Who invented the Ctrl-Alt-Del combination?
This year, personal computers turn 33 years old. And how many miracles for this short period created boxes, the necessity of which even their creators, IBM engineers doubted!
In the early 1980s, the company sold large computers (mainframes) to large customers: government, military, universities, research centers, large corporations. The orders were huge, the money from them went big. What is there to think about trifles, about some personal computers there! Is it possible to use them as smart terminals for mainframes? In 1975, the 5100 model computer was released, which was quite suitable for one person to work on it. It was a desktop, with a built-in black and white monitor, with a keyboard and a tape drive. A good candidate for personal computers, if not for the price – 20 thousand Continue reading
How does a computer affect a child?
How often, remembering our childhood, we catch ourselves thinking that at the present time life is becoming more intense, richer, more active. Particularly acute is the lack of time and the desire to embrace the immense.
What can we say about the babies, to whose share it fell to be born in this difficult time, when the very concept of childhood changes, displacing our usual idea of it. A variety of information is streaming onto the younger generation, the loads in schools go off the scale, and now we see a situation when the kids are already beginning to learn the computer almost from the cradle. What is it? The requirements of modern life or something else? Let’s try to figure it out together. There are both followers and opponents of Continue reading
What can tablets be like?
It would seem a banal question. But today, not everything is so simple: the boom on tablets does not subside, and competition is growing. Svyaznoy, for example, reports that tablet sales in Russia grew by almost 60% in the first quarter of this year (compared with sales in January-March 2013). So manufacturers, design bureaus and all those involved in the production of “tablets” try to please the customer in every possible way and invent something original, exclusive and progressive.
How different are tablets today and what can they be in the very near future? Eco-friendly and affordable The usual-looking tablet was created by Michael Castor based on the budget mini-computer Raspberry Pi Model B. This is a single-board computer with an ARM processor with a clock frequency of 700 MHz. Continue reading
How much did the first personal computer cost?
I must say that April 1 was a suitable day for the birth of a company that was going to do business at that time not at all serious, namely the sale of personal computers. In 1976, in the United States, this business seemed highly dubious. Who could be interested in personal computers at that time? Only crazy hams. For them, parts were sold in the store, from which the Altair 8800 home computer could be assembled without special difficulties. Those who did not want to bother with a soldering iron and with a setting could ask the seller in the store to assemble it for a small additional fee. A home computer could be connected to a TV and, paying for an additional communication unit, to a household cassette recorder. What to do next? No one knew. So the founders of the Apple company, the famous Steve Jobs (1955−2011) and the now less known Steve Wozniak, not only two namesakes, but also two friends, decided to take up a clearly unsuccessful business. Fools! Stupid kids! Continue reading
Silent computer – is this possible? Quite!
The topic of silent operation of a personal computer has always been quite relevant, since in cramped apartments the noise of the computer is very disturbing to others. Let’s see what modern technologies can offer to a user who wants to give up noise.
Tablet computers The most obvious way today is to use a tablet PC (Apple iPad, Samsung Galaxy Tab, etc.). Indeed, such devices are completely silent and quite suitable for web surfing, reading articles or books. However, the functionality of the “tablets” is still quite limited, and they simply are not suitable for any complex work. If, for example, you need to find a specific photo, edit it, write text in the forum Continue reading
