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*** Please note: This website (comp-hist) was completed before I found out about
Wikipedia in 2002.
Since then I have added material occasionally.
Items are certainly not complete, and may be inaccurate.
Your information, comments, corrections, etc. are eagerly requested.
Send e-mail to Ed Thelen.
Please include the URL under discussion. Thank you ***
KENBAK-1
| Manufacturer | KENBAK
|
| Identification,ID | KENBAK-1
|
| Date of first manufacture | 1971
|
| Number produced | about 40
|
| Estimated price or cost | $750
|
| location in museum | -
|
| donor | -
|
Contents of this page:
Photo
Placard
Architecture
Len Shustek is quoted as saying -
"So what was the first commercially available PC? Well, according to the
results of a 1986 contest sponsored by The (Boston) Computer Museum, it
wasS "none of the above". Instead, the winner was the Kenback-1, designed
by John Blankenbaker in 1971. It predated microprocessors, had 3
programming registers, 5 addressing modes, and 256 bytes of memory. Price
$750."
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Special features
-
this site)say KENBAK-1 had 0.25 K Bytes.
-
this site says it had no provision for digital I/O
- and
Popular Mechanics says it has no microprocessor! It also
has quite a discussion of "first" or "early" personal computers.
|
Historical Notes
This Artifact
Interesting Web Sites
- August 13, 2022 - from info@classiccomputermuseum.com - Achim
With John Blankenbaker’s permission I do take care about his original website
www.Kenbak-1.net. The website is back online!
-
Blinkenlights has a serious lengthy discussion of "first personal computer".
Their selection (after describing many, including the KENBAK-1)
is "Simon", a description by Edmund C, Berkeley (published in Scientific American
in 1950) of a relay machine. It could handle the numbers 0, 1, 2, and 3
- Kenbak documents
an e-mail, "xxxxxx" marks deletions
info@classiccomputermuseum.com
Sat 3/26/2022 7:33 PM
Hi,
You have a page about the Kenbak-1 #0183. xxxxxx
Yes, http://ed-thelen.org/comp-hist/vs-kenbak-1.html
I visited John twice and I own his prototype. xxxxxx
I do preserve the legacy and history of the Kenbak-1 and of John. He gave me permission to rescue his former website.
Now I started a Kenbak-1 Registry and try to get any information.
Thank you,
Achim Baqué
|
and followup Sunday 3/27/2022
John’s website Kenbak-1.net is already rescued. You can see the original page now under
https://www.kenbak-1.info/ with some editorial notes.
I work together with John to get back his former domain.
A draft of the Kenbak-1 Registry is online
www.kenbak1registry.com. A first step and information are very limited.
It is far, far away from my Apple-1 Registry.
...
Take care,
Achim Baqué
|
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Other information
If you have comments or suggestions, Send e-mail
to Ed Thelen
Go to Antique Computer home page
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Updated March 26, 2022
