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1971: Intel 4004 processor
The world's first microprocessor, it condensed the word of six chips into one. Made for a Japanese company, Intel bought the rights back and subsequently became a microprocessor powerhouse. Smaller processors soon led to the nearly unthinkable: desktop computers.
The ENIAC and its makers
See footage of the ENIAC's creators with their computing machine in action, bright lights, vacuum tubes and all.
Craigslist.org Michael Dell Chairman,
Dell Computer Rob Glaser CEO,
RealNetworks
"I was already wearing a plastic pocket protector and thick black glasses--taped together--so I didn't need something to increase my social dysfunction."
"I bought my first computer when I was 15 in 1980. It was an Apple II, which back then was the most popular PC in the U.S."
"I still had to re-key them everytime I wanted to change programs, but this wasn't too bad as the TI-58 only had enough memory for about 240 instructions."
What was your first computer?
Share your thoughts in TalkBack »Click here for a sample of great reader responses»
- ENIAC creator Paul Gillonwill be inducted into the U.S. Army Hall of Fame
- Penn's online ENIAC museum
- The Women of ENIAC: It's Programmers
- Run an ENIAC simulation as a Java applet
- An Introduction to supercomputers
- Obituary: Herman Goldstine, ENIAC developer
- Scott McCartney about his "ENIAC" book on NPR
- Germans claim first programmable computer
- Z3, the World's First Programmable Computer
- PBS: 'That's My Theory' starring ENIAC.
- ENIAC programmer Rocco Martino talks with CNN
Editors: Kari Dean McCarthy; Mike Yamamoto
Production: Bernie McGinn; Jennifer Guevin; Vincent Tremblay
Design: Ellen Ng
