March 1 is the birthday of a personal computer. Xerox alto
The number of words “first” in the article goes through the roof. First “Hello, World” program, first MUD game, first shooter, first deathmatch, first GUI, first “desktop”, first Ethernet, first three-button mouse, first ball mouse, first optical mouse, first full-page monitor (full-page -sized monitor), the first multiplayer game ... the first personal computer.
Year 1973
In the city of Palo Alto, in the legendary R&D laboratory of Xerox - PARC (Palo Alto Research Center Incorporated), on March 1 there was a release of the machine, which was later called the world's first personal computer (not a home computer, but for personal use).
Alto was a research prototype, not a commercial product. Alto was supposed to become a mass-produced machine, but it was never put on stream. However, a total of several thousand Alto were produced, most of which were used at Xerox PARC itself and various universities.
The cost of one Alto machine is estimated from 12,000 to 40,000 dollars.
Six years after the release of Alto, Jobs will see him and
For creating a computer, the team ( Thacker , Kay , Butler , Taylor ) in 2004 received the Charles Stark Draper Awardand Chuck Thacker received the Turing Award in 2009.
In October 2014 , the Xerox Alto sources were opened at the Computer History Museum.
Let's try to look under the hood and get to know the developers.
Computer development began in 1972 with a document (“Why Alto?”) Written by Butler Lampson (inspired by the Douglas Engelbartt concept of the oN-Line System (NLS) , designed by Chuck Thacker.
Butler Lampson
“Each computer problem is solved by one more level of abstraction.”
In the 1960s, Lampson participated in the GENIE project in Berkeley, during which the Berkeley Timesharing System was developed for the Scientific Data Systems SDS 940 computer. In the 1970s, Lampson became one of the founders of the Xerox PARC laboratory , where he participated in the development of Alto, as well as in the development of laser printing technologies, Ethernet networks, WYSIWYG word processing , two-phase commit protocols (2PC), Bravo , the first high-speed local area network (LAN), has developed several significant programming languages, for example, Euclid .
In the 80s, Lampson left for Digital Equipment Corporation. He currently works in the Microsoft research department, where he is involved in security and anti-piracy issues. He teaches at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Lapson's Memorandum of Why Alto?
XEROX Inter-Office Memorandum
To CSL Date December 19, 1972
From Butler Lampson Location Palo Alto
Subject Why Alto Organization PARC
This memo discusses the reasons for making a substantial number (10-30) of copies of the personal computer called Alto which has been designed by Chuck Thacker and others. The original motivation for this machine was provided by Alan Kay, who needs about 15-20 'interim Dynabooks' Systems for his education research. Alto has a much broader range of applications than this origin might suggest, however. I will begin by outlining its characteristics, and then go on to consider some of the many exciting uses to which Alto can be put. It turns out that there is some interaction with almost every CSL research program.
An Alto system consists of
48-64K 16-bit words of memory (plus parity and perhaps error correction).
A 10 megabyte Diablo disk which transfers one word every 7 us, rotates in 25 ms, and has a track-to-track seek of 8 ms, and worst-case seek of 70 ms.
A 901 line TV monitor whose display surface is almost exactly the size of this page. It is oriented vertically, and is designed to be driven from a bit map in the memory. It takes 32K of memory to fill the display area with a square (825x620) raster. These dots are about 1.4 mils square. It is possible to reduce their width to about 1 mil, which gives an 825x860 raster and 44.3K of memory. The square raster can display 8000 5x7 characters with descenders or 2500 beautiful proportionally-spaced characters.
An undecoded keyboard which allows the processor to determine exactly when each key is depressed or released, and a mouse or other pointing device.
A processor which executes Nova instructions at about 1.5 us/instruction, and can be extended with extra instructions suitable for interpreting Lisp, Bcpl, MPS, or whatever.
A high-bandwidth (10 MHz) communication interface whose details are not yet specified.
