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.