The Lisa computer was designed by Apple in the late 1970s and early 1980s, offering a powerful graphical user interface and specialized features. Its operating system was too complex for the installed processor, leading to its commercial failure despite being used by NASA. A second version targeting home consumers also failed, resulting in the abandonment and destruction of nearly 3,000 computers.
The Lisa computer was designed as a personal computer by Apple in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Apple set out in 1978 to build a computer that could be easily implemented in businesses while offering a powerful graphical user interface.
The Lisa computer was far more advanced than other personal computers of the time, offering a number of specialized features. The high-resolution display was its most noticeable component, and it included a built-in screensaver. It also has the ability to function as a calculator with paper tape output for accounting purposes. The Lisa supported 2 megabytes of RAM, an operating system that ran from the hard drive, and protected memory with the ability to perform cooperative multitasking.
The main drawback of the Lisa computer was that its operating system was too complex for the installed processor. Motorola designed a 5Mhz 68000 microprocessor, but it got slow with visual applications.
It is believed that Lisa was named after the daughter of Steve Jobs. The acronym for computer is Local Integrated Software Architecture. Steve Jobs helped start the project, but was forced to retire in 1982, at which time he joined the Macintosh project.
On January 19, 1983, the Lisa computer was released to the public. The initial cost of the model was $9,995 US Dollars (USD).
Your computer comes with two 5 1/4-inch double-sided floppy disk drives. These were designed by Apple for rigorous use with Lisa and known as Twiggy. Each disk can hold up to 871 kilobytes of data. Due to an ongoing drive system failure, however, Apple switched to a 400 kilobyte Sony drive in January 1984. The hard drive was an Apple profile capable of storing up to 10MB of information.
The operating system of the Lisa featured virtual memory which made it capable of multitasking at the same time. The files in the system were stored in hierarchical directories. The software for the system included a text program, a calculator, and a drawing and graphics program.
The Lisa computer was a general commercial failure for Apple computers. At the time of its release, the company’s main competitor was IBM, which offered PCs at a lower cost. NASA, however, bought a large volume of model computers, which they used for many years.
A second version of the Lisa computer was released in 1984, however, this too was a commercial failure. Apple has reduced RAM and system features to target the more cost-conscious home consumer. This too failed and the Lisa was abandoned. Nearly 3,000 computers have been destroyed.
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