Optionally, a fixed-font character generator similar to the one designed and built by Doug Clark. This would save a lot of memory and would permit higher quality characters than can be done with a square raster, but adds no basically new capability. It should cost about $500.
Optionally, a Diablo printer, XGP, or other hardcopy device.
A table about 45" wide and 25" deep to house the machine and mount the display and keyboard.
Most important, a cost of about $lO.5K, which can be reduced to $9.7K by the use of a 2.5 megabyte disk. The cost is about equally split among disk, memory, and everything else. We have spent about twice as much on Maxc per 1974 CSL member.
The system is capable of doing almost any computation which a PDP-10 can do. For most problems it can deliver better performance to the user than a time-shared 10, even if the latter is lightly loaded (obvious exception: lots of floating-point computation). Furthermore, we have under development Lisp, Bcpl, and MPS systems which can run on a Nova and therefore, with slight modification, on Alto. Since most of our own future software work is expected to be done in one of these languages, most of it should be able to run on Alto.
The next paragraph shows that there should be plenty of computing power. Both Lisp and MPS will have some kind of hardware-assisted mapping, as that virtual memory size will not be a problem; a similar arrangement for Bcpl seems feasible, but has not been investigated.
A 64K Alto has as many Lisp cells as 32K of PDP-l0 memory. BBN claims to run Lisp users with an average 25K working set and a 30 ms page fault interval. Forty-two disk tracks hold 256K Lisp cells, and the average access time to a record on one of those tracks is about 32 ms, compared for 17 ms for the 10's drum. Hence, if execution speed on Alto is half the 10 speed or less, paging will cost no more than on the 10 for Lisp programs. It is highly plausible that we can get a Lisp system on an Alto with a few specialized instructions which can deliver half the performance of a Tenex Lisp running in a 32K swap space. Comparable results can be expected for other languages.
All the applications considered here depend on two facts which summarize the contents of the last section:
Alto is more powerful than a VTS terminal connected to Tenex;
Alto is cheap enough that we can buy one for each member of CSL, if that should prove desirable.
a) Distributed computing. We can very easily put in an Aloha-like point-to-point packet network between Alto's, using a coax as the ether (or microwave with a repeater on a hill for home terminals). We can then do a large variety of experiments with dozens of machines. It is easy to try experiments which depend on the independence of the participants as well as those which use specialized components which must cooperate to accomplish anything. In particular, we can set up systems in which each user has his own files and communications is done solely for the interchange of sharable information, and thus shed some light on the long-standing controversy about the merits of this scheme as against centralized files.
b) Office systems. We can run Peter's Lisp-based NLS-competitor or the xNLS system. The computational overkill of Alto will allow us to concentrate on the capabilities of the system rather than on optimizing its performance. Information gained from this approach should complement that obtained from the multi-user xNLS experiments. It may also be possible to run these on Alto and thus escape from Nova dependency; this possibility requires further investigation.
c) Personal computing. If our theories about the utility of cheap, powerful personal computers are correct, we should be able to demonstrate them convincingly on Alto. If they are wrong, we can find out why. We should, for example, be able to satisfy heavy Lisp users such as Warren and Peter with an Alto. This would also take a big computing load away from Maxc. It should also be quite easy to simulate the hardware configuration of other proposed personal computers (e.g., different memory hierarchies) and thus to validate those designs. This is important because more compact machines will require a much larger investment in engineering development and more precise optimization of the memory system.
d) Graphics. Alto is an excellent vehicle for Bob Flegal's graphics work, and will make the fruits of that work available to a wide community. It can't do Dick Shoup's stuff.
Alto competes with some other things we or SSL are doing. I think this is a good thing, since it encourages the proponents of both approaches to excel. Specifically;
a) VTS can do higher quality characters, has intensity control and blinking, costs half to two-thirds as much if you only want a terminal, and can take advantage of the video switch. It can't do graphics and may suffer from the queueing problems of shared-resource systems (the controlling Nova and communications are shared). And, of course, it is only as good as the computer which uses it.
b) Maxc can compute, and for applications which use existing software, need large working sets, or do lots of multiplications, it will be better. Also, it is known to be good for Lisp, etc., while the suitability of Alto for such large systems remains unproven.
c) Novas which don't have complex interfaces to other hardware (e.g., Toy, XGP) can be replaced by Altos. Those which do, like the Maxc Nova or, probably, the VTS Nova, are secure.
d) The implications of Alto for the local network are unclear.
e) Imlacs are wiped out.
