GRiD

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GRiD Systems Corporation

Brief history taken from Pioneering the Laptop - The GRiD Compass

John Ellenby left his job at Xerox Parc in January 1979, formed GRiD Systems Corporation with Glenn Edens, Dave Paulsen and Bill Moggridge and as one of Silicon Valley's first stealth companies went public in March 1981.

The "GRiD" name with the unusual lowercase "i" in the middle was the result of discussion between John Ellenby, Glenn Edens and John Ellenby's wife Gillian who pushed for the final choice. The lowercase "i" was a note of thanks to Intel for helping in the early days

GRiD developed and released several pioneering ideas:

First clamshell laptop computer
Patented the "clamshell" laptop design
First portable to use non-volatile bubble-memory
GRiD-OS was a multi-tasking graphical user interface and operating system
First use of electro-luminescent displays in a portable
First use of magnesium for the case
First use of the Intel 8086 and 8087 floating-point co-processor in a commercial product.
pioneered the concept of a "bus" for connecting peripherals (using GPIB)
first computer that included a fully functional telephone and telephone handset
A GRiD Compass 1101 was the first laptop in space. Required special modification to add a fan to pull air through the case.. Subsequently a GRiD 1530 flew on STS-29 in March 1989.
OldComputer.net called the 1982 Compass 1101 the "grand-daddy of all present-day laptop computers". It had 256k RAM, an 8086, 320x240 screen, and 384k of internal 'bubble memory' that held data with power off.
In 1988, Tandy Corporation purchased GRiD

Timeline for GRiD :

Date Event
1938 Eryl Wynn-Williams invents the scale-of-two counter
11 Dec 1946 The Williams-Kilburn tube, the first RAM, is patented
Sep 1963 First graphic tablet developed
28 Jun 1973 ICL Grid 77
28 Jul 1973 ICL to get first Grid 77 order
Jun 1980 News Article : Simple, but effective


Hardware Products

GRiD Compass II 1129

GRiD Compass II 1129
1984
The GRiD Compass II was released in 1984, and was the follow up to the original GRiD Compass, which was one of the first laptop computers, released in 1982.

Manufacturer : Grid
Type : Computer

GRiD GRidCase 1500 Series

GRiD GRidCase 1500 Series
1987
The GRiDCase computer is range of rugged laptops from GRiD Systems as a successor to the GRiD Compass laptops.

Manufacturer : GRiD
Type : Computer

GRidPad 1910

GRidPad 1910
1989
The GRiDPad 1910 is the computer most commonly associated with the words "grid pad", AKA the brand name "GRiDPad", owned by GRiD.

Manufacturer : GRid
Type : Computer


Photographs Relating to GRiD :


Magazine Articles About GRiD

 

GRiD

 

 

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