Amaya Toman In today's installment of our regular series on major technology events, we're moving first to the 1970s and then to the 1980s. We will remember the official launch of the first CBBS, as well as the introduction of the Portable PC by IBM.
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First CBBS (1978)
On February 16, 1978, the first CBBS (Computerized Bulletin Board System) was put into operation in Chicago, Illinois. These were electronic bulletin boards, divided by topic. BBSs were run on servers that ran a special program that allowed the creation of user accounts. BBSs are considered to be the forerunners of today's chat rooms, discussion boards, and similar communication platforms. The founder of the aforementioned Computerized Bulletin Board System was Ward Christensen. BBSs were originally purely text-based and commands were entered through code, later a number of more or less sophisticated BBS programs developed, and the number of options in BBSs also grew.
The IBM Portable PC Comes (1984)
On February 16, 1984, a machine called the IBM Portable Personal Computer was introduced, one of the first portable computers ever - but in this case, portability must be taken with a very large margin. The computer was equipped with a 4,77 MHz Intel 8088 processor, 256 KB of RAM (expandable to 512 KB) and a nine-inch monitor. The computer also had a drive for a 5,25-inch floppy disk, and it ran the DOS 2.1 operating system. The IBM Portable Personal Computer weighed more than 13,5 kilograms and cost $2795. IBM discontinued the production and sale of this model in 1986, its successor was the IBM PC Convertible.