[Источник]
From Butler Lampson Location Palo Alto
Subject Why Alto Organization PARC
1. Introduction
This memo discusses the reasons for making a substantial number (10-30) of copies of the personal computer called Alto which has been designed by Chuck Thacker and others. The original motivation for this machine was provided by Alan Kay, who needs about 15-20 'interim Dynabooks' Systems for his education research. Alto has a much broader range of applications than this origin might suggest, however. I will begin by outlining its characteristics, and then go on to consider some of the many exciting uses to which Alto can be put. It turns out that there is some interaction with almost every CSL research program.
2. Characteristics
An Alto system consists of
48-64K 16-bit words of memory (plus parity and perhaps error correction).
A 10 megabyte Diablo disk which transfers one word every 7 us, rotates in 25 ms, and has a track-to-track seek of 8 ms, and worst-case seek of 70 ms.
A 901 line TV monitor whose display surface is almost exactly the size of this page. It is oriented vertically, and is designed to be driven from a bit map in the memory. It takes 32K of memory to fill the display area with a square (825x620) raster. These dots are about 1.4 mils square. It is possible to reduce their width to about 1 mil, which gives an 825x860 raster and 44.3K of memory. The square raster can display 8000 5x7 characters with descenders or 2500 beautiful proportionally-spaced characters.
An undecoded keyboard which allows the processor to determine exactly when each key is depressed or released, and a mouse or other pointing device.
A processor which executes Nova instructions at about 1.5 us/instruction, and can be extended with extra instructions suitable for interpreting Lisp, Bcpl, MPS, or whatever.
A high-bandwidth (10 MHz) communication interface whose details are not yet specified.
Optionally, a fixed-font character generator similar to the one designed and built by Doug Clark. This would save a lot of memory and would permit higher quality characters than can be done with a square raster, but adds no basically new capability. It should cost about $500.
Optionally, a Diablo printer, XGP, or other hardcopy device.
A table about 45" wide and 25" deep to house the machine and mount the display and keyboard.
Most important, a cost of about $lO.5K, which can be reduced to $9.7K by the use of a 2.5 megabyte disk. The cost is about equally split among disk, memory, and everything else. We have spent about twice as much on Maxc per 1974 CSL member.
The system is capable of doing almost any computation which a PDP-10 can do. For most problems it can deliver better performance to the user than a time-shared 10, even if the latter is lightly loaded (obvious exception: lots of floating-point computation). Furthermore, we have under development Lisp, Bcpl, and MPS systems which can run on a Nova and therefore, with slight modification, on Alto. Since most of our own future software work is expected to be done in one of these languages, most of it should be able to run on Alto.
The next paragraph shows that there should be plenty of computing power. Both Lisp and MPS will have some kind of hardware-assisted mapping, as that virtual memory size will not be a problem; a similar arrangement for Bcpl seems feasible, but has not been investigated.
A 64K Alto has as many Lisp cells as 32K of PDP-l0 memory. BBN claims to run Lisp users with an average 25K working set and a 30 ms page fault interval. Forty-two disk tracks hold 256K Lisp cells, and the average access time to a record on one of those tracks is about 32 ms, compared for 17 ms for the 10's drum. Hence, if execution speed on Alto is half the 10 speed or less, paging will cost no more than on the 10 for Lisp programs. It is highly plausible that we can get a Lisp system on an Alto with a few specialized instructions which can deliver half the performance of a Tenex Lisp running in a 32K swap space. Comparable results can be expected for other languages.
