1979

1979
Products and events	See 1979 categories

1979 was a year of continued expansion of the use of computers in multiple industries.

Computers

Systems

8-bit computers

8-bit computers, which were powered by one or more 8-bit microprocessors, continued to be released.

Atari 400 and Atari 800

Atari released its first 8-bit computers, the Atari 400 and Atari 800.

Sharp MZ-80C

Sharp released the 8-bit MZ-80C computer which was the second of the MZ-80K subset of the MZ-80 line which included a monitor and a keyboard in a single unit.

16-bit computers

16-bit computers, which were powered by one or more 16-bit microprocessors, also continued to be released.

Texas Instruments TI-99/4

Texas Instruments released the 8-bit TI-99/4 computer.

Internet

Throughout 1979, the co-creators of TCP/IP, Vinton Cerf and Dr. Robert Kahn, lobbied the U.S. Department of Defense to make their invention an official communication protocol standard.

Video games

First generation video game consoles

First generation video game consoles, or those that had games programmed into the system rather than on interchangeable media such as ROM cartridges, continued to be released. Most of these used variations of Pong clone processors.

1292 Advanced Programmable Video System

Acetronic began distributing the Radofin 1292 Advanced Programmable Video System as the MPU-1000 and its variant with an external power source, the 1392 Advanced Programmable Video System as the MPU-2000, in Europe.

Audio Sonic began distributing the Radofin 1292 Advanced Programmable Video System as the PP-1292 and its variant with an external power source, the 1392 Advanced Programmable Video System as the PP-1293, in parts of Europe.

Aureac began distributing the Radofin 1292 Advanced Programmable Video System in Spain as the Tele Computer and the Video Play.

Fountain began distributing the Radofin 1292 Advanced Programmable Video System and its variant with an external power source, the 1392 Advanced Programmable Video System, in Australia and New Zealand, both under the original names and as the Force 2.

Grandstand began distributing the Radofin 1292 Advanced Programmable Video System in parts of Europe under the Advanced Programmable Video System name.

Grundig began distributing the Radofin 1292 Advanced Programmable Video System in Germany as the Super Play Computer 4000.

Hanimex began distributing the Radofin 1292 Advanced Programmable Video System as the HMG-1292 and its variant with an external power source, the 1392 Advanced Programmable Video System as the HMG-1293 in Australia and parts of Europe.

ITMC began distributing the Radofin 1292 Advanced Programmable Video System as the MPT-05 in France.

Lansay began distributing the Radofin 1392 Advanced Programmable Video System, in parts of Europe, simply as the 1392.

Dixons began distributing the Radofin 1292 Advanced Programmable Video System in parts of Europe under the Prinztronic label as the VC-6000.

Palson began distributing the Radofin 1292 Advanced Programmable Video System in the Spain as the CX-3000 Data Bass Sistem.

Société occitane d'électronique began distributing the Radofin 1292 Advanced Programmable Video System in France as Jeu Video TV Karvan and OC-2000.

T.E.L. Engineering began distributing the Radofin 1292 Advanced Programmable Video System in the United Kingdom as the Rowtron Television Computer System and the Teleng Television Computer System.

Talleres Radioeléctricos Querol began distributing the Radofin 1292 Advanced Programmable Video System in the Spain as the Video Computer H-21.

Waddingtons began distributing the Radofin 1292 Advanced Programmable Video System in parts of Europe as the Database under both the Waddingtons name and under the Videomaster label.

Color TV-Game Block Breaker

Nintendo released the Color TV-Game Block Breaker video game console in Japan. It was based on its 1978 arcade video game, Block Fever, which itself was based on Breakout by Atari. Its design was the first project at Nintendo by future Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto.

Second generation video game consoles

Second generation video game consoles, or those that had games programmed on interchangeable media such as ROM cartridges instead of programmed into the system, also continued to be released.

Intellivision

Mattel Electronics released the Intellivision in the United States. Video games that were released in 1979 for the Intellivision included Auto Racing, Boxing, Major League Baseball, NASL Soccer, NBA Basketball, NFL Football, NHL Hockey, PBA Bowling, PGA Golf, Tennis, and U.S. Ski Team Skiing. All of these games were developed by APh Technological Consulting, with the exception of PBA Bowling which was developed by Mattel Electronics.

Motion pictures

Animation

The computer scientist, Jim Blinn of the NASA-funded Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology, released a short film titled Blobby Man. It was created to showcase advanced body movement in computer animation.

Live action

On May 25, 1979, 20th Century Fox released Alien. During the landing sequence, raster wire-frame model rendering was used to depict the navigation monitors.

On December 18, 1979, Walt Disney Productions released The Black Hole. It used raster wire-frame model rendering and computerized camera technology to depict the black hole during the opening credits.

Computer-related companies and organizations

Companies and organizations founded

In England, Dixons Group formed a subsidiary named Advanced Consumer Electronics that distributed video game consoles under the Acetronic label.

In Europe, the Japan-based Matsushita Electric Industrial began using the Panasonic brand name.

In the U.S. state of California, Computer Arts was founded by Jim Levy and former Atari programmers David Crane, Larry Kaplan, Alan Miller, and Bob Whitehead. Shortly after its foundation, Computer Arts was renamed Activision.

Also in California, On-Line Systems was founded by the husband and wife team of Ken Williams and Roberta Williams. They initially formed the company to develop and distribute graphic adventure games that were designed by Roberta and programmed by Ken.

In Tokyo, Japan, ASCII and Microsoft jointly formed the first overseas sales office of the latter, ASCII Microsoft.

On May 30, 1979, also in Tokyo, Kenzo Tsujimoto formed IRM, which was intended to manufacture and sell game machines. Later that year, IPM was changed to Irem after receiving a letter from IBM which stated that IPM was too easy to be confused with its company name.

Tose was founded in November 1979 in Kyoto, Japan.

People born in 1979

Jennifer McMurray, the founder of WE Computers Museum, was born on March 17.

Video games set in 1979

1979 Revolution: Black Friday by iNK Stories and Art of Fighting 2 by SNK were set in 1979.