This historic term describes early consumer-grade machines designed to be plugged into a standard television set and used for basic programming, games, and household management. They typically featured integrated keyboards and relied on cassette tapes or floppy disks for storage. The distinction faded as standardized personal computers became ubiquitous in both homes and offices.
The museum needs a working home computer from the eight-bit era to demonstrate early basic programming.
Also heard as
- microcomputer
Related terms
Floppy disk drive
A legacy storage device that reads and writes data to removable magnetic disks.
Keyboard
A primary input device consisting of mechanical or membrane switches used to enter alphanumeric data into a computer.
Mass storage
Non-volatile hardware designed to retain large amounts of data permanently.