3. Applications
All the applications considered here depend on two facts which summarize the contents of the last section:
Alto is more powerful than a VTS terminal connected to Tenex;
Alto is cheap enough that we can buy one for each member of CSL, if that should prove desirable.
a) Distributed computing. We can very easily put in an Aloha-like point-to-point packet network between Alto's, using a coax as the ether (or microwave with a repeater on a hill for home terminals). We can then do a large variety of experiments with dozens of machines. It is easy to try experiments which depend on the independence of the participants as well as those which use specialized components which must cooperate to accomplish anything. In particular, we can set up systems in which each user has his own files and communications is done solely for the interchange of sharable information, and thus shed some light on the long-standing controversy about the merits of this scheme as against centralized files.
b) Office systems. We can run Peter's Lisp-based NLS-competitor or the xNLS system. The computational overkill of Alto will allow us to concentrate on the capabilities of the system rather than on optimizing its performance. Information gained from this approach should complement that obtained from the multi-user xNLS experiments. It may also be possible to run these on Alto and thus escape from Nova dependency; this possibility requires further investigation.
c) Personal computing. If our theories about the utility of cheap, powerful personal computers are correct, we should be able to demonstrate them convincingly on Alto. If they are wrong, we can find out why. We should, for example, be able to satisfy heavy Lisp users such as Warren and Peter with an Alto. This would also take a big computing load away from Maxc. It should also be quite easy to simulate the hardware configuration of other proposed personal computers (e.g., different memory hierarchies) and thus to validate those designs. This is important because more compact machines will require a much larger investment in engineering development and more precise optimization of the memory system.
d) Graphics. Alto is an excellent vehicle for Bob Flegal's graphics work, and will make the fruits of that work available to a wide community. It can't do Dick Shoup's stuff.
4. Competition
Alto competes with some other things we or SSL are doing. I think this is a good thing, since it encourages the proponents of both approaches to excel. Specifically;
a) VTS can do higher quality characters, has intensity control and blinking, costs half to two-thirds as much if you only want a terminal, and can take advantage of the video switch. It can't do graphics and may suffer from the queueing problems of shared-resource systems (the controlling Nova and communications are shared). And, of course, it is only as good as the computer which uses it.
b) Maxc can compute, and for applications which use existing software, need large working sets, or do lots of multiplications, it will be better. Also, it is known to be good for Lisp, etc., while the suitability of Alto for such large systems remains unproven.
c) Novas which don't have complex interfaces to other hardware (e.g., Toy, XGP) can be replaced by Altos. Those which do, like the Maxc Nova or, probably, the VTS Nova, are secure.
d) The implications of Alto for the local network are unclear.
e) Imlacs are wiped out.
[Источник]
Charles Thacker
Together with Butler Lampson and other graduates, he founded the company Berkeley Computer Corporation, in which he was engaged in the development of computer electronics. However, the company did not have commercial success and Thacker got a job at the Xerox PARC research center. During the 1970s and 80s, he became one of the developers of the Ethernet protocol, and also made a great contribution to the creation of the first laser printer. In 1983, Thacker founded the research center of Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC Systems Research Center), and in 1997 participated in the creation of the Microsoft Research Laboratory in Cambridge. After returning to the United States, Thacker developed hardware for the Microsoft Tablet PC, based on his experience with Dynabook at Xerox PARC.
Interview in English
Bob Taylor
“The Internet is not about technology; it's about communication. “The Internet connects people who have shared interests, ideas and needs, regardless of geography.”He was director at ARPA's Information Processing Techniques Office from 1965 to 1969, founder and director of Xerox PARC's Computer Science Laboratory from 1970 to 1983, founder and director of Digital Equipment Corporation's Systems Research Center until 1996.
Alan Kay
The author of the concept of OOP ( “I coined the term“ object-oriented, ”and this is what I tell you, I did not mean C ++.” ) And a laptop.
By the way, Kay said his famous phrase “The best way to predict the future is to invent it” in 1971, and Dennis Gabor(Nobel laureate, creator of holography) - in the 63rd. Inventing the Future (1963): “The future cannot be predicted, but futures can be invented.” (Investigation on this subject here .)
