Raspberry Pi vs TRS-80

Posted Jul 6, 2013 15:31 UTC (Sat) by pboddie (guest, #50784)
In reply to: Raspberry Pi vs TRS-80 by malor
Parent article: Trying out the Raspberry Pi

Well, I guess I just have to disagree with this. The revolution in the late 1970s and early 1980s was as much about persuading people that they needed personal computing as it was about delivering it to them. Everybody pokes fun at statements by the leaders of IBM and DEC about how nobody needed to own their own computer as if personal computing was always obvious, but even thirty years ago many people could only see hypothetical benefits like doing their personal or business accounts and needed to be led into imagining a future that was not completely obvious to them.

I don't think anyone now really needs to be led into imagining anything about what they might get out of using a computer that is just like the others but much cheaper. Moreover, if you wanted a cheap computer there are plenty of ways to get one, like just buying one second hand, for instance. Lots of people do that, and they're often getting one in a proper case with a keyboard and screen attached as well. (There have also been full GNU/Linux netbooks available for not much more than £100 for a while, although one can always argue about how wonderful their capabilities are, but they are still genuine and complete systems.)

And as far as the capabilities of the early, inexpensive microcomputers are concerned, the fact that they delivered non-trivial computing capabilities to the individual was sufficient. Just because they didn't do digital audio and video doesn't make them toys: arguably the mere existence of the cheapest systems was enough to disrupt demand for expensive and cutting-edge systems from the likes of Xerox, ICL and other big names. And what was there to compare those systems against? Unless you had access to a system at work, you were comparing them against having no capabilities at all.

I agree that analogies to old systems break down. Again, the reason for this is technological progress and economics. Otherwise, it would have been possible to get yourself a Xerox Alto instead of a VIC-20 for a couple of hundred dollars back at the start of the 1980s.

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Raspberry Pi vs TRS-80

Posted Jul 6, 2013 16:14 UTC (Sat) by giraffedata (guest, #1954) [Link]

Just because they didn't do digital audio and video doesn't make them toys: arguably the mere existence of the cheapest systems was enough to disrupt demand for expensive and cutting-edge systems from the likes of Xerox, ICL and other big names. And what was there to compare those systems against? Unless you had access to a system at work, you were comparing them against having no capabilities at all.

The reference to toys was to Timex/Sinclair and VIC-20, i.e. a class of computer that was introduced after the microcomputer revolution for the sole purpose of being affordable, sort of like some are saying about Raspberry Pi. So what people were comparing them against was existing microcomputers that they would have liked but couldn't afford: computers that had enough memory to run a bookkeeping program; computers with persistent storage; computers that could display more than a few lines of text. I suspect buyers of these dirt-cheap computers found them more recreational - or educational - than actually productive, which could earn them the toy label.