John Ellenby: death of one of the fathers of the laptop
If today, Apple
wonders how to eliminate the cables of its Macbooks, in 1979 John
Ellenby was looking at a problem more trivial: develop a laptop and
functional. This British engineer died in August at the age of 75 as reported by several local media. He was behind the design and success of one of the first laptops, marketed by his company GRiD systems.
The Compass GRiD was the first laptop model to be successful on the market. Marketed in 1982, this one had a processor 16 bit 8086 Intel. It also exploited so-called "bubble" memory technology, an outdated storage technology that allowed it to store 340 kilobytes.
The design of the Compass GRiD laid the foundation for the laptop case for years to come, although it was reserved for a niche audience. He was the first to propose a reclosable clamshell box, called "Clamshell", widely taken up by the competition. Sold for $ 8000, the Compass GRiD was not really a computer for the general public, but the American government was fond of it. NASA embarked in particular the aircraft in its space shuttle flights.
John Ellenby sold GRiD Systems to Tandy Systems in 1988 and founded a new company specializing in the development of geolocation and augmented reality technology. In parallel, he founded Agilis, a company that tried to market the first tablet models.
After his life-long advance on the technologies of the future, the engineer died August 17 in San Francisco. According to the New York Times, the exact cause of his death has not yet been determined.
The Compass GRiD was the first laptop model to be successful on the market. Marketed in 1982, this one had a processor 16 bit 8086 Intel. It also exploited so-called "bubble" memory technology, an outdated storage technology that allowed it to store 340 kilobytes.The design of the Compass GRiD laid the foundation for the laptop case for years to come, although it was reserved for a niche audience. He was the first to propose a reclosable clamshell box, called "Clamshell", widely taken up by the competition. Sold for $ 8000, the Compass GRiD was not really a computer for the general public, but the American government was fond of it. NASA embarked in particular the aircraft in its space shuttle flights.
John Ellenby sold GRiD Systems to Tandy Systems in 1988 and founded a new company specializing in the development of geolocation and augmented reality technology. In parallel, he founded Agilis, a company that tried to market the first tablet models.
After his life-long advance on the technologies of the future, the engineer died August 17 in San Francisco. According to the New York Times, the exact cause of his death has not yet been determined.
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