Kenbak 1
Kenbak-1: The World's First Personal Computer
The Kenbak-1 is widely regarded as the world's first personal computer, an accolade attributed to it by institutions like the Computer History Museum, the Mimms Museum of Technology and Art, and the American Computer Museum. Designed and marketed in 1971, the Kenbak-1 was the brainchild of John Blankenbaker, an innovative thinker in the field of computer engineering.
Design and Architecture
The Kenbak-1 was designed prior to the invention of the microprocessor, which marks it as a unique artifact in computing history. Instead of a microprocessor, it utilized transistor-transistor logic (TTL), a form of digital circuit design that was prevalent before the advent of integrated circuits. This architecture made the Kenbak-1 an early example of an 8-bit computing system, a precursor to the more advanced processing architectures that would follow.
The Kenbak-1 was built to be a teaching tool and was marketed to educational institutions and hobbyists. It featured a compact design, with a series of switches and lights for programming and output, respectively. The system had a modest amount of memory and could be programmed using a series of binary commands entered manually by the user.
Market and Legacy
The Kenbak-1 was released at a time when the concept of a personal computer was still largely unheard of. Consequently, it didn't achieve commercial success, with only 44 units sold. Despite its limited market reach, the Kenbak-1 laid the groundwork for future personal computers and inspired the development of later systems like the Apple II, TRS-80, and Commodore PET.
The influence of the Kenbak-1 can also be contextualized alongside other early computing systems such as the Micral, another early personal computer that emerged after the invention of the microprocessor. The Kenbak-1's design without a microprocessor makes it a remarkable example of early computer engineering.