FALL 1991 Volume 4 No. 1

Computers for the People - A History

or

HOW HACKERS GAVE BIRTH TO THE

PERSONAL COMPUTER

PART II

by Ronda Hauben

(Editor's Note: On August 12, 1991,

newspapers and magazines carried

the personal computer revolution. The

serialized history begun in the last

issue [vol.3 no.4] describes how

computer hackers and hobbyists forced

IBM to develop and introduce the

personal computer in 1981. The second

part of this 4 part history follows

as our effort to honor the 10th anni-

versary of the victory of these hack-

ers and hobbyists and their continu-

first known mechanical adding machine

was built. But technology then was

not at the point where a feasible

design could be developed and pro-

duced. It was not till WWII that

technological development had given

Table of Contents

Computers for the People. . . . 1

Letters to the Editor.. . . . . 5

Ten Commandments - Networking.. 6

part of the war effort, the American

government was willing to provide the

large sums of money needed to develop

and build the ENIAC, the first work-

ing computer. ENIAC was a huge mon-

ster of a machine. Stan Augarten, in

his book Bit by Bit, (New York, 1984,

p.128)tracing the history of comput-

ers describes the ENIAC: "It took 2

days to set ENIAC up to carry out a

program. You did not sit down at a

computer terminal and type in in-

structions, instead you set thousands

1945. During the 1940's and 1950's

there were significant advances in

the capability of the computer. Yet

into the 1950's, computers were still

the exclusive domain of a few. Until

the 1960's, as Augarten points out,

"most of the computers used were

built in the ENIAC'S giant mold. Only

the largest institutions -- universi-

ties, corporations, research insti-

Why were the computers of the

early postwar WWII period inaccessi-

ble to the average person? John

Kemeny, one of the inventors of the

programming language BASIC describes

the dilemma:

For the first two decades of the

existence of the high speed computer,

machines were so scarce and so expen-

sive that man approached the computer

selected acolytes were allowed to

have direct communications with the

computer. In the original mode of

using computers, known as batch pro-

cessing, hundreds of computer re-

quests were collected by the staff of

a computer center and then fed to the

book Man and the Computer, N.Y.,

1972, p 21)

Digital Equipment Corporation

(DEC) introduced the first mini-com-

puter in 1963 – called the PDP-8. It

cost $18,000. And it ran only one

program at a time. (See Augarten, p

254-255, and 257.)

By 1971, the market for the

mini-computer in businesses and uni-

versities had taken off. In that year

Circuit (IC) technology had reached

the point where IC's were sophist-

icated and inexpensive enough to make

a personal computer possible. Many

computer companies, DEC and the other

large mini-computer makers, had the

resources available to develop the

personal computer. Technically the

task was not complicated, as the

logic chips or microprocessors had

pany had one half of the educational

computer market in 1973 and had $20

million in sales. Ahl moved into a

research and development group. After

some investigation, he suggested to

his superiors that there was a sub-

stantial market for small computers

in schools and homes. On May 17,

1974, Ahl, presented a plan to DEC to

develop and market small computers.

Creative Computing", Creative Comput-

ing, Nov. 1984, p 72).

Chris Rutkowski, writing in the 10

year anniversary issue of Creative

Computing explains that Olsen's re-

sponse was typical of corporate reac-

tion to personal computers. He

writes:

"Computers were invented as ser-

vants of the biggest organizations

number crunching and between censuses

and actuarial tables, these groups

had lots of numbers to crunch.

(Ibid,"The Computer as a Creative

Tool", p 97)

Rutkowski goes on, "So specialized

were the capabilities and so exorbi-

tant the price of these earliest

computers that some nameless sage at

UNIVAC predicted that the total world

ENIAC TO UNIVAC also discusses the

reasons large U.S. companies failed

to develop computer technology. She

suggests that it was not just the

narrowness of their vision of the

future. She writes:

"Such major industrial firms as

NCR, RCA, and IBM were engaged in

small scale research on the feasibil-

ity of electronic counters and elec-

machine which could add, subtract and

multiply electronically, and presum-

ably this machine could have become

the first commercial electronic com-

management was not interested in

automatic computing per se, but only

in improving its existing line of

office equipment.”

and was the company which would be

most affected by the availability of

commercial computers." She attributes

this anti-high technology policy to

the highest levels of IBM management,

the Chairman of IBM, Tom Watson, Sr.

She explains, "Yet no work on elec-

1940s despite interoffice memos writ-

ten by IBM engineers recommending

such work." Two of the inventors of

the ENIAC AND UNIVAC computers,

Eckert and Mauchly desperately needed

money to continue their pioneering

work. They went to IBM and asked for

There was [to be - ed], in the words

of Watson's decision relayed to the

Laboratory, no reasonable interaction

between Eckert-Mauchly, and IBM."

(Ibid.)

