Computer of the future of the past

[mmcirvin]

What actually did use bubble memory? The GRiD Compass did, of course! It didn't have a battery, but in other ways it was much more like a modern laptop than anything that had preceded it.

I recall my dad trying out an employer-owned GRiD at some point, though I think it was one of the later MS-DOS models with a battery and a much larger screen.

GRiD still seems to exist, and they now specialize in hideous but extremely rugged laptops for military use. I guess that was a large part of their target market from the beginning.

Comments

[kodi]

I did a brief stint as tech support for AST during its own death throes. I actually got to take a call on a GRiD machine during that time, but the extent of the call was "I picked this up at a garage sale; it's not still under warranty, is it?" / "no." / "didn't think so, thanks." But they did show us the cabinet full of GRiDs they kept around for support calls, and they did mention that there was a company that was still using the GRiD name. The GRiDPad was fascinating, and probably tops my list of "things I was tempted to steal from an employer."

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

Things moved fast--the Kyocera-built TRS-80 Model 100 (http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=233) was only a year later. That was a brilliant machine in almost every way, not just small, light and fairly capable for the day, but also relatively affordable. One of my friends in high school had one.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

...And, as I think I've said earlier, it's really too bad that the demand for larger and more standard-shaped screens evolved rapidly enough that the slab-with-full-keyboard case design was never viable after that. The closest things to it today are smartphones, and tablets with virtual keyboards.