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Datapoint 2200
Personal computer and terminal / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Datapoint 2200 was a mass-produced programmable terminal usable as a computer, designed by Computer Terminal Corporation (CTC) founders Phil Ray and Gus Roche[2] and announced by CTC in June 1970 (with units shipping in 1971). It was initially presented by CTC as a versatile and cost-efficient terminal for connecting to a wide variety of mainframes by loading various terminal emulations from tape rather than being hardwired as most contemporary terminals, including their earlier Datapoint 3300.[3] However, Dave Gust, a CTC salesman, realized that the 2200 could meet Pillsbury Foods's need for a small computer in the field, after which the 2200 was marketed as a stand-alone computer.[3] Its industrial designer John "Jack" Frassanito has later claimed that Ray and Roche always intended the Datapoint 2200 to be a full-blown personal computer, but that they chose to keep quiet about this so as not to concern investors and others.[2][4] Also significant is the fact that the terminal's multi-chip CPU (processor)'s instruction set became the basis of the Intel 8008 instruction set, which inspired the Intel 8080 instruction set and the x86 instruction set used in the processors for the original IBM PC and its descendants.
![]() Datapoint 2200 computer | |
Manufacturer | Computer Terminal Corporation |
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Type | Intelligent terminal, personal computer |
Release date | May 1970; 54 years ago (1970-05) |
Discontinued | 1979; 45 years ago (1979)[1] |
Operating system | Datapoint O/S |
CPU | serial, discrete logic implementation of the Intel 8008 instruction set |
Memory | 2 KB standard; expandable to 16 KB |
Display | Text only, 80×12 characters |