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Post by seanwashere on Feb 16, 2006 19:56:54 GMT -5
hey, i was wondering if anyone knew of anything about the Xerox Alto system. Suposedly not many were actually sold and they were just leased. I couldn't find any emulators for it, which im guessing is because many people see this as a word processor only. It seems like it would be pretty hard to get one of these. Another option would be the similar Star but i don't know anything about obtaining one of those either. If you know of any way to get one or at least an emulator for one then tell me.
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Post by thurstan on Feb 17, 2006 5:29:14 GMT -5
I didn't think they sold or even leased any Alto's ?
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Post by seanwashere on Feb 17, 2006 9:11:47 GMT -5
well see thats what i mean. i dont really know anything about their availibility now or then. :/ maybe thats the Star i was thinking of...?
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Post by thurstan on Feb 17, 2006 11:45:44 GMT -5
I only mention this as just watch Triumph of the nerds last night and Cringely shows you one and said they didnt sell any, it was just a tech demo, a computer that was way ahead of its time.
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Post by Golan Klinger on Feb 17, 2006 15:52:26 GMT -5
Xerox never sold the Alto. They did donate a bunch to Stanford though. There were a few kicking around when I was down there although I never had a chance to use one. They did sell the Star commercially and if memory serves, no pun intended, it was ridiculously expensive. The Alto led to the Star which led to the Lisa which led to the Mac which led to the Windows et al so while the Alto wasn't a commercial success, its impact on computing was huge. Truly a computer ahead of its time. I have a great book about the history of Xerox PARC (Palo Alto Research Center) who were responsible for the Alto and Star and lots of other technologies we use today (like ethernet). The book is called Dealers of Lightning : Xerox PARC and the Dawn of the Computer Age. You can get more information here: www.amazon.com/gp/product/0887309895/ref=sr_11_1/102-3786223-0041761?%5Fencoding=UTF8. If you're interested in the history of computing, this is another book is worth reading.
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