Computer pioneer honored in Pacific Grove (original) (raw)

PACIFIC GROVE >> Gary Kildall, the pioneer digital visionary whose development of the microcomputer operating system in 1974 led to the personal computer, was honored Friday in Pacific Grove, the town where he had lived and worked.

Kildall, who died in 1994, was called “Father of the interconnected universe” at the commemorative event, held at Pacific Grove City Hall.

“There were three components to the development of the personal computer,” said David Laws, semiconductor curator at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View. “You needed a processor, a disk drive and the operating system, or in other words, the software.”

Laws said Kildall wrote new software that could fit into a small space, was efficient in its use of memory, and was affordable. He began writing software from a tool shed at a residence on Bayview Avenue in Pacific Grove.

“Gary wanted to get a lot of data into a computer quickly,” Laws said. “This laid the foundation for the development of personal computer software.”

The first computers had been huge machines, some the size of a building. They used giant bulky tape drives and operated only on their own software. Punch cards had to be fed into them to make them work.

Kildall was credited with developing the first working prototype of the CP/M (Control Program for Microcomputers) and BIOS (Basic Input Output System), allowing a computer to communicate with a disk drive storage unit, which led to the personal computer.

“There had been computer systems before, but if you used an IBM, you had to use IBM software and the hardware, their whole package,” Laws said. “Kildall”s software was agnostic. It worked with almost every system. Almost anyone could use it.”

Sponsored by the New York-based Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the world”s largest professional association for the advancement of technology, Kildall”s invention was given a “Milestone Award.” The program honors ground-breaking electronic inventions and more than 100 have been awarded since the organization”s beginning in 1983, from the integrated circuit to the transistor.

Brian Berge, a member of the IEEE Santa Clara Valley History Committee, said Kildall”s innovations in the field of computer development changed the world.

“They have become part of the daily lives of billions of people,” he said.

Kildall once taught computer science at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey and a number of speakers affectionately recalled working with him on the technology.

His son Scott and daughter Kristin attended the event. Scott Kildall recalled growing up surrounded by his father”s machines and experiments.

“Before, computers had been thought of as toys, or something only big corporations had,” he said.

Gordon Eubanks, who had once studied computers at NPS where Kildall was his thesis adviser, recalled the excitement and freedom of the first PC.

“It gave you an incredible feeling of power,” he said. “You could put in a disk and boot it up. You had your own computer.”

A commemorative bronze plaque was installed at 801 Lighthouse Ave. in Pacific Grove, the former site of Kildall”s computer company, DRI, Digital Research Inc., and today a private residence.

Originally Published: April 26, 2014 at 12:00 a.m.