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Wilmington, North Carolina once had a thriving Black middle class and an elected interracial government. In 1898 white supremacists used violence to overthrow that government, kill Black residents and drive many others from the city.
MORE →Reflects the personal views, recollections, and perspective of the author, Mike Davis.
This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985
 | |
| Developer | Computer Devices, Inc. |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Computer Devices, Inc. |
| Type | Portable computer |
| Released | April 1983 |
| Discontinued | 1984 |
| Units shipped | At least 2,000–3,000[1] |
| CPU |
|
| Memory | 32–704 KB of RAM |
The Dot, styled as DOT[2] is a portable computer released by Computer Devices, Inc. (CDI) in April 1983. It has an Intel 8088 processor and up to 704 KB of RAM, while its screen is capable of producing graphics at a resolution of up to 1024 by 254 pixels. Not fully IBM PC compatible, the Dot was a commercial failure and was a major factor in CDI's Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November 1983.
The Dot's primary microprocessor is an Intel 8088, although customers could have optionally purchased a Z80 expansion board that allows it to run CP/M. The computer has 32 KB of RAM stock (expandable to 704 KB); a 9-inch-wide, 5-inch-tall CRT monitor; and one 3.5-inch floppy disk drive manufactured by Sony, inventors of the format. Options included MS-DOS as a native operating system; a dual serial port card; a second 3.5-inch floppy drive; a thermal printer that attaches to the top of the computer; a 300/1200-baud modem; and an Intel 8087 floating-point co-processor. The video card supports rendering graphics at pixel resolutions of 640 x 200 or 1024 x 254,[3] while the optional thermal printer can output 132-line text, for a perfect facsimile of the computer's text display mode.[4]
The Dot was announced in fall 1982 and released in April 1983, the company establishing a national dealer network the month prior to release.[4][5] The Dot was intended to be the breakout microcomputer product for Computer Devices, Inc. (CDI), a successful manufacturer of computer terminals based out of Burlington, Massachusetts.[6] Despite possessing the same Intel 8088 as the IBM PC as well as being shipped with MS-DOS (functionally equivalent to IBM's PC DOS), the Dot is not fully IBM PC compatible.[7] Demand for the Dot was low,[8] and by December 1983 only between 2,000 and 3,000 units had been sold.[1] CDI announced two large layoffs after the computer's failure and other complications in the company, the first in August 1983,[9] the second in October 1983.[10] CDI filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy the following month.[8]
The Dot's failure and Computer Device's bankruptcy were highly publicized, as it came amid amid concurrent bankruptcy filings from other technology companies[11] including Osborne Computer Corporation, another portable computer manufacturer whose Osborne 1 was the first commercially successful portable computer.[8] Unlike Osborne, CDI survived bankruptcy and continued into the next decade[11] as a software developer for specialized applications.[12] The company dissolved in October 1998.[13]
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Media related to Computer Devices Dot at Wikimedia CommonsSource: Wikipedia. Article content is retrieved live through the MediaWiki API.
The Dot, styled as DOT is a portable computer released by Computer Devices, Inc. (CDI) in April 1983. It has an Intel 8088 processor and up to 704 KB of RAM, while its screen is capable of producing graphics at a resolution of up to 1024 by 254 pixels. Not fully IBM PC compatible, the Dot was a commercial failure and was a major factor in CDI's Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November 1983.
Acer Inc. ( AY-sər) is a New Taipei City-based Taiwanese multinational company that produces computer hardware and electronics, headquartered in Xizhi District. Its products include desktop PCs, laptop PCs (clamshells, 2-in-1s, convertibles and Chromebooks), tablets, servers, storage devices, virtual reality devices, displays, smartphones, televisions and peripherals, as well as gaming PCs and accessories under its Predator brand. As of 2024, Acer is the world's sixth-largest personal computer vendor by unit sales. Founded in 1976 as Multitech Electronics Inc., in the early 2000s, Acer implemented a new business model, shifting from a manufacturer to a designer, marketer, and distributor of products, while performing production processes via contract manufacturers. Currently, in addition to its core IT products business, Acer also has a new business entity that focuses on the integration of cloud services and platforms, and the development of smartphones and wearable devices with value-added IoT applications.
Analog Devices, Inc. (ADI), also known simply as Analog, is an American multinational semiconductor company specializing in data conversion, signal processing, and power management technology, headquartered in Wilmington, Massachusetts. The company manufactures analog, mixed-signal and digital signal processing (DSP) integrated circuits (ICs) used in electronic equipment. These technologies are used to convert, condition and process real-world phenomena, such as light, sound, temperature, motion, and pressure into electrical signals. Analog Devices has approximately 100,000 customers in the following industries: communications, computer, instrumentation, military/aerospace, automotive, and consumer electronics applications.
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) is an American multinational semiconductor company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It develops central processing units (CPUs), graphics processing units (GPUs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), system-on-chips (SoCs), and high-performance computer components. AMD serves a wide range of business and consumer markets, including personal computers (PCs), gaming, data centers, and embedded systems. AMD's main products include microprocessors, embedded processors, and graphics processors for servers, workstations, PCs, and embedded system applications, as well as chipsets for motherboards. The company has also expanded into new markets, such as data centers, gaming, and high-performance computing. AMD's processors are used in a wide range of computing devices, including PCs, servers, laptops, and gaming consoles. Initially manufacturing its own processors, the company outsourced its manufacturing after GlobalFoundries was spun off in 2009. Through its Xilinx acquisition in 2022, AMD offers field-programmable gate array (FPGA) products. AMD was founded in 1969 by Jerry Sanders and a group of his fellow Fairchild Semiconductor colleagues. The company's early products were primarily memory chips and other computer components. In 1975, AMD entered the microprocessor market, competing with Intel, its main rival in the industry, by reverse-engineering Intel's 8080. This led to the initial cross-license agreement allowing AMD to build legal clones of Intel processors, including the x86 family of processors from 1981. The two companies fought a seven-year legal battle after Intel refused to share the blueprint of their i386 with AMD, ending in the latter's favor in 1994 but requiring AMD to develop their own x86 microprocessors in-house. In the early 2000s, AMD experienced significant growth and success, partly due to its strong position in the PC market and its Athlon and Opteron processors. The company faced challenges in the late 2000s and early 2010s, as it struggled to compete with Intel. In the late 2010s, AMD regained market share by pursuing a penetration pricing strategy for its Ryzen processors, offering a competitive performance and lower costs than Intel microprocessors. In 2022, AMD surpassed Intel by market capitalization for the first time.
Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.
MORE →Brown v. Board of Education in 1954.