1960-1979

1960 - 1979
Pong

Pong was one of the first commercially successful video games ever produced. It is credited with jump starting the video game industry and introducing the desire for home video games. Pong was invented in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Alan Alcorn as a home gaming system.

Gameplay

Pong had very simple gameplay: two players manipulate blocky, square “paddles” to move a “ball” across the field. Instructions provided with the game said “avoid missing ball for high score”

History and Impact

Pong is widely regarded as the first video game despite being preceded by the Magnavox Odyssey system. However, pongs simplicity and availability allowed it to outsell its competitor, causing the Magnavox Odyssey, its only competitor, to fail, cementing the role of Pong in video game history

Ament, Phil. "Pong Video Game History - Invention of the Pong Video Game." //Pong Video Game History - Invention of the Pong Video Game//. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Sept. 2012. .

Images courtesy of Wikipedia Images

Ray Tomlinson was born 1941 in Amsterdam, New York. Tomlinson was a programmer who developed a system of email in 1971 on the package switching network ARPAnet. Tomlinson developed a way to send mail to different computers, whereas originally mail could only be sent from one user to another on one computer. He was able to overcome this by using the @ sign to separate the user and the machine. In email addresses, the @ sign is widely used today.
 * Ray Tomlinson **

Ethernet was invented between 1973 and 1975 at Xerox PARC by Robert Metcalfe. The purpose of Ethernet is to connect computers to each other and enable them to share and transfer data. Ethernet is widely used today and is often used to create a LAN or Local Area Network.
 * Ethernet **

[[image:220px-Ethernet_RJ45_connector_p1160054.jpg width="177" height="164"]]

 * The Floppy Disk**

A floppy disk is a portable data storage system. The disk is made up of a flexible magnetic storage, surrounded by a square, or rectangular, plastic piece. The floppy disk was made in 1967 by the company IBM. These data storage devices were updated multiple times, and were still commercially popular until the late 90’s.




 * Steve Russell**

Steve Russell was an MIT student who invented the first computer game, “SpaceWar!”. The first version was finished in 1962. Russell realized that he could apply the concept of Universal Functions to his language, Lisp. The game is considered the first of the “shoot ‘em’ up” genre, and was based around two spaceships. These ships would fire missiles at each other, while inside the gravity well of a star.



__**Apple II Series**__By Peter Tsongalis

The Apple II was released in June of 1977 by Apple Computer. The original version (Apple II) was invented by Steve Wozniak and later added to to upgrade performance and allow the user to do more. This series of Apple Computer was an all purpose and everyday computer for everyone to use and sold over 5 million units between 1977 and 1993. Inside, the first Apple II had a "MOS Technology 6502 microprocessor running at 1 MHz, 4 KB of RAM, an audio cassette interface for loading programs and storing data, and the Integer BASIC programming language built into the ROMs". A 5.25 inch floppy disk drive called the "Disk II" was able to be plugged into one of the expansion slots on the cpu to get rid of the need for cassettes to be used for storage. The original retail price of the Apple II with 4KBof RAM was $1298 and with the upgraded 48KB of RAM was $2638.

The Apple II Plus was announced in June of 1979 and was the first Apple Computer to include the BASIC software created by Microsoft. The Apple II Plus included a memory upgrade with the full 48KB already installed. This upgraded Apple II retailed at $1195 and was modified by the Georgia Tech Research Institute for the U.S. Army FORSCOM to be used for a geographical point database with bridges, airfields, and roadways.

The Apple IIe was next in the series of groundbreaking computers. It followed the Apple II Plus in 1983 and was a lot less expensive than all of its predecessors. Also new in this version was the capability for both upper and lowercase letters. The Apple IIe came standard with 64 KB RAM but could be upgraded with third party products to 1 MB of RAM. The Apple IIe was the most popular Apple II ever built and was manufactured for 11 years. The Apple IIe retailed at $1400 and was really the first great computer for the everyday user.

Cited Works: "Apple II Series." //Wikipedia//. Wikimedia Foundation, 09 Mar. 2012. Web. 04 Sept. 2012. . "Apple IIe." //Wikipedia//. Wikimedia Foundation, 23 Aug. 2012. Web. 30 Aug. 2012. . //Steve Jobs with Apple II//. Photograph. ABC News. //ABCNews.com//. ABC News. Web. . "Steve Wozniak." //Wikipedia//. Wikimedia Foundation, 29 Aug. 2012. Web. 30 Aug. 2012. .