TED clip
Alan Kay: “A powerful idea about ideas”
Xerox alto
Iron
The
Xerox Alto hardware manual (PDF) had 128 KB of RAM ($ 4000) expandable to 512 KB, a hard disk with a 2.5 MB replaceable cartridge.
Drives
Monitor
to display the graphical information used monochrome monitor is 606x808 pixels by non-traditional portrait orientation.
Stone
Chip: multi-chip sectional microprocessor-based arithmetic logic unit (bit-slice arithmetic logic unit) based on Texas Instruments' 74181 chip with microcode support (up to 16 parallel tasks with fixed priorities). 5.8 MHz CPU
Klava
64-key keyboard
Mouse
All mice used with Alto were three-button. The first mouse was mechanical, with two wheels set perpendicular to each other. Soon, this model was replaced by a mouse with a ball, invented by Bill English. Later, an optical mouse appeared, first using white light, and then infrared radiation. The buttons on the first mice were located one above the other, and not next to each other, as is customary now.
Engelbart's ideas implemented in the real world - mouse and chord keyboard :
[ Source ]
[ Source ] Ethernet
network card [ source ]
Software
The first programs for Alto were written in the BCPL programming language (by the way, the first program “Hello world” and the first MUD were written in BCPL ), then the language Mesa was used , which was not widely used outside PARC, but influenced some later ones. languages, for example, Modula. There was no underline key on the Alto keyboard, which was adapted for the left arrow character, which was used in the Mesa language as an assignment operator. This feature of the Alto keyboard could be the cause of the CamelCase ID naming style. Another feature of Alto was the ability for the user to directly program the processor microcode.
Despite the relatively small amount of RAM, programs with graphic menus, icons, and other elements that became familiar only with the advent of the Mac OS and Microsoft Windows operating systems were developed and used for Xerox Alto.
- Bravo and Gypsy - the first WYSIWYG word processors
- Laurel and Hardy - Network Email Clients
- Markup and Draw - graphic editors (bitmap editors)
- Neptune - file manager
- FTP and chat utilities
- Games - Chess, Pinball, Othello and a Alto Trek game by Gene Ball
- Sil - vector graphics editor for integrated circuits and printed circuit boards
- Officetalk experimental forms-processing system
- Programming Languages - BCPL, LISP, Smalltalk, Mesa, and Poplar
Several images / screenshots of software
more screenshots of programs
Display from the keyboard-test program:
The Alto keyboard has a separate signal line for each key and can thus tell when any number of keys are being pressed simultaneously. In the display, the black keys are being held down. The small square above the keyboard represents the mouse (see photo 4); one mouse key is also pressed.
Display of the Alto Executive, with an example of star and question-mark notation.
NetExecutive (similar to the Alto Executive, but it allows access to resources on the Ethernet.
Typical Mesa program being edited by Bravo; note the different typefonts used in the program listing.
Directory from the Neptune directory editor. The file names in black have been selected for further operations such as printing or erasure. The cursor is displayed as a cross in a circle.
Bravo’s ability to change fonts (there are hundreds of fonts for the Alto, from Gothic to Elvish Runes; the central paragraph in this display has been changed to Greek). The document in the bottom window has to been converted to the form shown in the top window.
Points are placed with the cursor, and curves and lines are filled in by the program.
Lines may be «painted» with a variety of “brushstrokes” (the cursor has changed to a small paintbrush).
Texture is given to the lines; dotted lines are created with the scissors cursor.
Picture may be mathematically manipulated; a new figure may be created by reversing, tilting, or stretching a copy of the original.
The eye represents the persona of an opponent. Any Alto on the net can join or leave the game at any time.
The Pinball game:
Flippers are actuated by the two shift keys; an Alto port can be connected to a speaker to provide bells and buzzer sounds.
The multiplayer Trek program:
This game is played entirely under mouse control. The lower portion of the screen shows a short-range sensor scan; above is the long-range display, and navigation and weapons controls.
