Laptop pioneer John Ellenby dies

John Ellenby, a British-born computer engineer who played a critical role in paving the way for the laptop computer, died on Aug. 17 in San Francisco. He was 75.

His son Thomas confirmed the death to The New York Times, which recently posted an article about it. The cause of death has not been confirmed. Ellenby was 75.

Ellenby founded Grid Systems, which produced a clamshell computer with an orange electroluminescent flat-panel display known as the Compass. it went to market in 1982.

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