__** Deep Blue **__



By: Evan Brown

The computer Deep Blue does not have a clear date of invention. Deep Blue slowly evolved from a previous IBM chess computer named Deep Thought II. Even after being given its name of Deep Blue, many modifications and new versions were developed. Deep Blue used a three step process based on the different points that it was in the game. At the start of a match the computer could use a series of moves called “openings” which it holds in its memory. These moves give the computer a starting point and are known to put certain pieces onto squares that allow them to be most effective and mobile later in the game ("Chess Opening", Wikipedia). Once the opening moves Deep Blue switches to a different method of play. Deep Blue is able to model all of its possible moves, and the ones it opponent could make based off of the move it just made. The IBM team called this the “brute force method,” which simply meant that it worked by processing massive amounts of data, and then evaluating it ( //Endgame: Challenging the Masters//). Each second Deep Blue is capable of evaluating 200 million moves per second. Deep Blue can look about twelve moves in to the future in just three minutes ("Deep Blue", Campbell, Murray, Joseph A. Hoane, Jr., and Feng-hsiung Hsu). It then decides which string of moves is best and follows that path. To have such large search ability Deep Blue does not evaluate moves it has previously determined to be bad, unless something on that part of the board has changed. Once Deep Blue gets closer to the end of a match it begins to switch to the third part of its program. In this Stage Deep Blue looks at its remaining pieces and looks through another database which showed endgame strategies when certain pieces remained on the board ("Deep Blue (chess computer)", Wikipedia). Deep Blue’s ancestor Deep Thought was started at Carnegie Mellon University by Feng-hsiung Hsu ("Deep Thought (chess computer)", Wikipedia). Feng-hsiung Hsu and two other Carnegie Mellon graduates were hired to IBM and began working on the project which culminated in Deep Blue ("Deep Blue", IBM). Along with other IBM programmers Deep Thought (Deep Blue’s predecessor) was built and played against Garry Kasparov. Deep Thought lost this match, but won various international computer vs. computer chess competitions. To help develop an improved version of Deep Thought, IBM hired Joel Benjamin ("Deep Blue (chess computer)", Wikipedia). Joel Benjamin was a grandmaster who would help fine tune the program to make it more effective using his vast knowledge of chess. Deep Blue first challenged Garry Kasparov in 1996. Deep Blue won the first game, but lost the match overall ( //Endgame: Challenging the Masters//). However, Deep Blue did prove that a computer could achieve victory over the current world’s best chess player. The IBM team was disappointed, but continued to improve Deep Blue. Deep Blue got the chance to play Kasparov again the next year. In this match Deep Blue and Kasparov split the first two games, and tied the next three. This left the score 2.5 to 2.5 with just one game to go. If the game ended as a draw then the score would remain tied. Deep Blue won the last game after Kasparov retired, the final match score 3.5 to 2.5. The last game of the match was played on May 11, 1997, and was the first time a world chess champion lost to a computer ("Defeating the World Chess Champion", Computer History Museum). Kasparov, angry at his defeat wanted another rematch, but IBM retired Deep Blue and disassembled it. Deep Blue was split into two parts one of which has lain at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California since its retirement, and the other at the National Museum of American History on the mall in Washington D.C. ("Deep Blue (chess computer)", Wikipedia). Deep Blue was successful in beating the world chess champion at the time, but not enough matches were played to really see if the computer could consistently win, or if it was just due to a chance mistake by Kasparov. Since another match was not possible after Deep Blue was dismantled, the full measure of its success cannot be known. Since Deep Blue's victory chess programs have continued to advance and no longer need to be run on a super computer.

Here is the link to a replay of Game Six of Kasparov vs. Deep Blue. Deep Blue is white and Garry Kasparov is black. The video ends when Kasparov resigns, concedeing the game and match to Deep Blue.

Kasparov vs. Deep Blue Game 6/6 1997

Below: A picture of what the board looked like at the end of game six when Garry Kasparov resigned (Kasparov in black). Far Below: Picture of Kasparov as he walks dissapointedly away from the table after he resigns at the end of game six.





Works Cited

Campbell, Murray, Joseph A. Hoane, Jr., and Feng-hsiung Hsu. //Deep Blue//. N.p.: Elsevier Science B.V, 2002. PDF. "Chess Opening." //Wikipedia//. Wikimedia Foundation, 28 Aug. 2012. Web. 02 Sept. 2012. []. "Deep Blue (chess computer)." //Wikipedia//. Wikimedia Foundation, 28 Aug. 2012. Web. 02 Sept. 2012. [|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Blue_(chess_computer)]. "Deep Thought (chess computer)." //Wikipedia//. Wikimedia Foundation, 23 Aug. 2012. Web. 02 Sept. 2012. [|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Thought_(chess_computer)]. "Defeating the World Chess Champion." //Computer History Museum - Endgame//. Computer History Museum, n.d. Web. 02 Sept. 2012. []. Emeagwali, Philip. //Deep Blue versus Garry Kasparov Game Six Final Position (5/11/97).// Digital image. //Emeagwali//. Eweagwali.com, n.d. Web. 2 Sept. 2012. <[].>. //Endgame: Challenging the Masters//. //Endgame: Challenging the Masters//. Computer History Museum, 18 July 2005. Web. 02 Sept. 2012. []. Ewalt, David M. //Deep Blue Vs. Kasparov Game 6//. Digital image. //Forbes//. Forbes.com, 22 Aug. 2011. Web. 2 Sept. 2012. []. IBM. "Deep Blue." //IBM100 -//. IBM, n.d. Web. 02 Sept. 2012. []. James. //Deep Blue//. Digital image. //Wikipedia//. Wikimedia, 14 June 2007. Web. 2 Sept. 2012. [].