Talk:Datapoint: Difference between revisions
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Questioning if the Datapoint 2200 or the Sycor 340 should be credited as the earliest known device that bears any significant resemblance to the modern personal computer. |
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[[Special:Contributions/122.148.82.155|122.148.82.155]] ([[User talk:122.148.82.155|talk]]) 07:00, 15 January 2008 (UTC)BAC |
[[Special:Contributions/122.148.82.155|122.148.82.155]] ([[User talk:122.148.82.155|talk]]) 07:00, 15 January 2008 (UTC)BAC |
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Esher Adelman may have bought some shares in 1985, but his takover happened around 1988 or 89. This was when he stripped the assets and many staff were retrenched worldwide. Most were ighly skilled and easily found alternaive employment. Adelman lost a huge asset when these people moved on. |
Esher Adelman may have bought some shares in 1985, but his takover happened around 1988 or 89. This was when he stripped the assets and many staff were retrenched worldwide. Most were ighly skilled and easily found alternaive employment. Adelman lost a huge asset when these people moved on. |
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I believe that Sam Irwin, founder of Sycor Inc. of Ann Arbor MI should be credited with the distinction of "inadvertently inventing the earliest known device that bears any significant resemblance to the modern personal computer." I base this on my memory as an employee at Sycor in 1971 and also on the information below. The Sycor 340 was a second generation "intelligent terminal" like the DataPoint 2200. The first versions were in use on the NY Stock Exchange in the the late 60's. The Sycor 340 included a TTL logic processors, 8K RAM and 8K ROM, x780 communications emulation, twod data cassettes and a ROM based Terminal Assembly Language - "TAL". Some customers used the 340 as a desk top computer and so did I. The 340 looked a lot like the Radio Shack TRS-80 that came about a decade later. |
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"Sycor was founded in 1966 by Samuel N. Irwin, who had previously worked for Hewlett-Packard. At one time, Sycor was Ann Arbor’s largest private employer, with over 2000 people. In 1978, it was bought by Northern Telecom, Inc. (NTI, later known as Nortel). |
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Irwin* and Michael R. Levine, who later founded Ann Arbor Terminals, were the named inventors of US Patent 3760375, “Source Data Entry Terminal”, which became the subject of a ten-year patent infringement dispute with Datapoint Corporation. In court, Datapoint attacked NTI’s ownership of the patent (unsuccessfully, as NTI had bought Sycor) and looked for prior art. Irwin’s previously employment at HP was looked at, as some of the claims of the ’375 patent appeared to be covered by the HP 2116, but the court did not consider this relevant, as the patent distinguished itself from other general purpose computers. At first, the patent was declared non-enabling, as the specification “inadequately discloses the program of the ’375 device”, but this was later reversed. By the end of 1992, the settlement left Datapoint liable for $7.5 million, with additional payments over the next ten years that were estimated at the time to have the potential to cost the company around $30 million in total." |
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Source - * Blake Gumprecht, “High-Tech Valhalla: College Towns as Alternative Sites for Knowledge-Based Industry” [PDF], retrieved 2006-06-24. |
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Revision as of 10:08, 19 February 2008
this web sites provides an excellent back grounder on Datapoint technolgy http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=596 G
Should LiteLink refer to "infrared" rather than "infered"? --Black Walnut 21:32, 29 December 2006 (UTC)
122.148.82.155 (talk) 07:00, 15 January 2008 (UTC)BAC Esher Adelman may have bought some shares in 1985, but his takover happened around 1988 or 89. This was when he stripped the assets and many staff were retrenched worldwide. Most were ighly skilled and easily found alternaive employment. Adelman lost a huge asset when these people moved on.
I believe that Sam Irwin, founder of Sycor Inc. of Ann Arbor MI should be credited with the distinction of "inadvertently inventing the earliest known device that bears any significant resemblance to the modern personal computer." I base this on my memory as an employee at Sycor in 1971 and also on the information below. The Sycor 340 was a second generation "intelligent terminal" like the DataPoint 2200. The first versions were in use on the NY Stock Exchange in the the late 60's. The Sycor 340 included a TTL logic processors, 8K RAM and 8K ROM, x780 communications emulation, twod data cassettes and a ROM based Terminal Assembly Language - "TAL". Some customers used the 340 as a desk top computer and so did I. The 340 looked a lot like the Radio Shack TRS-80 that came about a decade later.
"Sycor was founded in 1966 by Samuel N. Irwin, who had previously worked for Hewlett-Packard. At one time, Sycor was Ann Arbor’s largest private employer, with over 2000 people. In 1978, it was bought by Northern Telecom, Inc. (NTI, later known as Nortel).
Irwin* and Michael R. Levine, who later founded Ann Arbor Terminals, were the named inventors of US Patent 3760375, “Source Data Entry Terminal”, which became the subject of a ten-year patent infringement dispute with Datapoint Corporation. In court, Datapoint attacked NTI’s ownership of the patent (unsuccessfully, as NTI had bought Sycor) and looked for prior art. Irwin’s previously employment at HP was looked at, as some of the claims of the ’375 patent appeared to be covered by the HP 2116, but the court did not consider this relevant, as the patent distinguished itself from other general purpose computers. At first, the patent was declared non-enabling, as the specification “inadequately discloses the program of the ’375 device”, but this was later reversed. By the end of 1992, the settlement left Datapoint liable for $7.5 million, with additional payments over the next ten years that were estimated at the time to have the potential to cost the company around $30 million in total."
Source - * Blake Gumprecht, “High-Tech Valhalla: College Towns as Alternative Sites for Knowledge-Based Industry” [PDF], retrieved 2006-06-24.