By Lawrence I. Charters
Kenko Shimbun, November 1984, p. 8.
On October 20th, eight brave souls associated with U.S. Naval Hospital Yokosuka gathered at the Coffee House to share their computers and expertise. They had volunteered to participate as exhibitors at the First Annual Yokosuka Computer Faire.
Lawrence Charters, “Expired President” of the Yokosuka Computer Club (he had a badge which said so), demonstrated several computers, including a Zenith Z-120 on loan from PSA. The Z- 120 has been formally declared the “Navy Standard Microcomputer,” so almost all Faire attendees took a keen interest in this powerful, well-built machine. He also showed off an NEC PC-8201 “notebook computer” on loan from LCDR David Cornish, a TRS-80 Model 100 (another “notebook computer”), and the Osborne-1, the world’s first portable computer.
LCDR Kathleen Charters, Faire Director, hovered in the back of the room, welcoming visitors and giving information about the Faire. David Gibbs, spouse of LCDR Terrie Gibbs, showed off the Franklin Ace, a souped-up computer which runs Apple II programs.
“Don’t you have to be a genius to use a computer?” “An exaggeration.” Illustration by Lawrence I. Charters, scanned from from newspaper.
On the opposite side of the room, LCDR Joseph Honeywell put his TRS-80 Model 4-P through its paces . CAPT Nancy MacDowell was also present to display an Apple II style machine from Hong Kong. HMl Claire Mero shared her TI-99/4A with delighted visitors who spent time experiencing the joys of computer games.
Mark Quinn, LCDR Mary Ellen Quinn’s better half (?), impressed visitors with his Wang PC. Quinn’s machine had a Winchester disk drive, capable of storing roughly 15,000 pages of information for instant recall. And LT Leon Rouillier gave practical pointers on the Kaypro 4, one of the more thoughtfully packaged machines.
The four exhibitors not associated with USNH Yokosuka included POl Mike Fulmer demonstrating the VIC-20, Jason Hardy demonstrating the Apple Macintosh and Apple IIc, Jon Rick demonstrating the Atari 800, and Greg Yelland demonstrating the Commodore-64.
CAPT Walter Miner, former CO of USNH Yokosuka, frequently claimed that the hospital and Dental Clinic had the highest per capita ownership of computers of any commands on base. Looking over the list of exhibitors and attendees at the Faire, it would be hard to find fault with this observation. Now all we need to do is find out why –