Instructional
Technology History
Researched by Tamara
Barcalow
Altair
8800 (April 1975)
The Altair 8800 let the way for
personal computers. It was the first successful small and inexpensive
computer to be made available for personal purchase. Micro Instrumentation
Telemetry Systems (MITS) of New Mexico sold about 4000 in the first few
months. The Altair was very primitive compared to today's computer
standards. It had only 1 KB of memory. It had no keyboard or
monitor. Users could program the 25 toggle switches to create the
36 LEDs to respond. Eventually some software applications and a 10
MB hard disk were made available. The Altair paved the way for the
smaller less expensive computers that would eventually end up in our classrooms
and in our homes.
Some important dates in
the birth of the Altair 8800:
December 1974:
A model of the Altair 8800 was pictured on the front of Popular Electronics.
It was advertised as a kit and would sell for $439. It included an
Intel 8080 processor.
February 1975: Bill
Gates and Paul Allen provide the Altair with the first computer language
program written for a personal computer, a rewritten version of BASIC.
April 1975: The
Altair 8800 is made available for $375.
Altair 8800 Resources
Chronology
of Events in the History of Microcomputers
Online
Ethics
Operation
of the Altair 8800
System
Source Computer Museum
Other
Events of 1975
The Vietnam
War ends. South Vietnam surrenders.
President Ford is in office for his first entire
year.
Paul Allen & Bill Gates start Microsoft.
One
Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest wins the Academy Award for Best
Picture.
Its stars
Jack Nicholson and Louise Fletcher also win Best Actor and Actress.
Jaws
is also a hit at the movies (& was nominated for the Academy Award)
The Bee Gees & Donna Summer are popular
vocal artists.
Bruce Springsteen releases Born to Run.
Apollo
18 (American) & Soyuz 19 (Soviet) link while in orbit.
Former Teamster leader Jimmy
Hoffa disappears.
Physicist Andrei
Sakharov receives the Nobel Peace Prize.
The Cincinnati Reds beat the Boston Red Sox
4 games to 3 in the World
Series.
In Super
Bowl X The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Dallas Cowboys 21-17.
Saudi Arabian leader King Faisal is assassinated
by his own nephew and succeed by his half brother Khalid.
Other resources
1975
Feminist Chronicles compiled by the Feminist Majority Foundation.
Images
of the 20th Century
The
History Channel
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Holographic Teaching Aids
(September 2203)
Holographic Teaching Aids are
introduced in the schools. They are not meant to replace a teacher
only to help them. The classroom teacher can activate a aids as needed
to review flash cards with a student, keep another student on task, or
give make up spelling tests. Different versions of the aids are programed
for different tasks. Each holographic aid can be programmed to perform
up to five tasks. The aids are meant to help in the classrooms that
continue to have a high student to teacher ratio. Between the teacher
and the aids students receive much more personal attention.
Other
Events of 2203
President of the United Countries of the World
is Augustina Carlos.
Governor of the USA is Fred Jackson.
The Macaroni Chronicles wins the Academy
Award.
A second colony is built on Mars, providing
one of the most popular vacation spots in the Solar System.
(American) Football is no longer a popular sport.
The Paris Blues beat the Chicago Cubs 4 games
to 2 in the World Series. (The Cubs still have not won a World Series
since
1908.)
Microsoft is still in existence but there are
several other very competitive companies.
The Internet is the primary source of communication
and can be accessed from almost any street corner.
Bruce Springsteen and the Bee Gees are considered
Classical music.
The Fighting Illini are ranked #1 in basketball!
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