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Home computers were a class of microcomputers (almost all 8-bit) entering the market in 1977, and becoming common during the 1980s. They were marketed to consumers as affordable and accessible computers that, for the first time, were intended for the use of a single nontechnical user. These computers were a distinct market segment that typically cost much less than business, scientific or engineering-oriented computers of the time such as the IBM PC, and were generally less powerful in terms of memory and expandability. However, a home computer often had better graphics and sound than contemporary business computers. Their most common uses were playing video games, but they were also regularly used for word processing, doing homework, and programming. Home computers were usually not electronic kits, since the home computer was sold already manufactured. There were, however, commercial kits like the Sinclair ZX80 which were both home and home-built computers since the purchaser could assemble the unit from a kit. Advertisements in the popular press for early home computers were rife with possibilities for their practical use in the home, from cataloging recipes to personal finance to home automation,〔(Video of old TV Ad for Atari Home computers ) from YouTube〕〔(More home computer TV ads )〕 but these were seldom realized in practice. For example, using a typical 1980s home computer as a home automation appliance would require the computer to be kept powered on at all times and dedicated to this task. Personal finance and database use required tedious data entry. By contrast, advertisements in the specialty computer press often simply listed specifications. If no packaged software was available for a particular application, the home computer user could program one.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=The Golden Age of Basic )〕 Since most systems shipped with the BASIC programming language included on the system ROM, it was easy for users to get started creating their own simple applications. Many users found programming to be a fun and rewarding experience, and an excellent introduction to the world of digital technology.〔( CNN.com readers recall the life-changing Commodore 64 ) from CNN〕 The line between 'business' and 'home' computer market segments blurred or vanished completely once IBM PC compatibles became commonly used in the home, since now both categories of computers typically use the same processor architectures, peripherals, operating systems, and applications. Often the only difference may be the sales outlet through which they are purchased. Another change from the home computer era is that the once-common endeavour of writing one's own software programs has almost vanished from home computer use.〔(【引用サイトリンク】author=David Brin )〕 A few, later home computers, where 16-bit class – the popular Amiga and Atari ST – and a 32 bit one, the British Acorn Archimedes, that may be considered an exception to the 8 to 16 bit rule – whose processor architecture lives on in almost every smartphone. ==Background== As early as 1965, some experimental projects such as Jim Sutherland's ECHO IV explored the possible utility of a computer in the home.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=James Tomayko "Anecdotes: Electronic Computer for Home Operation, The First Home Computer" )〕 In 1969, the Honeywell Kitchen Computer was marketed as a luxury gift item, and would have inaugurated the era of home computing, but none were sold.〔http://jdh.oxfordjournals.org/content/23/2/163.full.pdf Paul Atkinson, ''The Curious Case of the Kitchen Computer: Products and Non-Products in Design History'', from ''Journal of Design History'', Vol. 23 No.2 〕 Computers became affordable for the general public in the 1970s due to the mass production of the microprocessor starting in 1971. such as the Altair 8800 had front-mounted switches and diagnostic lights (nicknamed "blinkenlights") to control and indicate internal system status, and were often sold in kit form to hobbyists. These kits would contain an empty printed circuit board which the buyer would fill with the integrated circuits, other individual electronic components, wires and connectors, and then hand-solder all the connections.〔(The Altair 8800 used binary LEDs and switches, and came as a kit )〕 While two early home computers (Sinclair ZX80 and Acorn Atom) could be bought either in kit form or assembled, most home computers were only sold pre-assembled. They were enclosed in plastic or metal cases similar in appearance to typewriter or hi-fi equipment enclosures, which were more familiar and attractive to consumers than the industrial metal card-cage enclosures used by the Altair and similar computers. The keyboard - a feature lacking on the Altair - was usually built into the same case as the motherboard. Ports for plug-in peripheral devices such as a video display, cassette tape recorders, joysticks, and (later) disk drives were either built-in or available on expansion cards. Although the Apple II series had internal expansion slots, most other home computer models' expansion arrangements were through externally accessible 'expansion ports' that also served as a place to plug in cartridge-based games. Usually the manufacturer would sell peripheral devices designed to be compatible with their computers as extra cost accessories. Peripherals were not often interchangeable between different brands of home computer, or even between successive models of the same brand. To save the cost of a dedicated monitor, the home computer would often connect through an RF modulator to the family TV set, which served as both video display and sound system.〔(Texas Instruments TI-99/4 computer ): At the start, the TI99/4 could not offer an RF-modulator certified by United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and had to use an expensive modified TV instead〕 By 1982, an estimated 621,000 home computers were in American households, at an average sales price of US$530. After the success of the Radio Shack TRS-80, the Commodore PET and the Apple II in 1977, almost every manufacturer of consumer electronics rushed to introduce a home computer. Large numbers of new machines of all types began to appear during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Mattel, Coleco, Texas Instruments and Timex, none of which had any previous connection to the computer industry, all had short-lived home computer lines in the early 1980s. Some home computers were more successful – the BBC Micro, Sinclair ZX Spectrum, Atari 800XL and Commodore 64, sold many units over several years and attracted third-party software development. Almost universally, home computers had a BASIC interpreter combined with a line editor in permanent read-only memory which one could use to type in BASIC programs and execute them immediately or save them to tape or disk. In direct mode, the BASIC interpreter was also used as the user interface, and given tasks such as loading, saving, managing, and running files. One exception was the Jupiter Ace, which had a Forth interpreter instead of BASIC. A built-in programming language was seen as a requirement for any computer of the era, and was the main feature setting home computers apart from video game consoles. Still, home computers