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Click a year to view that year's timeline:
Prior To 1970
| 1899 Quote by Charles H. Duell, Commissioner of US Patent Office….Everything that can be invented has been invented. |
| 1900 A pioneer is one who originates anything or prepares the way for others…...pioneer definition in Webster's Dictionary |
| 1938 David Packard and William Hewlett found Hewlett-Packard (HP) in Palo Alto garage. |
| December 1947 William Shockley, Walter Brattain, and John Bardeen, scientists at Bell Labs, demonstrate their new point-contact transistor amplifier invention. |
| January 1952 Suit filed against IBM, alleging monopolistic practices in its computer business. |
| 1954 Commodore founded by Jack Tramiel as a typewriter repair service. |
| February 24, 1955 Baby boy born to Mrs. Jobs and named Steven. |
| October 28, 1955 Baby boy born to Mrs. Mary Gates named William Henry Gates III. |
| October 4, 1957 Sputnik 1, first artificial satellite, launched into space by the Soviets. |
| September 1958 Jack St. Clair Kilby, of Texas Instruments, combined transistors, resistors, and capacitors in a single monolithic integrated circuit. |
| 1959 Xerox introduces first copy machine. |
| 1959 Robert N. Noyce at Fairchild Semiconductor introduced the idea of building an IC with components connected by aluminum lines deposited on a silicon-oxide surface layer bonded to a plane of silicon. Metal-oxide-silicon (MOS) structure. |
| 1963 Tandy acquires Radio Shack. Consisted of (9) retail stores. |
| 1965 DEC ships PDP-8 minicomputer. |
| 1968 Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore leave Fairchild Semiconductor to found Intel along with Andy Grove. |
| 1969 Bill Gates and Paul Allen of Lakeside Programming Group get contract to report PDP-10 software bugs in exchange for computer time. |
| June 1969 ARPANET goes online. Evolves to become Internet. |
| July 20, 1969 Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin walk on the surface of the Moon. |
| 1969 UNIX is developed at AT&T’s Bell Labs. |
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1970
| 1970 First version of the UNIX operating system running on the DEC PDP-7. |
| 1970 Floppy disk is announced by IBM, an 8-inch floppy plastic disk. |
| 1970 Daisywheel printer is announced by IBM. |
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1971
| 1971 Bill Gates and Paul Allen form Traf-O-Data to sell their computer traffic analysis systems. |
| 1971 Don Hoefler, of Electronic News, coins Silicon Valley USA. Check out the complete unabrigded works of Don Hoefler's MicroElectronics Newsletter at http://smithsonianchips.si.edu/schreiner/index.htm |
| 1971 First network email message sent by Ray Tomlinson of Bolt Beranek and Newman. |
| 1971 IBM introduces the first floppy disk. |
| November 1971 Intel introduces MCS-4 microcomputer system. Features 4001 ROM chip, 4002 RAM chip, 4003 shift register chip, and the 4004 (108 Khz) cpu. Uses 2300 transistors and can address 640 bytes. Developed by team headed by F. Fagin, Ted Hoff and S. Mazor. Price $300. |
| November 1971 Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs start first business selling blue boxes in the UC Berkeley dorms. |
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1972
| 1972 C programming language developed by Dennis Ritchie at Bell Labs. |
| April 1972 Intel introduces first commercial microprocessor, the 8-bit 8008. Features 16Kb of memory, 3500 transistors(10 micron technology), 60,000 instructions per second at 200KHz. Intels first chip as part of its MCS-8 family of computer chips. Family developed for Computer Terminal Corporation (Datapoint). Launched the personal computer revolution. |
| 1972 Gary Kildall (Digital Research) writes PL/M, the first programming language for the 4004. |
| 1972 Intel introduces the 8080 microprocessor. |
| 1972 Ray Tomlinson, author of first email software, chooses @ sign for email addresses. |
| 1972 Bye-bye Slide rule as it is replaced by hand-held calculators. |
