LINC

The LINC (Laboratory Instrument Computer) was a 12-bit, 2048-word computer. The LINC and the PDP-8 can be considered the first mini computers and perhaps the first personal computers as well. Although its instruction set was small, it was larger than the ingenious and tiny PDP-8 instruction set.

Related Topics:
Computer - PDP-8 - Mini computer - Personal computer

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Unlike today's personal computers, the LINC sold for about $50,000. It interfaced well with laboratory experiments. Analog inputs and outputs were part of the basic design. It was designed in 1962 by Charles Molnar and Wesley Clark at Lincoln Laboratory, Massachusetts (Part of MIT), for NIH researchers. The LINC's design was literally in the public domain, perhaps making it unique in the history of computers. 24 LINC computers were assembled in a summer workshop at MIT. Digital Equipment Corporation (starting in 1964) and Spear Inc. of Waltham, MA manufactured them commercially.

Related Topics:
1962 - Charles Molnar - Wesley Clark - Lincoln Laboratory - MIT - NIH - Digital Equipment Corporation - 1964

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