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| Version | Summary | Created by | Modification | Content Size | Created at | Operation |
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| 1 | Sirius Huang | -- | 2335 | 2022-10-18 01:38:19 |
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The ICON was a computer built specifically for use in schools, to fill a standard created by the Ontario Ministry of Education. It was based on the Intel 80186 CPU and ran an early version of QNX, a Unix-like operating system. The system was packaged as an all-in-one machine similar to the Commodore PET, and included a trackball for mouse-like control. Over time a number of GUI-like systems appeared for the platform, based on the system's NAPLPS-based graphics system. The ICON was widely used, mostly in high schools in the mid to late 1980s, but disappeared after that time with the widespread introduction of PCs and Apple Macintoshes. They were also known as the CEMCorp ICON, Burroughs ICON, and finally Unisys ICON when Burroughs and Sperry Corporation merged to form Unisys in 1986. The machine was also nicknamed the bionic beaver.
References
- Mangan 1994, pg. 266
- Mangan 1994, pg. 267
- McLean 1988
- Grant Buckler, "School's 'Bionic Beaver' may be too exclusive', Montreal Gazette, 15 October 1983 https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1946&dat=19831015&id=XhUyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=SKUFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1460,2629977
- Mangan 1994, pg. 270
- Wierzbicki 1983, pg. 33
- Wierzbicki 1983, pg. 34
- Mangan 1994, pg. 271
- Mangan 1994, pg. 275
- Ronald G. Ragsdale, Home Learning: IT and the Learning Process, Natchitoches, LA: Northwestern State University, 1997. http://eurologo.web.elte.hu/lectures/ragsdale.htm
- "John Brent", Personal Computer Museum http://www.pcmuseum.ca/volunteerdetails.asp?id=27
