NASA’s Original Laptop: The GRiD Compass

December 11, 2021

The year 1982 was a notable one in personal computing. The BBC Micro was introduced in the United Kingdom, as was the Sinclair ZX Spectrum. The Commodore 64 came to market in the United States. And then there was the GRiD Compass.

Grid Compass 1101 (1982)

The GRiD Compass Was the First Laptop to Feature a Clamshell Design. Rugged and well-designed, it was the first clamshell laptop to fly on NASA‘s space shuttle.

The Graphical Retrieval Information Display (GRiD) Compass had a unique clamshell design, in which the monitor folded down over the keyboard. Its 21.6-centimer plasma screen could display 25 lines of up to 128 characters in a high-contrast amber that the company claimed could be “viewed from any angle and under any lighting conditions.” Read more >

https://psyne.co/products/grid-systems-corp-1979-vintage-mens-t-shirt/

More Gourmet Blogage

I’m changing all the time

“I’m trying to play the truth of what I am. The reason it’s difficult is because I’m changing all the time.” — Charles Mingus

Custom Frisco Chopper

Frisco or NorCal style choppers had stretched forks with no rake to lift the bike up off the ground, paired with high controls to enable

Mark Murrmann: Street Photography and Photozines

I got a chance to connect with Mark about his passion for street photography and the zines that grew out of that. He was in

Post Tags: 1970s, 1975, 1979, 8-BIT, 8bit, ASTRONAUT, ASTRONAUT COMPUTER, BUBBLE MEMORY, C64, California, CLASSIC, COMMODORE 64, COMPUTER, COMPUTER GEEK, COMPUTING, DEVELOPER, FEDERAL GRAPHICS IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM, FIRST LAPTOP COMPUTER, FIRST PORTABLE COMPUTER, FIRST TABLET COMPUTER, FREMONT, futuristic, GEEK, GPIB, GRID, GRiD Compass, GRID COMPASS 1101, GRiD Systems, GRID SYSTEMS CORP, GRID SYSTEMS CORPORATION, HACKER, HACKERS, LAPTOP, LEGO SPACE, MEATBALL, MS-DOS, MSDOS, NASA, NASA INSIGNIA, NASA WORM LOGO, NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION, NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS, PIXEL, PROGRAMMER, retro, RETRO COMPUTING, sci-fi, SILICON VALLEY, SPACE PROGRAM, SPACE SHUTTLE, SPACE TRAVEL, SPACEMAN, TOUGHBOOK, WORM LOGO

Loungin’, loungin’, mellow out and just loungin’

Yeah I’m loungin’ I got my man Donald Byrd I wanna give a big shout out to my little man Miko he’s 2 years old

A trip to the search engine graveyard

Hey Google, whatever happened to Ask Jeeves, Dogpile, AltaVista, and all those other search engines? Buffy the Vampire Slayer was the first show on American

Bitchin’ Rides

This tight stable impresses me more than one filled with Lamborghinis and Ferraris 🤩 https://psyne.co/products/mongoose-bmx-1974-vintage-mens-t-shirt/

The Best of BraveStarr: 15 Amazing Episodes

As the popularity of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe began to wane in the mid 1980s, legendary animation studio Filmation turned their attention