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" I try to sit down at the typewriter four times a day, even if it's only five minutes, and write three sentences. And if I feel like going on, or if something turns me on I'll just keep writing till I'm written out."
- Roger Zelazny
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| Briefcase Console | ||
| A notebook computer |
This term just gets a brief reference in the book. The book was published in 1981; probably written in 1980. At that time, Apple II computers were just breaking into the non-hobbyist market.
| A useful gadget [referring to an implant that would allow the user to communicate with a computer by thinking about it], but you know, you can communicate with a computer about as well with a good briefcase console. |
| Technovelgy from Oath of Fealty,
by Jerry Pournelle (w/L. Niven). Published by Timescape in 1981 Additional resources -
|
The first real briefcase consoles (probably the Osbourn) also came out in 1981. The Osborne I was the first complete portable microcomputer, with 64 K, two floppy discs, the CP/M operating system, and BASIC for $1795.
One of my absolute favorite computers was the Toshiba 5200, a "laptop" computer sold in 1988 that fits the description of a briefcase console to a "T". It weighed about 15 pounds; it was really a portable workstation. As I recall, I paid about $4,200 for it. It had room for internal PC cards, Intel 80386 whipping along at 11Mhz, 100 Mbytes of internal hard drive storage, and had a 13" 640x480 VGA orange gas plasma flat screen that was, hands down, the best display then available. So cool, I provide a picture:
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'Our study of your race has convinced us that you are not fitted to leave your planet in the present state of your civilization.'
'...the spreading beam of the deranging ray struck them, and Then one toppled and fell. Then another.'
'Within seconds the material was spread out over fifty yards, in a matter of hours it might occupy several cubic miles of space...'
'The men are dead, but their acquired wisdom lives on and I am the beneficiary.'
'Young people found the driverless car admirable for petting.'
'After twenty generations of shillyshallying...'
