The Turing-850 Project: Developing a Personal Computer in the Early 1980s in Mexico

The increasing popularity in the late 1970s of affordable, general-purpose, microprocessor-based personal computers in the US, generated a widespread interest around the world in this technology. During the 1980s, several developed countries attempted to create indigenous personal computer industries, achieving different degrees of success. However, little is known about similar efforts carried out by developing countries during the same period. The main purpose of this paper is to describe a general-purpose personal computer touted as Turing850 designed and built in Mexico in the early 1980s and give a detailed account of the historical context within which this machine was conceived. For comparison purposes we briefly describe some other similar computers designed outside the USA during that time. Turing-850 and other Mexican computers developed in the early 1980s showed that Mexico had the technological capabilities to initiate the development of a national computer industry. Howeve...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2010
• Where: ANNALS
• Authors: Daniel Ortiz Arroyo, Francisco Rodríguez-Henríquez, Carlos Artemio Coello Coello
• Keywords: ANNALS 2010, Computer, Computer Networks, Early 1980s, Personal Computer