History
of ComputersHistory
of Computers
The 1970's, the decade of protests against the war in Vietnam, disco dancing, and great advancements in computing.
1970 Vietnam War protesters attacked university computer centers.
1971 An IBM team led by Alan Shugart invented the 8-inch floppy diskette.
1972 Nolan Bushnell introduced Pong and his new company, Atari video games.
1974 Researchers at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center designed
the Alto -- the first work station with a built-in mouse for input. The Alto stored
several files simultaneously in windows, offered menus and icons, and could link to a
local area network. Although Xerox never sold the Alto commercially, it gave a number of
them to universities. Engineers later incorporated its features into work stations
and personal computers. 
1976 Steve Wozniak designed the Apple I, a single-board computer.
1977 The Apple II became an instant success when released in 1977 with its printed circuit motherboard, switching power supply, keyboard, case assembly, manual, game paddles, A/C powercord, and cassette tape with the computer game "Breakout.
In the first month after its release, Tandy Radio Shack's first desktop computer -- the TRS-80 -- sold 10,000 units, well more than the company's projected sales of 3,000 units for one year.
1978 The
5 1/4-inch floppy disk became the standard medium for personal computer software after
Apple Computer and Tandy Radio Shack introduced disk drives for this format.
1978 Texas Instruments Inc. introduced Speak & Spell, a talking learning aid for ages 7 and up.
1979 The Motorola 68000 microprocessor exhibited a processing speed far greater than its contemporaries. This high performance processor found its place in powerful work stations intended for graphics-intensive programs common in engineering