| November 1972 Atari is founded by Nolan Bushnell and ships Pong, the first video game. |
| 1972 Small talk developed by Alan Kay at Xerox Parc. Quote...The best way to predict the future is to invent it. |
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1973
| April 1973 Radio Electronics publishes an article by Don Lancaster's TV Typewriter. Displayed 2 pages of 16 lines of 32 characters each. Complete construction details were $2/each and sold thousands. |
| April 1973 Xerox Parc develops the first PC called Alto with a GUI and Mouse plus Ethernet. |
| 1973 IBM launches 370 mainframe computer. |
| 1973 Bob Kahn and Vint Cerf present basic ideas of the Internet. |
| 1973 Gary Kidall writes simple operating system in his PL/M language. Called CP/M (Computer Program/Monitor) the first operating system for minicomputers. |
| 1973 IBM develops hard disk drive. Called the Winchester named after the rifle. It used two 30 Mb platters. |
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1974
| March 1974 Scelbi-8H personal computer introduced by Scelbi Computer Consulting, Inc. Used Intel 8008 CPU and assembled was $565. Some circles say this was the first personal computer. It was the first advertised personal computer using a microprocessor. Designed by Nat Wadsworth and Robert Findley. 200 units sold. |
| March 1974 Radio Electronics article appears to build your own Mark-8 personal minicomputer. Designed by Jonathan A. Titus. |
| April 1974 First 4Kbit dRam chip becomes available. |
| April 1974 Intel releases 8080 chip, an 8-bit microprocessor. Can access 64 Kb of memory and uses 6000 transistors. Designed by Federico Faggin, Masatoshi Shima and Stan Mazor. Federico Faggin quote The 8080 really created the microprocessor market. The 4004 and 8008 suggested it, but the 8080 made it real. |
| April 1974 Steve Jobs takes job at Atari. |
| 1974 BBN opens Telenet, the first public packet-switched network. |
| May 1974 Mark 8, the first home computer kit, was introduced. |
| 1974 Motorola introduces 6800 cpu. The 8-bit microprocessor was designed by Chuck Peddle and Charlie Melear. |
| September 1974 Ed Roberts of MITS computers borrows $65,000 to complete work on the Altair computer. |
| October 1974 Creative Computing magazine, created by David Ahl, starts publication. |
| 1974 Ted Nelson invents Hypertext. |
| December 1974 Popular Electronics publishes MITS article announcing the Altair 8800 computer kit for $439. Name was based on a Star Trek episode. The Altair pictured on the cover of the magazine is actually a mock-up, as an actual computer was not available. Altair used Intel 8080 cpu. |
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1975
| January 1975 IBM introduces the first laser printer. |
| February 1975 Zilog announces the Z-80 cpu. |
| March 1975 Homebrew Club founded. Fred Moore and Gordon French hold the first meeting in French's garage, in Menlo Park, California. Meeting included Bob Albrect, Steve Dompier, Lee Felsenstein, Bob Marsh, Tom Pittman, Marty Spergel, Alan Baum, Steven Wozniak and others. Bob Albrect demonstrates an Altair and Steve Dompier reports MITS has 4000 orders. |
| April 1975 Bill Gates and Paul Allen found Micro-Soft. The hyphen is later dropped to Microsoft. |
| April 1975 Bill Gates and Paul Allen write first BASIC interpreter. It is shipped on paper tape. |
| April 1975 Scelbi-8B business computer introduced, designed by Nat Wadsworth and Robert Lindley. |
| April 1975 MITS delivers the popular Altair 8800, priced at $397 with 1 Kb memory in kit form. MITS could not build them fast enough. Assembled $498. |
| 1975 Bill Gates and Paul Allen license BASIC to MITS, their first customer. This is the first computer language program written for a personal computer. |
| 1975 Bill Gates and Paul Allen ship 4K and 8K versions of BASIC v2.0. |
| 1975 Bob Marsh and Gary Ingram found Processor Technology. |
| 1975 Processor Technology delivers the first S-100 4Kb memory boards for the Altair 8800. |
