Tandy Electronics is well known as one of the three pioneering brands (along with Commodore and Apple) that brought the world the ‘home computer’ in 1977. But three years later, Tandy also helped usher in what was, at the time, such a jaw-dropping moment it was considered all but impossible - a programmable computer that fitted into your pocket. These ‘pocket computers’, some powered from just a couple of coin-batteries, were considered the stuff of the ‘space age’, so much so, that Tandy Electronics brought in famed science-fiction author Isaac Asimov to spruik them in Tandy ads.
However, the fanfare lasted only a few years before Tandy quietly dropped the concept in 1987.
This is the story of how it began – and what happened next.
Miniaturisation
As we’ve seen, the 1970s was an incredible era for electronics. Large-scale integration (LSI), the process of squeezing thousands of transistors into a single integrated circuit (IC) chip, made possible the microprocessors that created the home computer market. An important aspect of these CPUs, including the MOS Technology 6502 and Zilog Z80, was their comparatively low power consumption. Rather than needing a dedicated three-phase hook-up to the local power grid, home computers used less power than a 40-watt light globe and it’s one of the unheralded but most important reasons why home computers were possible at all.
It was
