6.7 Personal computers
It is difficult to summarize the history of the Personal Computer: each piece on display has its own evolution, its innovations, its strengths and weaknesses. We have decided to display the most significant pieces of our collection, in chronological order, highlighting trends in computer design, such as the progressive enlargement and improvement of screens, more compact designs, and attempts to make the computer increasingly portable.
Among the first in the progression, between the 1960s and 1970s, Hewlett Packard and IBM targeted the market of professional computer scientists by producing personal calculators, but for work.
In the 1970s, a new market emerged: that of hobbyists, which Apple targeted with its Apple I and Apple II from 1976 and 1977. The latter was a ready-to-use calculator and also conquered schools, universities, and research laboratories, earning the title of the longest-lived computer in history, lasting until the early 1990s. The same year, Commodore released its first computer, the Commodore PET, which found success in the educational field. In 1975, Microsoft BASIC was born, a programming language that would spread to all PCs until the 1980s.
In 1981, IBM registered Personal Computer as its trademark, with the famous IBM PC, but left the hardware specifications completely open, beginning the era of compatibles, a trend to which HP and Olivetti had to follow, the latter with its M24 and its "luggable" version, i.e., foldable and portable like a briefcase, the M21.
In the early 1980s, the phenomenon of "home computers" also spread, machines that, in addition to entertainment, offered personal productivity programs (word processing, spreadsheets, drawing, music), and also provided the opportunity to learn programming (BASIC always, but not only). The Texas Instrument TI-99/4A, the Commodore Vic 20, and the ZX81 are examples of the beginning of this era that culminated with the Commodore 64 and the Sinclair ZX Spectrum. The season concluded in the 1990s with a clash between Sinclair QL and Commodore Amiga.
Special mentions in this display case go to the Apple Lisa, the first commercial computer to offer an integrated graphical interface, the Macintosh Plus, which demonstrates the power of advertising and design, and finally the Macintosh Portable, from which the first extra-planetary email was sent in 1991.