| 1975 Canadian chip maker Microsystems International shuts down due to $50 million in losses. |
| 1975 Lee Felsenstein and Bob Marsh begin work on a complete 8080 based computer with a keyboard and built-in color video display. |
| 1975 Cromemco founded by Harry Garland and Roger Melen. Company is named after their Crowthers Memorial dorm at Stanford. |
| 1975 Homebrew Computer Club Steve Dompier plays music Fool on the Hill and Daisy using the Altair and a radio. |
| 1975 Ed Roberts from MITS hires Paul Allen as Director of Software. |
| 1975 Moore's Law. Gordon Moore revises 1965 prediction about transistor density, from doubling every 12 months to doubling every 18 months. |
| 1975 Harry Garland and Roger Melen receive Altair serial number 0002 which they would use to attach their Cyclops camera for use as a security camera. |
| 1975 IBM's Entry Level Systems unit unveils Project Mercury, the IBM 5100 Portable Computer(55 lbs.). A briefcase-size minicomputer with BASIC, 16Kb RAM, tape storage, and built-in 5-inch screen for $9000. |
| 1975 IMSAI hires Ed Faber as Director of Sales. |
| June 1975 IMSAI announces the IMSAI 8080 microcomputer. |
| June 1975 MOS Technology announces MC6501 cpu($20) and MC6502 cpu($25) undercutting Intel 8080 cpu selling at $150. |
| July 15, 1975 Dick Heiser opens first retail computer store Arrow Head Computer Co., dba The Computer Store, in Santa Monica, selling assembled Altair computers. |
| 1975 Micom Data Systems ships its first product the Micom 2000 word processing computer. |
| 1975 Microcomputer Associates releases the JOLT computer kit. |
| 1975 The National Computer Conference (NCC) is held in Anaheim, California. |
| 1975 MITS begins work on Motorola 6800 cpu based Altair. |
| 1975 MITS releases 4K and 8K versions of MicroSoft BASIC 2.0 for its Altair 8800. |
| November 1975 John French with Hal Lashley and George Tate open Computer Mart of Orange selling the IMSAI! One of the first computer retail stores in USA. |
| 1975 Dick Brown opens The Computer Store on Route 128 in Burlington, Massachusetts. |
| 1975 Southwest Technical Products releases its M6800 computer kit. |
| 1975 Sphere Corporation introduces Sphere I computer kit, with Motorola 6800 cpu, 4Kb RAM, ROM, keyboard and video interface. Selling price $650. |
| 1975 The Amateur Computer Group of New Jersey is formed. |
| 1975 The Southern California Computer Society (SCCS) is formed. |
| 1975 Wavemate releases its Jupiter II computer kit. |
| 1975 Zilog is founded. |
| December 8, 1975 Paul Terrell opens The Byte Shop in Mountain View, California One of the first computer retail stores in the US. First to offer franchises. |
| December 1975 Paul Terrell signs deal with MITS in which Terrell would receive a 5% commission on every Altair sold in Northern California. |
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1976
| 1976 JVC introduces VHS format to the video recorders. |
| 1976 Altair coins name of the S-100 bus. |
| 1976 Dr. Dobb's Journal of Computer Calisthenics and Orthodontia begins publication. |
| 1976 Hewlett-Packard begins Project Capricorn to build a computer calculator. |
| 1976 Advanced Micro Devices and Intel sign cross-licensing agreement giving AMD rights to use Intel's microcode. |
| 1976 Bill Gates drops out of Harvard. |
| 1976 Bill Gates writes a second open letter to computer hobbyists, condemning software piracy. |
| 1976 Bill Gates writes software routines for BASIC on the Altair to use diskettes for storage. |
| 1976 Commodore International buys MOS Technology. |
| March 1976 Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak create the Apple I |
| April 1, 1976 Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs found the Apple Computer Company on April Fool's Day. |
| 1976 Computer Shack is incorporated. The name is later changed to ComputerLand due to legal objections from Radio Shack. |
| 1976 Cromenco introduces TV Dazzler S-100 color graphics card for Altair/MITS for $215. |
| 1976 David Bunnell publishes an open letter from Bill Gates to the microcomputer hobbyists, complaining of software piracy. |
