IBM 610 | |
Aka: | IBM 610 Auto-Point Computer |
Developer: | John Lentz, as part of his work for the Watson Lab at Columbia University |
Manufacturer: | IBM |
Type: | Personal computer |
Baseprice: | $55,000 (or rented for $1150 per month ($460 academic)) |
Units Shipped: | 180 |
Memory Card: | Punched paper tape |
Weight: | 800lb |
Successor: | IBM 1620 |
The IBM 610 Auto-Point Computer is one of the first personal computers, in the sense of a computer to be used by one person whose previous experience with computing might only have been with desk calculators. It was controlled interactively by a keyboard. The principal designer of this machine was John Lentz, as part of his work for the Watson Lab at Columbia University.
The IBM 610 was introduced in 1957.[1] [2] It was small enough to easily fit in an office; it weighed about 800lb.[3] It was designed to be used in a normal office, without any special electrical or air conditioning requirements. It used vacuum tubes, a magnetic drum, and punched paper tape readers and punchers. The input was from a keyboard and output was to an IBM electric typewriter, at eighteen characters per second. It was one of the first computers to be controlled from a keyboard. The term "auto-point" referred to the ability to automatically adjust the decimal point in floating-point arithmetic.
Its price was $55,000, or it could be rented for $1150 per month ($460 academic). 180 units were made. It was a slow and limited computer, and was generally replaced by the IBM 1620.