Gordon Bell, who worked at DEC,

and helped develop the first

mini-computer, the PDP-8, and the

first commercial time-sharing system,

drew a similar conclusion. The indus-

Two Dartmouth professors, John

Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz, devised what

is known as the Dartmouth Time-Shar-

ing System (DTSS) so students could

get access to a computer. And they

designed the computer language BASIC

instructions for the lay user to

enable him to write his first few

computer programs with very little

21)

He goes on to explain the ratio-

nale used to develop the programming

come within the power of every intel-

ligent human being, and time-sharing

has made it possible to have direct

communication between man and mach-

ine." (p 32)

Thanks to Kemeny and Kurtz, a

generation of college students grew

sharing and who thus had a realistic

assessment of the potential of the

computer and of its limitations.

Ted Nelson was one of these con-

verts. In 1974 he published a book

Computer Lib. He had to publish it

puter Lib, he wrote: "This book is a

measure of desperation, so serious

and abysmal is the public sense of

confusion and ignorance. Anything

with buttons or lights can be palmed

off on the layman as a computer.

couldn't tell apart camera from expo-

sure meter or tripod, or car from

truck or tollbooth. This book is

therefore devoted to the premise that

EVERYBODY SHOULD UNDERSTAND COMPUT-

ERS. It is intended to fill a crying

need. Lots of everyday people have

asked me where they can learn about

computers, and I have had to say

puter priesthood a stranglehold on

the operation of all large organiza-

tions, of government bureaux, and

anything else that they run. Members

of Congress are now complaining about

control of information by the com-

puter people, that they cannot get

small matter that in ordinary compa-

nies `untrained' personnel can't get

straight questions answered by com-

puter people; but it's the same phe-

nomenon."(ibid.)

He makes his plea:

"It is imperative for many reasons

just one example of the creeping evil

of Professionalism, the control of

aspects of society by cliques of

insiders. There may be some chance,

though that Professionalism can be

turned around. Doctors, for example,

are being told that they no longer

own people's bodies. And this book

may suggest to some computer profes-

sionals that their position should

ists and hackers. For example, Jona-

than Titus was a hobbyist who had

developed a keen interest in elec-

tronics and in tinkering and had a

sense of the importance of the micro-

processor. (There were previous at-

his Digi-Comp I. See Stephen Gray,

"The Early Days", Creative Computing,

Nov. 1984, p 12 )

When Intel introduced the 8-bit

8008 chip, Titus studied it and real-

ized that it was powerful enough to

run a small computer. (See Augarten,

design with other hobbyists. He de-

cided to write a letter to two well

known hobbyist magazines Popular

puters available to the American

people had exploded. The world was to

be significantly changed.

As Ted Nelson had predicted when

he published Computer Lib, "I am

`publishing' this book myself, in its

first draft form, to test its viabil-

ity, to see how mad the computer

people get, and to see if there is as

much hunger to understand computers,

Dear R. Hauben:

I'm interested in reading a copy

of the Amateur Computerist. I saw it

mentioned by Andrew Ross in his

essay, "Hacking Away at the Counter-

culture," collected in his (and

Constance Penley's) recent anthology,

Technoculture.

I'll be happy to send a fee or

donation for the newsletter, either

such knowledge can lead to a general

empowerment. So I'm always interested

in hearing about instances of similar

activity.

(Editor's Note: Following is the

excerpt from Technoculture, By Con-

stance Penley & Andrew Ross, Editors,

Cultural Politics, Vol 3, University

of Minnesota Press, p124.)

Ford Rouge plant in Dearborn, Michi-

gan, United Auto Workers members

began to publish a newsletter called

the Amateur Computerist to fill the

gap. Among the columnist and corre-

spondents in the magazine have been

veterans of the Flint sit-down

strikes who see a clear historical

continuity between the problem of

labor organization in the thirties

ciency' rather than worker effi-

ciency."

To the Editor:

"A Brain for Robots has been cre-

ated on Amiga Library Disk 411.

omy: Republish this message."

Authur T. Murray

Networks are, simultaneously, one of

the biggest blessings for a company

and one of its biggest headaches. At

their best, they provide inexpensive

solutions for a workgroup to share

critical files. At their worst, they

are cranky fortifications of high

tech electronics with mysterious

commands and obscure problems that

Although these commandments are

slanted towards users of Novell

Netware, they will apply to most

types of networks.

I.-- THOU SHALT USE THE NETWORK MENUS

UNLESS THOU HATH PERMISSION TO DO

OTHERWISE.

It's terribly tempting for someone

who has some familiarity with DOS to

drop to the operating system and try

the DOS user. Even the simple change

directory DOS command done in a

lighthearted moment can toss you into

an area where the network doesn't

recognize any of your commands-- or

even your existence. And the only way

out of there will be to reboot your

workstation.

II.-- THOU SHALT NOT PUT SINGLE USER

SOFTWARE ON THE SYSTEM.

specific memory hooks or hardware

addresses. But Netware DOS has some

different interrupt calls and its

hard drive is structured differently

than the standard PC's. Direct calls

to specific addresses can cause your

network station or the network itself

started writing its code all over the

Network's operating system files.