| 1976 David Jackson founds Altos Computer Systems. |
| 1976 Dick Wilcox demonstrates Alpha Micro at Homebrew Computer Club meeting. |
| 1976 Digital Research copyrights CP/M. |
| 1976 Don French and Steve Leininger begin microcomputer development for Radio Shack. |
| 1976 Fairchild introduces Channel F the first programmable home video game system. Retail price $170. |
| 1976 Gary Kildall founds Intergalactic Digital Research. |
| 1976 Gary Kildall releases CP/M operating system for 8-bit Personal Computers. |
| 1976 George Morrow founds MicroStuf. |
| 1976 IBM releases the first Inkjet Printer |
| June 1976 Processor Technology introduces Sol-20 microcomputer. Uses Intel 8080 processor and sold in kit form. Introduced at PC '76 conference in Atlantic City. |
| 1976 iCOM announces 8 floppy drive named the Frugal Floppy and priced at $1200. |
| 1976 IMS is renamed IMSAI. |
| 1976 IMSAI begins shipping the IMSAI 8080. |
| 1976 Intel introduces 5MHz 8085 cpu. 8-bit bus, 3 micron 5v technology, speed 0.37 mips, has 6500 transistors. |
| 1976 John Martin sells Bill Millard retail computer store chain concept. Later becomes ComputerLand. |
| July 1976 First Apple I delivered to The Byte Shop at $666.66. It did not include power supply and keyboard. |
| July 1976 Zilog releases Z80, an 8-bit cpu. Speed 2.5 MHz. Instruction set is a superset of Intel 8080. |
| August 1976 Wozniak completes prototype of the Apple II . Chris Espinosa begins developing game software. |
| 1976 Kentucky Fried Computers is founded. |
| 1976 First Processor Technology Sol-20 computer delivered to Les Solomon of Popular Electronics magazine by Bob Marsh and Lee Felsenstein. |
| 1976 Lore Harp and Carole Ely form Vector Graphic, Inc., first offering 4K memory boards for S-100 bus based systems. |
| 1976 Radio Shack management approves proposal to build and sell TRS-80 microcomputer line. |
| 1976 Mike Markkula, VC and ex-Intel marketing guru visits Steve Jobs garage to see the Apple computer. |
| 1976 Mike Markkula recruits Mike Scott, Gene Carter and Phil Roybal from National Semiconductor to assume positions at Apple. |
| 1976 MITS introduces small footprint Altair 680 microcomputer based on Motorola 6800 cpu. |
| 1976 MOS Technology, Inc. ships the 6502 cpu. The 6502 was developed by Chuck Peddle. |
| 1976 MOS Technology Inc. announces KIM-1 Microcomputer System, with 1 MHz 6502 cpu, 1Kb RAM, 2Kb ROM, LED readout, 23-key keypad, cassette and serial interfaces. Retail price $245. |
| 1976 National Semiconductor announces SC/MP 8-bit microprocessor with advanced multiprocessing. |
| October 1976 Wozniak exits Hewlett-Packard to work at Apple full-time. |
| 1976 Paul Allen resigns from MITS. |
| 1976 Paul Terrell begins The Byte Shop franchising program. Byte Shop to open new franchises throughout US. |
| 1976 Paul Terrell incorporates Byte, Inc. |
| 1976 Paul Terrell orders 50 Apple computers from Steve Jobs to be sold at Byte Shop along with Altair computers. Considered genesis of Apple Computer. |
| 1976 Polymorphic Systems introduces Poly-88 microcomputer. |
| 1976 Processor Technology introduces the Sol-20 sold at $995 in kit form. |
| 1976 Processor Technology releases VDM(video display module) for Altair, IMSAI, Proc Tech, Polymorphic computers, and other S-100 bus computers. |
| 1976 First Personal Computing Festival takes place in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Boot-strapped by several hobbyist computer clubs. |
| 1976 Shugart announces 5.25 disk drive(minifloppy) for $390. |
| 1976 Stephen Wozniak demo's Apple I at Bay area Homebrew Computer Club meeting. |
| November 17, 1976 Advanced Computer Products, Inc. opens one of first computer retail stores |
| 1976 Steve Wozniak and Randy Wigginton demo prototype Apple II at Homebrew Computer Club meeting. |
| 1976 Steve Wozniak begins work on Apple II. |
| 1976 Texas Instruments introduces TMS9900 cpu, first 16-bit microprocessor, for use on TI 990 minicomputer. |
