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The home computer is a consumer-friendly word for the first generation of microcomputers (the technical term that was previously used) that became common during the 1980s. The home computer became affordable for the general public due to the development of the
silicon chip based microprocessor and as the name indicates, tended to
be used in the home rather than in business contexts. This breed of computer largely died out at the end of the decade (in the
U.S.) or in the early 1990s (in
Europe) due to the rise of the IBM PC compatible personal computer (the
IBM PC and its clones are not covered in this article).
History
In a manner resembling the expansion of new animal forms in the Cambrian period,
large numbers of new machines of all types, including such exotica as the Forth-based Jupiter ACE appeared on the
market, and disappeared again. A few types remained for much longer, such as the BBC
Micro and Commodore 64 which still have a devoted following. However by
the end of the decade most were squeezed out between the IBM
compatible Personal Computer and the newer generations of video
game consoles because they each used their own incompatible formats. The PC revolution was initiated by the August 1981 release of the IBM PC (it original designation
actually being the quite anonymous, classic IBM-nomenclature, "IBM 5150").
Many home computers were superficially similar, some having a very cheap-to-manufacture keyboard integrated into the processor unit and displaying 20–40 column text
output on a home television. Many used ordinary and widely available compact audio cassettes as a (notoriously slow and sometimes
unreliable) storage mechanism since floppy disk drives were very expensive at
the time, especially in Europe (often a disk drive would be priced higher than the computer itself due to its more complicated
mechanical construction, and thus, manufacturing cost). All in all, cheapness was the order of the day for most of these
machines, in order to get the prices low enough to encourage ordinary-income people to buy. A prime buyer segment were families
with school age children.
All modern desktop computers employ an operating system (OS)
which acts as an interface between the operator and the computer's internal hardware (memory, CPU, etc). Home computers most often had their OS, of which
one part was usually a BASIC interpreter, stored in one or more
ROM chips. The term software commonly denoted
application programs sitting 'above' the OS to perform a specific task, e.g. wordprocessors or games. As many older computers
have become obsolete it has become popular amongst enthusiasts to enable one type of computer to emulate another via the use of
emulation software. Thus, many of the operating environments for the computers
listed below can be recreated on a modern PC.
Home computers were mostly based on 8-bit microprocessor technology, typically the MOS Technologies 6502 or the Zilog Z80. A large
variety of 8-bit home computers were designed and marketed during the early to mid-1980s.
These were then gradually supplanted by the PC (mostly the PC compatibles—clones—costing significantly less than the
IBM PC) and the PC's competing Motorola 68000-based home/personal
computers appearing from 1985 onwards. Some vendors attempted to prolong the market life of
their 8-bit computers by price cuts and other means (see, for example, GEOS), but their era
had ended. See the list of home
computers by category for a comprehensive listing of most well-known home computers, divided by wordlength (8, 16-bit) and
CPU architecture.
Notable home computers
The list below shows the more popular and/or historically significant home/personal computers (and computer ranges) of the
1980s and their initial year of release. A plethora of home computers came out during
this period, but most failed to have a signficant impact on the market or the history of home computing and as such are not
mentioned. Different models in a line of compatible computers are listed as a whole, such as the TRS-80 and Apple II
families.
- Apple II (June 1977) (first
personal computer; first with color graphics, and spreadsheet)
- Tandy Radio Shack TRS-80 (August 1977) (first home computer for less than
US$600)
- Commodore PET (December 1977) (first all-in-one computer:
keyboard/screen/tape storage)
- Atari 400/800 (1979) (years ahead of its time in graphics, sound, and expansion features)
- Commodore VIC-20 (1980)
(first computer in the world to pass the one million sold mark)
- BBC Micro (1981) (premier educational
computer in the UK for a decade; advanced BASIC)
- ZX Spectrum (April 1982)
(best-selling British home computer; 'made' the UK SW industry)
- Commodore 64 (September 1982) (best-selling computer model of all time:
> 10 million sold)
- Apple Macintosh (1984)
(first fully GUI-based home/personal computer;
first 16/32-bit)
- Commodore Amiga (June 1985)
(first inexpensive computer for professional video effects)
- Atari ST (1985) (first home computer with built-in MIDI I/F; also ˝MB RAM at < US$1000)
Notable game consoles
The list below includes the most popular and/or significant video game consoles of the home computer era. Though not general
purpose computers, many consoles competed for consumer money in the same market as the more low-end home computers. This market
was also flooded with several oddball or badly marketed systems that never achieved much success; accordingly, those systems are
not mentioned here.
- Magnavox Odyssey (1972)
(first home video game console; only no-sound; B/W graphics)
- Fairchild Channel F (1976) (first microprocessor-based console, first with sound, and color)
- Atari 2600 (1977) (aka Atari VCS)
(first very successful console, largest video game library)
- Magnavox Odyssey˛ (1978) (aka Philips Videopac G7000) (first with full QWERTY keyboard)
- Mattel Intellivision (1980) (most direct competitor against Atari 2600; first 8/16-bit console)
- Vectrex (1982) (only console
with built-in display screen, only one with real vector graphics)
- Colecovision (1982) (most advanced 2nd-gen. 8-bit console, first with
arcade-quality graphics)
- Nintendo Entertainment System
(1983/1985) (most popular 3rd-gen. 8-bit console in
the US)
- Sega Genesis (1989) (aka Sega
Megadrive) (first 16-bit console; victor of 16-bit console war)
- Nintendo Game Boy (1989) (first successful, and bestselling, handheld video
game console)
- Super Nintendo (SNES)
(1990) (arguably most advanced 16-bit console, top US 16-bit seller)
See also
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