GRiD

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

GRiD Compass II 1129
GRiD GRidCase 1500 Series
GRidPad 1910

Help support the museum by buying from the museum shop

View all items

Founding Sponsors
redgate Google ARM Real VNC Microsoft Research
Heritage Lottery Funded
Heritage Lottery Fund
Accredited Museum