Chronicles Revisited Podcast 16 — The First Mobile Computer

Chronicles Revisited Podcast 16: The First Mobile Computer 0:00/1739.088 1×

Gavilan Computer Corporation made headlines in early 1983 when it announced its Mobile Computer, a nine-pound, battery-powered Intel 8088 PC with an 8-line LCD screen, full-sized typewriter keyboard, and a “solid state mouse” that was a precursor to the modern trackpad. Founded by a former CEO of Zilog and backed by $31 million in venture capital, Gavilan was poised to be the next big thing in personal computing. Sadly, it wasn’t, and in October 1984, Gavilan filed for bankruptcy and quickly disappeared, memorialized by a brief report in an early 1985 Computer Chronicles episode. Computer Chronicles Revisited 30 — The Data General-One, TI Pro-Lite, HP 110 Portable, and Morrow Pivot Chronicles Revisited Podcast 3 — Quotations from Chairman Morrow Chronicles Revisited Podcast 6 — Osborne’s Last Stand Computer Chronicles #102 — Integrated Software (1983) Computer Chronicles #202 — Portable Computers (1984) ‘The Gavilan Mobile Computer’ (Byte Magazine, June 1983) ‘A New Breed of Computer Products’ (Joe Desposito, Computers & Electronics, September 1983) Oral History of Federico Faggin (Computer History Museum, 2005) ‘TRS-80 Model 100’ (David L. Farquhar, The Silicon Underground, 2023) GRiD Compass 1101 (Steve’s Old Computer Museum) Podcast Music: ‘Scenic Detour’ by Melody Ayres-Griffiths