Few people have heard of it, yet many consider John Blankenbaker's KENBAK-1 to be the first commercial personal computer.
Isaac Asimov Marvels At Miniaturization
By James Grahame
I can't be the only one who wishes there were some way to connect a TRS-80 pocket computer from 1982 to the cellular network. It'd be the coolest texting device in the galaxy.
The first generation TRS-80 Pocket Computer was actually a re-badged Sharp PC-1211. It included the BASIC programming language in ROM, along with a 24 character LCD display and 1.5K of memory. The $29.95 cassette interface was required to make permanent backups of your programs, or you could choose the deluxe $127.95 printer/cassette interface. The tiny thermal printer could print only 16 characters per line and included a built-in Ni-Cad battery so you could work off the grid -- something that today's printer manufacturers still struggle with.
