" *JimH*" wrote ...

How about this *handy* device from 1973........the original cell phone:

Name: Motorola Dyna-Tac
Size: 9 x 5 x 1.75 inches
Weight: 2.5 pounds
Display: None
Number of Circuit Boards: 30
Talk time: 35 minutes
Recharge Time: 10 hours
Features: Talk, listen, dial

http://www.3g.co.uk/PR/April2003/Brick.jpg

That's a picture of Marty Cooper with an early mock-up of the first *portable*
cell phone. We didn't get it into production until the early eighties and what
a PITA that was. I still have some prototypes of the various ceramic hybrid
modules (~20) that plugged into the main motherboard. As I recall it cost ~$400
just to produce a functional logic module in the early days. The first units
sold for about $4500.

Funny story: One of the major difficulties was getting it to pass a 4' drop test
without breaking internal modules. To celebrate initial production the group had
a big get together at a local bar and presented Marty with a gold plated unit.
As it was passed around and admired one of my rather bold and compulsive
co-workers held it at shoulder height, proclaimed that "If it's a production
unit it should pass the drop test" and dropped it on the floor. There was
stunned silence for a few seconds followed by nervous laughter as it was picked
up and determined to still work. The look on Marty's face was priceless. I
think Gerry might have suffered consequences had he not been so brilliant. He
was a very early proponent of digital voice encoding.

-rick-

"-rick-" wrote in message
...

" *JimH*" wrote ...

How about this *handy* device from 1973........the original cell phone:

Name: Motorola Dyna-Tac
Size: 9 x 5 x 1.75 inches
Weight: 2.5 pounds
Display: None
Number of Circuit Boards: 30
Talk time: 35 minutes
Recharge Time: 10 hours
Features: Talk, listen, dial

http://www.3g.co.uk/PR/April2003/Brick.jpg

That's a picture of Marty Cooper with an early mock-up of the first
*portable* cell phone. We didn't get it into production until the early
eighties and what a PITA that was. I still have some prototypes of the
various ceramic hybrid modules (~20) that plugged into the main
motherboard. As I recall it cost ~$400 just to produce a functional logic
module in the early days. The first units sold for about $4500.

Funny story: One of the major difficulties was getting it to pass a 4'
drop test without breaking internal modules. To celebrate initial
production the group had a big get together at a local bar and presented
Marty with a gold plated unit. As it was passed around and admired one of
my rather bold and compulsive co-workers held it at shoulder height,
proclaimed that "If it's a production unit it should pass the drop test"
and dropped it on the floor. There was stunned silence for a few seconds
followed by nervous laughter as it was picked up and determined to still
work. The look on Marty's face was priceless. I think Gerry might have
suffered consequences had he not been so brilliant. He was a very early
proponent of digital voice encoding.

-rick-



Nice story and how wonderful to have been part of history.

"Bill McKee" wrote in message
ink.net...
First system I bought for the company I worked for at the time (we
designed
disk subsystems for the DEC and Data General market). $4400. 512k
memory,
could not get the full 640K in the early 80's. 8" floppy. Hard drive was
separate from the controller card. My boss at the time went to Quantum
and
designed the first fully integrated disk drive. The "Hard Card".
Internal
disk controller to the drive. Latest system was an on sale Compaq with
80GB
drive, 256mb memory, memory card reader built in and 8 USB ports, 2.5ghz.
$450. No monitor.

In 1981, I bought an IBM 8088. I believe it ran at 1 MHz.

My first upgrade was to a Hercules graphics card, so that I could play
ScionChess in 3D. I also had a 300 baud modem...it was the cradle
type...that you put the actual phone receiver into. At one point, I think I
could type faster than 300 baud...

The next year, I put in an MFM 10 MB hard drive, and thought I was in
heaven. That drive cost $1500.00! I proclaimed at that time, no one would
ever need a hard disk bigger than 10 MB! Heh heh...

I still have a $4000.00 386 in a closet somewhere...which I used to run
AutoCAD, with the Boat Hull design software plug-in...ouch!


--
-Netsock

"It's just about going fast...that's all..."
http://home.columbus.rr.com/ckg/