Gates and Allen actually did write that software. After seeing what the pair had written in their dorm room, Dr Roberts invited them down to the MITS facility in New Mexico to improve the software for his product. They did so, then eventually moved back up to home - Bellevue, WA to continue the effort. This same software was ported to the favorite processors (mainly Z80, 8080 and 6502, although there may have been a 6800 version) and showed up in many systems, including the Apple, TRS-80, OSI C1P (still have mine) and many others. My first recollection of the Microsoft name comes from a Dr Dobbs article back in 1975 or 76.
Microsoft purchased the beginnings of MS-DOS from Seattle Softworks for the IBM effort. My first computer? A home-brew 6502 system started in late 1976, proposed as an article for QST, but not accepted. We had to sneak computer product reviews into QST at that time since the prevailing attitude was that they had little to do with ham radio (reference my review of the Processor Technology VDM-1 in March 1977 QST, among others). That attitude changed within a year. My 6502 system saw its first attempt at contest logging in ARRL November SS 1977, but a severe RFI problem caused the effort to be abandoned. Boy have things come a long way since. Jack Brindle, W6FB (ex-WA4FIB) On May 28, 2014, at 6:19 PM, Daniel Allen <dl...@bellsouth.net> wrote: > And Radio Shack started selling the TRS-80 on August 3, 1977. I bought one > on that date, and was told to expect delivery in two weeks. It arrived at > the store on Christmas Eve! It had a Z-80 and an entire 4K of memory. And > Microsoft (or what was to become Microsoft) sold the OS and BASIC to Radio > Shack. Microsoft likes to say that Gates and Allen wrote it, but they bought > it from someone for a song, and resold it to Radio Shack for a small fortune. > That is what got them started. > > It booted in BASIC from ROM. It included an instruction book on how to > program in BASIC. I knew nothing about any of this and wanted to learn. > Boy, did I learn quickly. It was so engrossing that I would often wonder > what that strange light coming through the window was. I would go to the > window, pull back the shade, and realize that it was dawn! > > I still have all of this! Including the boxes! And it still works! > > Dan Allen > KB4ZVM > -------------------------------------------- > On Wed, 5/28/14, Lewis Phelps <l...@n6lew.us> wrote: > > Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Computers in the Stone Age > To: "elecraft@mailman.qth.net List" <elecraft@mailman.qth.net> > Date: Wednesday, May 28, 2014, 4:59 PM > >> Someone wrote: >>> Desktop computers did not come into being until the > advent of the IBM PC in the 1980s. > > Nah. Heathkit H89 came out in 1979. > “All-in-One” desktop computer. Z-80 processor. CP/M OS > addressed 64 KB and used 39 kb of that total. two 5” > floppy drives (dual sided 800k) as an option. Later, > somebody came up with a card that plugged into the 5” > drive slot and gave 128K of silicon hard drive. Now THAT was > advanced for its era. Booting from that was faster than > lightning, for its time. > > And do not forget the Ohio Scientific Instruments OSI > Challenger 4P…. > > Lew > > > > > Lew Phelps N6LEW > Pasadena, CA DM04wd > Elecraft K3-10 > Yaesu FT-7800 > l...@n6lew.us > www.n6lew.us > > Sent from my Mac Pro 256-Array Supercomputer (9.42 > teraflops) > > > > > On May 28, 2014, at 11:19 AM, Kevin Cozens <ke...@ve3syb.ca> > wrote: > > > ______________________________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm > Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net > > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net > Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html > Message delivered to dl...@bellsouth.net > > ______________________________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm > Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net > > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net > Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html > Message delivered to jackbrin...@me.com ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to arch...@mail-archive.com