competed in the same market as the consoles. A home computer was often seen as simply as a higher end purchase than a console, adding abilities to what would still be mainly a gaming device. A common marketing tactic was to show a computer system and console playing games side by side, then emphasising the computer's greater ability by showing it running user-created programs, education software, word processing, spreadsheet and other applications while the game console showed a blank screen or continued playing the same repetitive game. Some game consoles offered "programming packs" consisting of a version of BASIC in a ROM cartridge. Atari's BASIC Programming for the Atari 2600 was one of these. For the ColecoVision console, Coleco even announced an expansion module which would convert it into a full-fledged computer system. This never materialised, but a standalone computer, the Coleco Adam was eventually released. The Magnavox Odyssey² game console had a built-in keyboard to support its C7420 Home Computer Module. Books of type-in program listings like BASIC Computer Games were available dedicated for the BASICs of most models of computer with titles along the lines of ''64 Amazing BASIC Games for the Commodore 64''.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=C64 Type-In Books )〕 While most of the programs in these books were short and simple games or demos, some titles such as ''Compute!''s SpeedScript series, contained productivity software that rivaled commercial packages. To avoid the tedious process of typing in a program listing from a book, these books would sometimes include a mail-in offer from the author to obtain the programs on disk or cassette for a few dollars. Before the Internet, and before most computer owners had a modem, books were a popular and low-cost means of software distribution. They also served a role in familiarizing new computer owners with the concepts of programming; some titles added suggested modifications to the program listings for the user to carry out. Modifying software to be compatible with one's system or writing a utility program to fit one's needs was a skill every advanced computer owner was expected to have. During the peak years of the home computer market, scores of models were produced, usually with little or no thought given to compatibility between different manufacturers or even within product lines of the same manufacturer. Except for the Japanese MSX standard,〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=about the history of the MSX standard )〕 the concept of a computer platform was still forming, with most companies considering BASIC language and disk format compatibility sufficient. Things were different in the business world, where cost-conscious small business owners had been using CP/M running on Z80 based computers from Osborne, Kaypro, Morrow Designs and a host of other manufacturers. For many of these businesses, the development of the microcomputer made computer systems affordable where they had not been before. Introduced in August 1981, the IBM Personal Computer would eventually become the standard platform used in business, due to the IBM name and the system's open architecture, which encouraged production of third-party clones. The 6502-based Apple II series had carved out a niche for itself in business, thanks to the industry's first killer app, VisiCalc, released in 1979. However the Apple II would quickly be displaced for office use by IBM PC compatibles running Lotus 1-2-3.〔(【引用サイトリンク】publisher=lowendmac.com )〕 Apple Computer's 1984 release of the Apple Macintosh introduced the modern GUI to the market, which IBM-compatible computers would eventually adopt.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 publisher=PBS (Public Broadcasting System) )〕 Throughout the 1980s, PCs became popular with businesses, leading, by the end of the decade, to sub-US$1000 IBM PC XT-class white box machines, usually built in Asia and sold by US companies like PCs Limited. Although the Apple II and Atari computers are functionally similar, Atari's home-oriented marketing resulted in a game-heavy library with much less business software. In 1980 Wayne Green, the publisher of ''Kilobaud Microcomputing'', recommended that companies avoid the term "home computer" in their advertising as "I feel is self-limiting for sales ... I prefer the term "microcomputers" since it doesn't limit the uses of the equipment in the imagination of the prospective customers". By the mid-1980s, many mass merchants sold video game consoles like the Nintendo Entertainment System, but no longer sold home computers. Most computer companies – even those with a majority of sales to home users – avoided the term "home computer" because of its association with the image of, as ''Compute!'' wrote, "a low-powered, low-end machine primarily suited for playing games". Apple consistently avoided stating that it was a home-computer company, and described the IIc as "a serious computer for the serious home user" despite competing against IBM's PCjr home computer. John Sculley denied that his company sold home computers; rather, he said, Apple sold "computers for use in the home". In 1990 the company reportedly refused to support joysticks on its low-cost Macintosh LC and IIsi computers to prevent customers from considering them as "game machine"s. Price wars drove the consumer electronics companies from the market, as they could no longer sustain development of what had become, for them, money-losing projects. Toward the end of the 1980s, clones also became popular with non-corporate customers. Inexpensive, highly compatible clones succeeded where the PCjr had failed. Replacing the hobbyists who had made up the majority of the home computer market were, as ''Compute!'' described them, "people who want to take work home from the office now and then, play a game now and then, learn more about computers, and help educate their children". By 1986 industry experts predicted an "MS-DOS Christmas", and the magazine stated that clones threatened Commodore, Atari, and Apple's domination of the home-computer market. The declining cost of IBM compatibles on the one hand, and the greatly increased graphics, sound, and storage abilities of fourth generation video game consoles such as the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo Entertainment System on the other, combined to cause the market segment for home computers to vanish by the early 1990s in the US. In Europe, the home computer remained a distinct presence for a few years more, with the low-end models of the 16-bit Amiga and Atari ST families being the dominant players, but by the mid-1990s even the European market had dwindled. The Dutch government even ran a program that allowed businesses to sell computers tax-free to its employees, often accompanied by home training programs. Naturally, these businesses chose to equip their employees with the same systems they themselves were using. Today a computer bought for home use anywhere will be very similar to those used in offices – made by the same manufacturers, with compatible peripherals, operating systems, and application software. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Home computer」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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