Archive for February 16, 2024
IBM Portable PC Introduced
February 16, 1984
IBM introduces the IBM Portable Personal Computer, an early portable computer. It featured a 4.77MHz Intel 8088 processor, 256KB RAM, a 9 inch amber monitor, a 5.25″ floppy drive, and the DOS 2.1 operating system. It weighed 30 pounds and cost $2,795. Try setting that on your lap.
The First BBS Goes Live
February 16, 1978
The first computer bulletin board system is created (CBBS in Chicago, Illinois). BBS systems were where a lot of us were first introduced to the concept of e-mail, years before the Internet went mainstream. OK, maybe not “a lot” of us. Just the geeky ones. In the time before computers were cool. Computers are cool now, aren’t they?
911 Begins Service
February 16, 1968
In Haleyville, Alabama, the first 9-1-1 emergency telephone system goes into service.