Olivetti Programma 101
Photo 1: Olivetti (progettista/ costruttore), Bellini Mario (designer), Perotto Pier Giorgio (inventore/ progettista), CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (Olivetti Programma 101 - Museo scienza e tecnologia Milano.jpg) Photo 2: Sailko, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (Olivetti programma 101, calcolatrice elettronica programmabile, 1965.jpg) Photo 3: Sciking, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (Olivetti P101 magnetic card.jpg)
Programmable calculator, 1965, Olivetti. The Programma 101, designed by Pier Giorgio Perotto's team in Ivrea and styled by Mario Bellini, is considered one of the first desktop computers: a programmable machine that sat on a desk, was operated by one person and printed its results on a paper strip. Programs of up to 120 instructions were stored on magnetic cards, so that a user could load a routine in seconds without any knowledge of programming. It was shown at the New York World's Fair in 1964, went into production in 1965 and about 44,000 units were sold, many of them in the United States; NASA used it during the Apollo programme.
| Years | 1965 to 1971 |
|---|---|
| Logic | discrete transistors and diodes, no integrated circuits |
| Memory | 240 bytes on a magnetostrictive delay line, organised as 10 registers |
| Instructions | 16, entered from the keyboard or loaded from magnetic card |
| Input and output | 36-key keyboard, printer on a paper strip, magnetic card reader/writer |
| Weight | 35.5 kg |
| Price (1965) | US$3,200 |
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