Said to be the first laptop computer, The GRiD compass was designed in 1979 by Bill Moggridge. In its day, the 320×200 display, bubble RAM and integrated 1200 bps modem made it the province of only the most spendy outfits: Nasa and the U.S. Military, and not so much you or I.
It’s one of several fascinating items at Royal Pingdom’s gallery of vintage computer hardware. I would like an ugly netbook just like it, with a miniature but clacky IBM-style keyboard.
Gallery of Historical PC Hardware [Royal Pingdom via Wired: Gadget Lab]
Obligatory links:
Indispensable:
http://oldcomputers.net/
Long defunct:
http://obsoletecomputermuseum.org/
Rob, I forgot to say that your netbook concept is gorgeous and I’m expecting you to sell me your second prototype.
I think these were used as the remote controllers for the sentry guns in the Special Edition cut of Aliens.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGE_h4jBBXc
I have a working 8086 GRiD laptop. I also have a ’386 laptop, but I don’t think it’s in working condition. I used to work for them.
So well built that they could be abused and keep ticking. One of my cow-orkers dropped one in a stairwell, in front a CEO, with minimal damage (the hinge broke, we always had spares to fix those, and I don’t even think the CEO was aware of that), and the CEO thought it was a deliberate show. It wasn’t. (Hi Sam!)
I’m forwarding this in any case to Mike for his guffaw.
It was very odd working in a company where the servers where laptops.
I have a GRiD carrying bag, for a Techie purse. It conveniently holds two Palm III’s and foldable keyboards, or nine iPhones.
I used to have two – and bribed someone with one.
It looks like they used a vintage camera (pre focus) to take the pictures