In fact, in the tech community, he is known as the Godfather of laptops.
His son Thomas confirmed the death but said the cause had not been determined.
The team together produced a clamshell computer which was to be the predecessor of todays laptops that we use.
Grid called this product Compassand it became a sensation at that time with its orange electroluminescent flat-panel display.
Compass was released for buyers in 1982.
Compass became a huge hit with big corporations but its biggest buyer were government spies.
The small design helped the government spies, White House and Pentagon officials to store it easily.
Ellenbys Compass did not come cheap so the buyers were mainly from large corporations and governments.
NASA also used one as a backup navigational rig in its space shuttle program.
He had earned a reputation as a technologist who was adept at turning technologies into products.
Ellenby left Xerox to found Grid in 1979.
After 9 successful years at Grid, Ellenby sold it to the Tandy Corporation in March 1988.
source: www.techworm.net