Needless to say, Sysop was Not

Amused. To be safe, use only network

versions of your software.

find the File Allocation Tables and

other information in specific loca-

tions. Unfortunately, these are not

the places where Netware is keeping

these files (by the way, this is why

software with the SUPERLOCK type of

copy protection security system won't

install on your network).

beasts and nothing can be more frus-

trating than trying to put a third

party PC card on a network and trying

to make it work. This particularly

comes into play in situations where

you're trying to connect the network

in a business environment and it's

not cost-effective to bring a network

to a complete halt while you work for

V.-- BE COURTEOUS ABOUT DATA.

the same time another user is trying

to update it. If several people need

to be working in the file at the same

time, check to see that no one is

working on the same data.

VI.-- THOU SHALT NOT SURPRISE THE

SYSOP WITH NEW SOFTWARE.

latest version of WordWhapper, but if

it's not supposed to go on the net-

work, then Sysop will not appreciate

finding it there. Sysop will erase

the files and send two large guys

from the Personnel Department to

explain to you that Sysop does not

VII.-- THOU SHALT NOT DISCONNECT THY

WORKSTATION FROM THE NETWORK BY THY-

SELF.

When you share resources through a

network, it means that you lose con-

trol of a lot of your individual

options. Moving your workstation is

one of them. This has a tendency to

either lock up portions of the net-

work or to crash the network com-

pletely; conditions which tend to

irritate your local Sysop. Work-

may not be able to put the machine

where you would like it. The ambience

of your office furniture arrangement

may therefore suffer--unless you're a

vice president. In that case, they'll

rearrange the building itself to

VIII.-- LEARN TO USE THY NETWORK

UTILITIES.

Sysops will teach you to use the

"Kill That Print Job" menu. This is

IX.-- THY SYSOP AND THY SUPERVISOR

MUST BOTH BE TOLD YOUR PASSWORD.

On occasions, you may be out of the

displayed under any of the

Supervisor's query menus).

X.-- REMEMBER THAT NETWORKING IS

SHARING RESOURCES.

Play nicely.

10 FOR T = 1 TO 2

20 GOSUB 201

30 NEXT T

40 FOR X = 3 TO 10

100 FOR H = 13 TO 20

110 GOSUB 200

120 NEXT H

130 FOR B = 21 TO 22

140 GOSUB 201

150 NEXT B

199 END

200 PRINT " ***"," ***"," ***"

201 PRINT "*****","*****","*****"

210 RETURN

failed, scientist and engineers in

the Soviet Union realized technologi-

cal innovation and development was

hampered by the lack of uncensored

communication and by the slow process

of getting innovations tried and

adopted. Thus, to the pressure of

scientists and engineers for more

channels of communication and for the

multiplicity of ideas and directions.

These had so far been stifled by the

one party ideology and practice. The

result was a greater openness called

Glasnost.

thus so was the chance to gain from

the computer revolution, the working

people and students of Moscow and

Leningrad rallied to protect their

gains. Newspapers that the coup lead-

ers attempted to censor, defiantly

distributed calls for resistance and

the defense of the uncensored ex-

change of information. Leaflets were

printed with personal computers and

championed resistance to the coup and

it was toppled.

The computer revolution held out

enough of a promise that the people

of the Soviet Union rose successfully

to defend it. The next challenge to

cybernetic development requires the

types of innovation, hacking and

diversity characteristic only of

remain a dream for workers unless

there continues to be the fight for

openness, support for innovation and

the challenging of previous author-

ity. This makes the defense of ama-

teur computing and innovating worth

the support of all working and pro-

Michael J Mefford's Compute.Com which

PC Magazine. I liked the concept but

wanted more functions such as the

elementary trigs, powers & roots.

This program will operate as a

command line calculator by entering

the following command: CCalc <ex-

pression> <return>

Examples: CCalc 24 + 2

CCalc 24 + (tan50) / 2

variable "x". Unlike the original,

the program references a small (8

byte) file called ccalc.dat which

will be created in the home directory

ccalc 24 + xor ccalc 24 + (X)

Spaces, upper/lower case and added

parentheses cause no harm, but the

harm as the individual arguments are

concatenated into one string. This

string is used by Rewrite() as the

source a modified version called

achWorkstr. The changes made here

include changing all uppercase to

lowercase, replacing any trig refer-

ences such as Sin by a hi-ascii sub-

the variable X.

Getparents() is recursively called

to identify and send to Parse() the

substring consisting of the inner-

most, last set of parents for subse-

quent evaluation by eval_string().

After each string is evaluated, it's

case Ascii char is placed in the

string. After all parentheses are

evaluated in this fashion, the com-

plete string is sent to Parse() for

one final go-round. Any time during

the evaluation process that an upper-

case (A..Z) character is encountered,

nonsense like CCALC 3+-*/sin20. Also,

I have attempted to use a variation

of the "Hungarian Notation" as pre-

sented by Charles Petzold in his

column in the March 14 1989 edition

of PCMag. I find it useful when the

pointers and arrays begin to over-

whelm me. The program name can be

changed (at least in MS-DOS 3.x) and

the "dat" file will change to suit

tor like PC Magazine's "Compute.Com".

Larry Ritzert, 28686 Swan Island,

Grosse Ile, MI, 48138, May 31 1990

This Quick C variation offers

several additional math functions

such as common trigs, powers & roots

storage & retrieval of previous re-

sult. */