Cedar environment on the Alto
Famous «rainbow» screen on an Alto
Display from the keyboard-test program:
The Alto keyboard has a separate signal line for each key and can thus tell when any number of keys are being pressed simultaneously. In the display, the black keys are being held down. The small square above the keyboard represents the mouse (see photo 4); one mouse key is also pressed.
Display of the Alto Executive, with an example of star and question-mark notation.
NetExecutive (similar to the Alto Executive, but it allows access to resources on the Ethernet.
Typical Mesa program being edited by Bravo; note the different typefonts used in the program listing.
Directory from the Neptune directory editor. The file names in black have been selected for further operations such as printing or erasure. The cursor is displayed as a cross in a circle.
Bravo’s ability to change fonts (there are hundreds of fonts for the Alto, from Gothic to Elvish Runes; the central paragraph in this display has been changed to Greek). The document in the bottom window has to been converted to the form shown in the top window.
Points are placed with the cursor, and curves and lines are filled in by the program.
Lines may be «painted» with a variety of “brushstrokes” (the cursor has changed to a small paintbrush).
Texture is given to the lines; dotted lines are created with the scissors cursor.
Picture may be mathematically manipulated; a new figure may be created by reversing, tilting, or stretching a copy of the original.
The eye represents the persona of an opponent. Any Alto on the net can join or leave the game at any time.
The Pinball game:
Flippers are actuated by the two shift keys; an Alto port can be connected to a speaker to provide bells and buzzer sounds.
The multiplayer Trek program:
This game is played entirely under mouse control. The lower portion of the screen shows a short-range sensor scan; above is the long-range display, and navigation and weapons controls.
Cedar environment on the Alto
Famous «rainbow» screen on an Alto
Games
Alto Trek - the first multiplayer game
You control a star ship in one of three races: Earthlings , Klingons or Romulans
Maze game manual
First deathmatch, first-person first-person view.
and:
- Astro roids
- Chess
- Galaxians
- Mazewar
- Missile command
- Rinky Dink (Clint Parker's pinball program)
- Space war
Screenshots
That's what
UPD computers are for.
I did not have time to look, but I think it will be useful:
year 2001. The Xerox Alto: A Personal Retrospective
Conclusion
“Do not doubt that a small group of thinking and selfless people can change the world. In reality, it is they who bring these changes. ” Margaret Mead
In my opinion, it is insanely cool to be a witness (and even less a participant) in the creation of new and interesting gizmos. I was lucky to be next to a group of young and daring people who created the “Dial” (the first anti-cafe), although not an IT product, but still very driving and great. I talked a bit with the developers of Cybiko , they have a lot of interesting stories. I watched the series “Halt and Catch Fire” with pleasure . Who knows the links to useful materials, share it, and if you yourself took part in creating a new one, write in comments, I will be grateful.
Together with Edison, we are launching the spring publication marathon.
I will try to get to the bottom of the source of IT-technologies, to understand how they thought and what concepts were in the minds of the pioneers, what they dreamed about, how they saw the world of the future. Why did they think about “computer”, “network”, “hypertext”, “intelligence amplifiers”, “collective problem solving system”, what meaning they put into these concepts, what tools they wanted to achieve the result.
I hope that these materials will serve as inspiration for those who are wondering how to go “from Scratch to Unit” (to create something that was not even mentioned before). I want IT and "programming" to cease to be just "coding for the sake of dough," and recall that they were conceived as a lever to change
March 0 Seymour Peypert
March 1. Xerox Alto
March 2 "Call Jake." The story of the NIC and RFC
March 3 Grace “Granny COBOL” Hopper
March 4 Margaret Hamilton: “Guys, I'll send you to the moon”
March 5 Hedi Lamarr. And to shoot a movie in a naked movie and to shoot a torpedo at an enemy
on March 7 The magnificent six: girls who counted a thermonuclear explosion
on March 8 "Video games, I am your father!"