| 1976 First World Altair Computer Convention held in Albuquerque, New Mexico. |
| 1976 The Midwest Area Computer Club conference is held. |
| 1976 Trademark Microsoft is registered. |
| 1976 Trenton Computer Festival is held in New Jersey. |
| 1976 Western Digital introduces MCP-1600, 3-chip, 16-bit cpu. |
| 1976 Tom Snyder's Tomorrow TV show features Sol-20 computer playing Target game. |
| November 1976 November ComputerLand and Gordon French opens a pilot retail computer store in Hayward, California. Also will serve as training center for franchisors. |
| 1976 Robotics founded in Skokie, Illinois. |
| December 1976 December Michael Shrayer introduces the Electric Pencil word-processing program. |
| 1976 Warner Communications buys Atari from Nolan Bushnell for outrageous sum of $26 million. |
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1977
| January 3, 1977 Apple Computer is incorporated by Steven Jobs and Stephen Wozniak. Appoints Intel's Mike Markkula chairman with key objective to obtain new venture capital. |
| 1977 Apple first employees move into office on Stevens Creek Blvd. in Cupertino, California. |
| 1977 IMSAI licenses CP/M for its microcomputers for $25,000 fee. |
| 1977 Apple Computer moves from Steve Jobs' parents garage to new office in Cupertino, California. |
| January 1977 Apple incorporates, taps Intel's Mike Markkula as first chairman with key objective to obtain new venture capital. |
| January 1977 Commodore Business Machines shows prototype PET computer at Winter Consumer Electronics Show. |
| February 1977 Toy Fair in New York, Milton Bradley announces new electronics division that will create electronic toys. First product will be electronic version of Mastermind game. |
| February 1977 Don Tarbell ships Tarbell Cassette Interface board for the S-100. Kit $120, assembled $175, manual add $4. |
| 1977 First working model Radio Shack TRS-80 computer is demo'd to Charles Tandy(President). |
| 1977 The First West Coast Computer Faire held at Brooks Civic Auditorium in San Francisco. 13,000 computer hobbyists attended the weekend event. Founded by Jim Warren. |
| April 1977 Apple Computer delivers first Apple II system. |
| April 1977 Apple Computer introduces the Apple II at the First West Coast Computer Faire. Features a 6502 CPU, 4 Kb RAM (expandable to 48K), 16 Kb ROM, keyboard, 8-slot motherboard, game paddles, speaker, graphics/text interface to color display, and built-in BASIC. Price $1298. It is the first personal computer with color graphics. Featured breakout game. Apple II mothrboard also available for $598. |
| 1977 Apple releases Applesoft I version of BASIC licensed from Microsoft on cassette. |
| April 1977 D.C. Hayes Associates, Inc., founded by Dennis Hayes with $5000, introduces first Hayes S-100 modem products. January 1978 named changed to Hayes Corp. |
| 1977 First shipments of Apple II computers to Europe by independent distributor Eurapple. |
| April 1977 Commodore Business Machines introduces prototype of PET 2001 computer at the West Coast Computer Faire. Features 6502 CPU, 4 Kb RAM, 14 Kb ROM, 8K Microsoft BASIC, keyboard, display, and tape drive. Price only $600. |
| 1977 Mike Markkula, president of Apple Computer, states floppy disk drive as company's top priority. |
| May 1977 Byte magazine publishes The Apple II, article by Steve Wozniak. |
| June 1977 Intel introduces 4.77 Mhz 8086 cpu. Uses 16-bit registers, 16-bit data bus, and 29,000 transistors. |
| June 1977 Lear Siegler ADM-3 dumb terminal becomes output device of choice for hobbyist S-100 computers. Price $995 eventuall sold in kit form for $695 |
| 1977 Atari introduces Atari Video Computer System which became the Atari 2600. |
| 1977 Bally completes design of a new home computer. |
| 1977 Bill Gates and Paul Allen sign partnership agreement to officially create Microsoft. |
| 1977 First Computer Camp called Camp Retupmoc held in Terre Haute, Indiana. |
| 1977 Chuck Peddle of Commodor demonstrates first PET to potential customer Radio Shack. |
