1976 · Integrated Keyboard Microcomputer · Work 966 of 1,871
The office of a physics professor at a university in Detroit on a winter evening, on a broad oak desk a computer with a built-in keyboard forty-eight centimetres wide, its case of bright blue painted sheet steel rising toward the back, on each side a slanted cheek of reddish-brown walnut, behind the keys a plain dark smoked strip, a typewriter keyboard of grey, dark grey and cream-white keys, every key plain, smooth and unmarked, two hands in brown corduroy sleeves resting on the keys, beside it a small black-and-white monitor with a soft even pale glow and a portable cassette recorder, a green-shaded desk lamp, snow falling past the dark window.
What it was used for
A computer by Processor Technology Corporation, presented on the cover of Popular Electronics in July 1976, described there as a highly intelligent terminal. The case held an Intel 8080, keyboard, television output and cassette interface; the picture came from the firm's own VDM-1 video module. On Lee Felsenstein's account at DigiBarn, he designed most of the circuitry himself, Gordon French was project manager and primary mechanical designer, sheet metal included, and Bob Marsh did the power supply and cassette interface. Production ran from 1976 to 1979; the Computer History Museum calls it one of the first mass-produced complete personal computers.
What was new
What stands out is that keyboard, display output and cassette interface came together in one case, where the Altair 8800 of 1975 had only toggle switches and lamps. The idea came from terminal engineering: the machine was conceived as a simple terminal for communicating with other devices and became a computer in its own right on the S-100 card bus. The case got walnut side panels, hence the nickname "old woodsides"; one caption at DigiBarn says maple, while the curator's note and visitor corrections say walnut.
What the sources leave open: Kit and assembled prices and production quantities appear only on collector sites with no sources given, so they are left out. On dating: DigiBarn gives production as 1976 to 1979, while the Computer History Museum dates its example to about 1978. Felsenstein's account of who did what is paraphrased at DigiBarn, not quoted.