Grid Systems

Grid Systems Corporation was founded in late 1979 by John Ellenby,[http://www.vintage.org/2003/main/bio.php?id=30&back=37 John Ellenby Biography] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101128012238/http://www.vintage.org/2003/main/bio.php?id=30&back=37|date=2010-11-28}} who left his job at Xerox PARC and joined Glenn Edens, Dave Paulsen and Bill Moggridge to form one of Silicon Valley's first stealth companies. The company went public in March 1981. It was located at 47211 Lakeview Boulevard, Fremont, California, 94537.

The "GRiD" name with the unusual lowercase "i" in the middle was the result of discussion between John Ellenby, Glenn Edens and John Ellenby's wife, Gillian Ellenby, who pushed for the final choice. The lowercase "i" was a note of thanks to Intel for helping in the early days.Email from Glenn Edens to Karen Tucker @ ComputerHistory.org

File:GRiD 2260 134252 Padenrich Ave.jpg (1989)]]

In 1988, Tandy Corporation purchased the Grid company.{{Cite news |author=|date=1988-03-17|title=Tandy to Buy Grid Systems|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/03/17/business/tandy-to-buy-grid-systems.html|access-date=2021-09-14|issn=0362-4331}} AST Computer acquired the US wing of company, and was itself later acquired by Samsung.{{Cite web|title= NASA's Original Laptop: The GRiD Compass Rugged and well designed, the first clamshell laptop flew on the space shuttle |url=https://spectrum.ieee.org/nasas-original-laptop-the-grid-compass|access-date=2021-03-02|website=IEEE Spectrum: Technology, Engineering, and Science News|language=en}}

Grid still produced the GRiDCASE laptops, and the first GridPad tablet also was released in 1989; Also a few rebranded models of another manufacturers were released, include Tandy/Victor Technologies Grid 386 (Compaq SLT clone), GRiDPad SL 2050 (Samsung PenMaster clone) and AST GRiDPad 2390 (Casio Zoomer/ Tandy Z-PDA clone).

Edens co-founded Waveform Corp and in 2003 joined the board of F5,[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2003_August_13/ai_106537577/ Business Wire] 2003 Aug 13, access 2010 1 9 and John Ellenby went on to co-found the companies Agilis and augmented reality pioneer GeoVector.

Grid Defence Systems formed in London, England by former employees during a management buyout of the former GRiD Computer Systems UK Ltd. in 1993.{{Cite web|title=Company History|url=https://www.griduk.com/about/history/|access-date=2021-07-30|website=GRiD Defence Systems|language=en}}

The UK Grid company starts with a simply "GRiD 1###"-branded rugged laptop line, and in 1995 reintroduced the GRiDCASE line.

Grid developed and released several pioneering ideas:

• The Grid Compass 1100, the first clamshell laptop computer{{cite news| title=PERSONAL COMPUTERS; THE PORTABLES COME MARCHING IN |first=Erik |last=Sandberg-Diment|newspaper=The New York Times |date=July 6, 1982 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/07/06/science/personal-computers-the-portables-come-marching-in.html?&pagewanted=all}}
• Patented the "clamshell" laptop design[http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=4,571,456.PN.&OS=PN/4,571,456&RS=PN/4,571,456 USPTO-Portable Computer]
• First portable to use non-volatile bubble-memory
• Grid-OS was a multi-tasking Text-based user interface (or TUI) and operating system
• First use of electro-luminescent displays in a portable
• First use of magnesium for the case
• First use of the Intel 8086 and 8087 floating-point co-processor in a commercial product
• Pioneered the concept of a "bus" for connecting peripherals (using GPIB)
• First computer that included a fully functional telephone and telephone handset
• The first commercially successful tablet-type portable computer was the GridPad,{{cite magazine

|last =

|first =

|title = The BYTE Awards: GRiD System's GRiDPad

|magazine = BYTE Magazine

|pages = 285–294

|date = 12 January 1990

|url = https://archive.org/details/eu_BYTE-1990-01_OCR/page/n364/mode/1up

|volume = 15

|issue = 1

|access-date =

}} released in September 1989. Its operating system was based on MS-DOS.

• A GRiD Compass 1101 was the first laptop in space. Required special modification to add a fan to pull air through the case.{{Cite book |last=Wood |first=Frank |url=http://pmchallenge.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/2007Presentations/Presentations/Wood_Frank.pdf |title=Laptops in Space |date=2007-02-06 |publisher=United Space Alliance, LLC for NASA Johnson Space Center |type=Briefing |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090530114934/http://pmchallenge.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/2007Presentations/Presentations/Wood_Frank.pdf |archive-date=2009-05-30}} Subsequently a GRiD 1530 flew on STS-29 in March 1989.

OldComputers.net called the 1982 GRiD Compass 1101 the "grand-daddy of all present-day laptop computers". It had 256k RAM, an 8086, 320x240 screen, and 384k of internal 'bubble memory' that held data with power off.{{cite web|url=http://oldcomputers.net/grid1101.html |title=GRiD Compass 1101 computer | access-date=9 January 2010}}

• Grid Compass
• GridCase
• GridPad

{{reflist}}

{{commons category|GRiD Systems Corporation}}

• [http://www.griduk.com/history/ GRiD history 1979–2020] (on the website of GRiD Defence Systems, UK)
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQgoAQq7bP4 Pioneering the Laptop – The GRiD Compass]
• [http://users.erols.com/rwservices/biblio.html Annotated bibliography of references to handwriting recognition and tablet and touch computers]
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xnqKdWMa_8 Notes on the History of Pen-based Computing (YouTube)]
• [https://www.1000bit.it/database2.asp?id=56 1000BiT in english and Italian]

{{GRiD}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grid Systems Corporation}}

Category:Computer companies established in 1979

Category:Computer companies established in 1993

Category:Computer companies disestablished in 1988

Category:Computer companies disestablished in 1993

Category:Corporate spin-offs

Category:1979 establishments in California

Category:1988 disestablishments in California

Category:1993 establishments in the United Kingdom

Category:Defunct computer companies based in California

Category:Defunct computer companies of the United Kingdom

Category:Defunct computer companies of the United States

Category:Defunct computer hardware companies