Sphere 1
Encyclopedia
The Sphere I was a personal computer completed in 1975 by Michael Donald Wise of Sphere Corporation, of Bountiful, Utah. The Sphere I featured a Motorola 6800
CPU, onboard ROM, Monitor, 4 KB of RAM, and a keyboard
with a numeric keypad
. Sphere I. The Sphere I was among the earliest microcomputers. Michael touted it as the first "true PC" because it had a keyboard, a number pad, a monitor, external storage, and did not run on a punch tape. When Byte Magazine did its annual history of the computer, it always included Sphere 1, showing that prior microcomputers lacked the user i/o interface built into the Sphere I.
In 1975, Michael was concerned that powering off and on was hard on the electronics, so he selected three keys to clear RAM. Mike selected Control-Alternate-Delete as a combination of keys that were extremely unlikely to be pressed together by accident. Several others have laid claim to this, and they may have selected them also, but Michael did it in the fall of 1975.
Motorola 6800
The 6800 was an 8-bit microprocessor designed and first manufactured by Motorola in 1974. The MC6800 microprocessor was part of the M6800 Microcomputer System that also included serial and parallel interface ICs, RAM, ROM and other support chips...
CPU, onboard ROM, Monitor, 4 KB of RAM, and a keyboard
Computer keyboard
In computing, a keyboard is a typewriter-style keyboard, which uses an arrangement of buttons or keys, to act as mechanical levers or electronic switches...
with a numeric keypad
Numeric keypad
A numeric keypad, numpad or tenkey for short, is the small, palm-sized, seventeen key section of a computer keyboard, usually on the very far right. The numeric keypad features digits 0 to 9, addition , subtraction , multiplication and division symbols, a decimal point and Num Lock and Enter keys...
. Sphere I. The Sphere I was among the earliest microcomputers. Michael touted it as the first "true PC" because it had a keyboard, a number pad, a monitor, external storage, and did not run on a punch tape. When Byte Magazine did its annual history of the computer, it always included Sphere 1, showing that prior microcomputers lacked the user i/o interface built into the Sphere I.
In 1975, Michael was concerned that powering off and on was hard on the electronics, so he selected three keys to clear RAM. Mike selected Control-Alternate-Delete as a combination of keys that were extremely unlikely to be pressed together by accident. Several others have laid claim to this, and they may have selected them also, but Michael did it in the fall of 1975.