Sierra Systems
From Sega Retro
Sierra Systems | ||
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Founded: 1980[1] | ||
Headquarters:
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Sierra Systems (shall not be confused with the Canadian IT services and consulting firm Sierra Systems Group Inc.[2][3]), is a company founded in 1980 in Oakland, California by Electrical Engineer, Inventor and Video Games Industry pionner Larry Rosenthal[4][5] (Lawrence David Rosenthal).
Larry was a 17 years old student[6] at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), when he saw in 1962, for the first time Spacewar! running on a PDP-1 Computer. Impressed with what he saw Larry created in 1973 his own processor and computer[7] built with surplus parts obtained from a run-down store near the Oakland airport called Mike Quinn Electronics[8] thus creating his home version of Spacewar!. He called his invention the Vectorbeam System[9], which turned to be the first coin-op video game to make use of a vector display.
In 1976, while at Berkeley where he continued his post-graduate studies in electrical engineering, Larry arranged[10] for it to be instaled in an arcade near the university campus for a test, and despite gathering little attention in the beginning it soon became the main attraction of the arcade, pulling players away from other games.
He licensed[6] his new invention to Cinematronics, a pioneering arcade game developer, based in El Cajon, California that had its heyday in the era of vector display games, who released it in 1977[6] as Space Wars[11].
Discontent with the royalties received Larry quit Cinematronics taking with him the "Vectorbeam System"[12] in the Spring of 1978 to form his own company called Vectorbeam[11][13][14] (named after his creation) but after facing huge financial problems and being pressed to sell the Patents of his invention by Cinematronics Larry finally gave up and sold[15] the company with the patents back to them in 1979.
After exiting the video game field, Larry founded Sierra Systems in 1980, producing[16] embedded systems development tools, one of them, the Sierra 68000 C Compiler, was largely used in the early 90's in 68000-based applications ranging from navigational systems to printer applications and video games.
Currently, Larry Rosenthal trades as KeyRinger, LLC.[17][18][19], focusing in the sale of one of his last inventions, a lost key finder and remote control locator called KeyRinger XL™ (an improved version of the original KeyRinger™[20][21]).
External links
- Patent US4027148
- Patent US4053740
- Patent US6366202[22]
- KeyRinger XL™ Unboxing (2019) at www.youtube.com
- www.keyringer.com (Official website for Sierra Systems lost key finder and remote control locator KeyRinger XL™)[23][24][25][26][27][28]
- "From the Computer Lab to the Arcade: The Journey of Space War" at paleotronic.com (archived 2019-07-18 08:19)
- California Extreme (CAX) speaker session - Larry Rosenthal at www.youtube.com (recorded at California Extreme 2014, July 12, 2014)
References
- ↑ File:Trademark OOPS Reg Nº 1183595 1981-12-29 (United States Patent and Trademark Office).pdf
- ↑ [ https://archive.fo/OKkNS https://archive.fo/OKkNS]
- ↑ [ https://archive.fo/8gaWH https://archive.fo/8gaWH]
- ↑ http://allincolorforaquarter.blogspot.pt/2012/11/the-ultimate-so-far-history-of.html
- ↑ [ http://www.vectorlist.org/Vectorlist/1997/08/0229.html http://www.vectorlist.org/Vectorlist/1997/08/0229.html]
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 File:CashBox US 1977-11-12.pdf, page 52
- ↑ http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QhFAsymdwNk/U8VTZdYBR5I/AAAAAAAADEM/zi7Ine41IrM/s1600/lr.PNG
- ↑ http://allincolorforaquarter.blogspot.pt/2013/07/dave-needle-and-jerry-lawon-two-early.html
- ↑ https://paleotronic.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/rats2.jpg
- ↑ Starlog, "May 1979" (US; 1979-05-xx), page 16
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 File:Syzygy US 01.pdf, page 4
- ↑ http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3a-ud4rIanQ/U8VTdNcXHHI/AAAAAAAADEY/A4OnvHj1Ung/s1600/lr1.PNG
- ↑ File:CashBox US 1979-01-06.pdf, page 28
- ↑ File:CashBox US 1979-01-13.pdf, page 29
- ↑ File:CashBox US 1979-06-30.pdf, page 48
- ↑ https://allincolorforaquarter.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-ultimate-so-far-history-of_26.html
- ↑ File:KeyRinger LLC Registration 2014-03-04 (California Secretary of State).pdf
- ↑ File:KeyRinger LLC Statement of Information 2014-06-02 (California Secretary of State).pdf
- ↑ File:KeyRinger LLC Statement of Information 2018-03-26 (California Secretary of State).pdf
- ↑ File:KeyRinger (2001).jpg
- ↑ http://www.keyringer.com/instructions.html (Wayback Machine: 2003-08-12 08:19)
- ↑ File:Patent Assignment Cover Sheet 2013-12-12 (United States Patent and Trademark Office).pdf, page 10
- ↑ http://keyringer.com/ (Wayback Machine: 2003-06-18 02:59)
- ↑ File:Patent US8451127.pdf, page 10
- ↑ File:TheNationalLocksmith US 2003-12.pdf, page 45
- ↑ File:KeyRingerXL.jpg
- ↑ File:KeyRingerXL1.jpg
- ↑ File:KeyRingerXL2.jpg