Editing IBM 5100 (section)

==SCAMP, the prototype==
[[File:IBM SCAMP at Smithsonian National Museum of American History.jpg|thumb|right|SCAMP prototype]]
In 1973, [[William C. Lowe|Bill Lowe]] was instrumental in fostering an engineering prototype called SCAMP (Special Computer APL Machine Portable) created by Dr. Paul Friedl and a team at the IBM Los Gatos Scientific Center.<ref name="friedl198311"/><ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.si.edu/object/nmah_334628 |title= IBM SCAMP, National Museum of American History | publisher= Smithsonian Institution |date= |access-date= 2023-02-15}}</ref> SCAMP has been dubbed in ''PC Magazine'' as "the world's first personal computer".<ref name="friedl198311" />

The IBM Los Gatos engineering prototype and a design model by IBM Industrial designer Tom Hardy, were utilized internally by Lowe in his early efforts to demonstrate the viability of creating a single-user computer.<ref name=delete>Atkinson, P, (2013) [http://www.paul-atkinson-design.com/#!design-history-of-computers ''DELETE: A Design History of Computer Vapourware''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140301055854/http://www.paul-atkinson-design.com/#!design-history-of-computers |date=March 1, 2014 }}, London: [[Bloomsbury Publishing]].</ref>

SCAMP emulated an [[IBM 1130]] minicomputer in order to run APL\1130.<ref>{{cite web|last=Freeman |first=Shanna |url=https://computer.howstuffworks.com/first-portable-computer.htm |website=howstuffworks.com |title=What was the first portable computer? |date=2012-09-19 |access-date=2024-11-28}}</ref> In 1973, [[APL (programming language)|APL]] was generally available only on mainframe computers, and most desktop sized microcomputers such as the [[Wang 2200]] or [[HP 9800 series|HP 9800]] offered only [[BASIC]].

Because SCAMP was the first to emulate APL\1130 performance on a portable, single user computer, ''PC Magazine'' in 1983 designated SCAMP a "revolutionary concept" and "the world's first personal computer".<ref name="friedl198311" />