby, Chuck American electronics engineers 20th-century American inventors American computer businesspeople Amateur radio people Year of birth missing Year of death missing