AT&T 6300 Microcomputer and VirtualVideo Producer Software

Object Details

American Telephone & Telegraph Company

Description

Debuting in June 1984, model 6300 was AT&T's first entry into IBM compatible computers. It was the low end of the AT&T computer line. The machine was built by Olivetti in Italy. In comparison to the IBM PC XT, which used an 8 bit, Intel 8088 chip running at 4.7 MHz, the 6300 used a 16 bit, Intel 8086 chip that ran at 8 MHz. This example has serial number 0078251.

Although the 6300 was a good machine in its class, AT&T did not follow it up, and within several years, the company abandoned the PC clone computer market.

This particular computer was used by computer multi-media pioneers Robert Morris and Trip Denton to create a digital multimedia authoring software, VirtualVideo Producer. Introduced in 1986—a year before hypercard—this software allowed users to produce multi-media shows with their PC and an image capture board. It is one of the first, if not the first, multi-media authoring system on the market. The presentations could incorporate images, video, text, and animations.

Morris and Denton created a company, V_Graph to develop and market their product. The Smithsonian has a range of materials that document the early history of the firm. By the early 1990s, VirtualVideo Producer had matured and was bundled as Tempra with products from Creative Laboratories, Mathematica, and others. Over 300,000 copies were eventually distributed.

See related documentation and software 2004.3035.01-.06.

Location

Currently not on view

Credit Line

Robert Morris and Leet Denton

1984-1986

ID Number

2004.0117.01

catalog number

2004.0117.01

accession number

2004.0117

Object Name

microcomputer

Physical Description

plastic (overall material)

metal (overall material)

rubber (overall material)

Measurements

overall: 6 1/2 in x 15 in x 17 1/2 in; 16.51 cm x 38.1 cm x 44.45 cm

See more items in

Medicine and Science: Computers

Work

Computers & Business Machines

National Museum of American History

Record ID

nmah_1278750

Metadata Usage (text)

CC0

GUID (Link to Original Record)

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746ab-724b-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa