quick question: what was the first personal computer? We love pointless arguments over technological history, so let’s just go down the list. It wasn’t an IBM, and the man who created the personal computer said he didn’t invent the personal computer. The Apple I is best out, and there were some strange Italian things that don’t quite count. Here’s an auction for, “The first personal computer”, a MICRAL N, released in 1974. There’s an 8080 running at 500kHz with 16kB of RAM and ‘mixed memory’. This is an essential bit of history that belongs in a museum, and the auction will start at €20,000. The starting price might be a bit high; recently an original Apple I sold at auction for €90,000. This is a pittance for what these things typically go for. Is the market for vintage retrocomputers dropping out from underneath us? רק הזמן יגיד.
In Upstate NY? There’s a Hacker con going on June 16-17. You can get 20% off your ticket to ANYCon by using the code ‘HACKADAY’.
עיוור צבעים? Hackaday readers suffer from colorblindness at a higher rate than the general population. [João] created this really neat tool to differentiate colors on a screen. Windows only, but still handy.
Everyone’s thrilled about the $150 3D printer that will be released by Monoprice sometime this summer. Here’s a $99 3D printer. Yes, it’s a Kickstarter so the conventional warnings apply, but this bot does have a few things going for it. It uses actual NEMA 17 motors, and the people behind this printer actually have experience in manufacturing hardware. The downsides? It’s entirely leadscrew driven, so it’s going to be very, very slow.
What do you call the dumbest person with an EE degree? מהנדס. It’s at this point where you ought to realize the value of a tertiary education is not defined by the most capable graduates; it’s defined by the least capable graduates.
Here’s your Sunday evening viewing: [Bunnie] gave a talk on RISC-V and the expectations of open Hardware.
Hey, OpenBuilds has a new small Mill. It’s a basic CNC router developed for small ~1HP Bosch or Dewalt laminate trimmers. Small, but capable.
Kerbal space Program, the only video game that ought to be required study materials at the Air force Academy, Embry-Riddle and for everyone working at NASA, has been acquired by Take-Two Interactive. By all accounts, this is good news. According to reports, the original dev team left for Valve a few months ago, reportedly because of awful conditions at Squad, the (former) developer of KSP.
The Stratolaunch carrier aircraft has rolled out of the hangar. It’s two 747s duct speed taped together.