Re: Computing Editorial (please read)

[Lee Hart <leeahart@earthlink.net>]

Lee Hart <leeahart@earthlink.net> writes:
>> Certainly, most manufacturers intended their products for people
>> with a technical background. However, a very large number of people
>> who bought and used them were rank amateurs.

Eric Smith wrote:
> Yes, but they were rank amateurs who were willing to learn how to
> use a product that was designed for *professionals*. The vendors
> did provide some educational materials for them, but only for the
> purpose of training people who already had an engineering background.

This was true for some of them, but not all. The RCA VIP (of which I
spoke earlier), Netronics and Quest ELF, Vic 20, Commodore 64, Atari 400
and 800, Sinclair ZX80, Apple II, and many other classic computers were
*not* targeted at professionals. They were explicitly designed, built,
documented, and marketed for by beginners and hobbyists.  

> They weren't some toy educational MCUs, which is what you seemed
> to be asking for.

I really don't know what a modern version of these computers would look
like. That's exactly what I'm interested in exploring in this thread.
I'm an engineer; I can design whatever can be defined. But it is hard
for me to come up the the specifications for what a beginner's computer
should do.

I can remember my first experiences (apparently more than some people).
But there is still that overpowering urge not to design it for the way I
was then, but the way I am today. 
-- 
Lee A. Hart                Ring the bells that still can ring
814 8th Ave. N.            Forget your perfect offering
Sartell, MN 56377 USA      There is a crack in everything
leeahart_at_earthlink.net  That's how the light gets in - Leonard Cohen