ECD Corporation
TypePrivate
Industry
  • Computer
  • Electronics
Founded1974 (1974) in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Founders
  • Ronald Todd
  • Jerry Roberts
  • Richard Eckhardt
Defunct1983 (1983)
FateDissolved
Products
  • Electronic test equipment
  • Microcomputers
  • Computer terminals

ECD Corporation was a small, privately owned[1] American computer and electronics company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and active from 1974 to 1983. During its lifespan, the company manufactured a couple pieces of electronic test equipment, the MicroMind microcomputer system, and the Smart ASCII terminal.

History

ECD was founded in late 1974 by Ronald Todd, Jerry Roberts, and Richard Eckhardt, three graduates of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).[2] Todd was named company president.[3] Eckhardt had taken entrepreneurial courses alongside his main studies at MIT, which he cited as helping the company get a head start in the electronics industry.[4] All three were later joined by Edward W. Costello, who became the company's marketing manager.[5] ECD was founded with $5,000 of capital; its first product was the C-meter, a capacitance meter with a liquid-crystal readout,[6] released in spring 1975.[7] The C-meter sold well and allowed the company to move onto their second project, a portable digital thermometer that ran on batteries.[6] Called the T-meter, it was a ruggedized thermometer allowing it to withstand extreme shock in day-to-day industrial transport. The T-meter had a system of thermistor probes, each of which plugged into the base of the unit and able to accurately measure a variety of temperature ranges.[8] The T-meter found widespread acceptance in scientific laboratories and industrial plants.[6] In 1976, ECD earned over US$200,000 in sales and had a backlog of orders worth $1,500,000.[4]

In late 1976,[9] the company announced the MicroMind, a microcomputer system that sold for a little over $980 (equivalent to $4,667 in 2021).[1] The MicroMind was a three-board system, including the central processor board, the display processor board, and the input/output board. The central processor board sports a MOS Technology's 6512 microprocessor that runs the computer's operating system and software; it also features 8 KB of RAM stock.[10] The display processor board contains 2.6 KB of display memory and a RF modulator, allowing a conventional television to be used as a monitor for the computer.[11] The input/output board meanwhile houses the MicroMind's power supply, which has power rails of +5 V and +12 V. The central processing board supports up to 16 KB of RAM; expansion cards were available allowing the computer's RAM to be upgraded in 32 KB intervals.[10]

The MicroMind additionally came shipped with an 80-key ASCII keyboard and various software. Such software packages included a BASIC interpreter with extended functionality (called notsoBASIC[12]), an interactive line editor, a machine code monitor, an assembler, and a cassette file browser. The computer also came packaged with two games: Conway's Game of Life and a "space war" game.[10] Much of ECD's software was written in BASIC by Bob Frankston, a software developer who worked with ECD on a freelance basis. Frankston would later join with Dan Bricklin to found Software Arts in 1979, developers of VisiCalc.[13] In May 1977, ECD won a $1.38 million contract to supply 1,000 MicroMinds across the nation for public schools. The deal was mediated through Avakian System Corporation, a computer consulting business of Glastonbury, Connecticut.[14] The MicroMind may or may not have been followed up with a MicroMind II.[12]

In July 1978, the company released the Smart ASCII, one of the first intelligent video terminals with a 132-column display.[15] A month later, they released a dialect of BASIC that was an extension of Dartmouth BASIC oriented toward small businesses, called ECD Business Basic.[16] Later in 1978, the company developed a bespoke physical specification of floppy disk. Called the Biflex, each disk had a diameter of 4.5 inches and could store up to 512 KB of data.[17]

ECD went defunct in 1983.[18]

Citations

  1. 1 2 Staff writer 1977b, p. 38.
  2. ↑ Staff writer 1977b, p. 38; Staff writer 1977d, p. 15.
  3. ↑ Schindler 1978, p. 24.
  4. 1 2 United States Congress 1979, p. 282.
  5. ↑ Staff writer 1977b, p. 40.
  6. 1 2 3 Staff writer 1977d, p. 15.
  7. ↑ Staff writer 1975, p. 97.
  8. ↑ Staff writer 1977c, p. 148.
  9. ↑ Staff writer 1977a, p. 57.
  10. 1 2 3 Staff writer 1977b, p. 42.
  11. ↑ Staff writer 1977b, pp. 38, 42.
  12. 1 2 Nadeau 2002, p. 57.
  13. ↑ Bricklin 1986, p. 8.
  14. ↑ Staff writer 1977e, p. 36.
  15. ↑ Staff writer 1978a, p. 32.
  16. ↑ Staff writer 1978b, p. 34.
  17. ↑ Staff writer 1978c, p. 61.
  18. ↑ OpenCorporates n.d.

References

  • Bricklin, Daniel (1986). "VisiCalc and Software Arts: Genesis to Exodus" (PDF). The Computer Museum Report (Summer ed.). The Computer Museum, Boston. 16: 8–10. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 5, 2022.
  • "ECD Corp". OpenCorporates. n.d. Archived from the original on February 8, 2023.
  • Nadeau, Michael (2002). Collectible Microcomputers. Schiffer Book for Collectors (Illustrated ed.). Schiffer Publishing. p. 8. ISBN 9780764316005 – via Google Books.
  • National Technology Innovation Act: Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Science, Technology, and Space of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, United States, Senate, Ninety-sixth Congress, First Session, on S. 1250. United States Congress. 1979 – via Google Books.
  • Schindler, Max J. (January 18, 1978). "Time was when a mini was a mini, a micro was a micro, and the picking was easy. Not any more" (PDF). Electronic Design. Hayden Publishing. 26 (2): 24–28 – via World Radio History.
  • Staff writer (May 12, 1975). "Automatic 'C' meter fits in hand". Electronic Design. Hayden Publishing. 23 (8): 97 – via the Internet Archive.
  • Staff writer (January 6, 1977a). "Orders & Installations". Computerworld. IDG Publications. 11 (23): 57 – via the Internet Archive.
  • Staff writer (February 17, 1977b). "Personal computer adds to bare bones". Electronics. McGraw-Hill. 50 (4): 38–42 – via the Internet Archive.
  • Staff writer (February 17, 1977c). "Thermometer sells for $189". Electronics. McGraw-Hill. 50 (4): 148 – via the Internet Archive.
  • Staff writer (May 16, 1977d). "2 year success story for Cambridge firm". The Boston Globe. United Press International: 15 – via Newspapers.com.
  • Staff writer (May 18, 1977e). "Get $1 M contract". The Lowell Sun: 36 – via Newspapers.com.
  • Staff writer (July 24, 1978a). "CRT Handles 132 Char./Line". Computerworld. IDG Publications. 12 (30): 32 – via the Internet Archive.
  • Staff writer (August 28, 1978b). "A Business Basic Bows". Computerworld. IDG Publications. 12 (35): 34 – via the Internet Archive.
  • Staff writer (December 4, 1978c). "Floppy Bows". Computerworld. IDG Publications. 12 (49): 61 – via the Internet Archive.
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