| 1977 Compu-Serv changes name to CompuServe Incorporated. |
| June 1977 Advanced Computer Products, Inc. of Santa Ana, CA. announces 4K RAM card for S-100 bus. |
| July 1977 Technical Design Labs (TDL) announces XITAN alpha 1 Z-80-based S-100 kit for $769. Assembled $1039. |
| August 1977 Cromemco ships Z-2 S-100 microcomputer with Z-80 cpu for $595 kit and $995 assembled. |
| 1977 CP/M written by Gary Kildall from Digital Research. Becomes the standard operating system for 8080 and 8088 microcomputers. CP/M means Control Program for Microcomputers. |
| 1977 Dan Bricklin creates idea for VisiCalc spreadsheet program. |
| 1977 Gilbert Hyatt has 1970 patent application modified to include single-chip computer. |
| 1977 Heath Company introduces H-8 personal computer kit, based on the Intel 8080 cpu. |
| 1977 Microsoft ships FORTRAN for CP/M computers. |
| 1977 Microsoft wins BASIC ownership legal battle with Pertec/MITS. |
| 1977 MITS the company that started personal computer market with the Altair 8800 in 1975 is sold to Pertec Computer Corp for $6 million in stock. |
| August 1977 Radio Shack, a division of Tandy, introduces TRS-80 Microcomputer. Features Z80 CPU, 4 Kb RAM, 4 Kb ROM, keyboard, black-and-white video display, and tape cassette. Price $600. |
| August 27, 1977 Heathkit announces H8 8080-based microcomputer with 1K ROM monitor for $375 at the PC'77 show in Atlantic City, New Jersey. |
| August 27-28, 1977 2nd annual PC'77 show held in Atlantic City, New Jersey. |
| 1977 One month after introduction TRS-80 sales rocket to 10,000 sold against first year sales projection of only 3,000 units. |
| 1977 Paul Terrell sells his retail chain of 74 Byte Shops for $4 million. |
| 1977 Radio Shack opens its first retail store offering only computers in Fort Worth, Texas. |
| September 1977 Microsoft licenses BASIC to Apple Computer. |
| September 1977 SOROC ships IQ120 termina kit for $995 or assembled $1295. Jim Placak liked Coors beer and rearranged the letters to define company name SOROC. |
| September 1977 Bally announces Bally Professional Arcade videogame machine based on Z-80 processor. Product never ships due to the beginning of the video game market crash. |
| October 15, 1977 First 100 Commodore PET computers shipped to customers. Basic PET with 4K memory $595. |
| October 28-30, 1977 Personal Computer Expo held in New York with 80 exhibitors and 14,000 attendees. Featured Commodore PET, Radio Shack TRS-80, MITS, Alpha Micro, Heathkit, Ohio Scientific Challenger III and Digitial Group. |
| 1977 Steve Wozniak writes floppy disk controller software for Apple II. |
| 1977 Altair Software Distribution Company changes name to Peachtree Software. |
| 1977 The first ComputerLand franchise is opened in Morristown, New Jersey, initially named Computer Shack. |
| 1977 First issue Personal Computing is published by David Bunnell, formerly from MITS. |
| 1977 North Star Computer introduces Horizon personal computer. Features Z-80 cpu, 16K RAM, 5.25 floppy drive, (12) S-100 slots and built-in serial I/O. Retail price was $1999. |
| 1977 Vector Graphic Inc. (Lori and Bob Harp) introduces Vector Graphic I personal computer. |
| 1977 First 10 months only 175 Apple I kits have been sold. |
| November 1977 Tarbell ships Floppy Disc Interface for S-100 computers, kit $190, assembled $265. |
| November 1977 IMSAI ships VDP-80 computer with built-in monitor for $5995, only to have most of them come back due to design problems. Start of the fall and demise of IMSAI Corp. |
| 1977 Xerox names David Liddle to develop marketable version of the Alto computer. |
| December 1977 HP announces HP-01, first wristwatch with LED display and built-in calculator. Retail price $650 stainless steel. |
| December 1977 Steve Wozniak begins work on a floppy disk drive and controller for the Apple II. |
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1978
| 1978 Apple introduces and begins shipping floppy disk drives for the Apple II. |
| February 1978 Cromemco ships Z-2D S-100 microcomputer with | |
