The Microprocessor Turns 50 This Year!
Mar 5, 2021 20:01:20 #
The first microprocessor, the Intel 4004 came out in 1971. Wow, 50 years!
The first one I worked with was the Intel 8080, then the 8085, then the Motorola 6800, then the 6809E. Ahh The fun days of piecing parts together. If we had eight 2Kx1 static rams (they did not need constant refresh like dynamic does), we were really happy! Core memory just started on its way out. Then came EPROMS and EEPROMS, UARTS, Disk Controllers, and a whole bunch of neat little pieces parts toys.
The fun days in another life.
My how time flies.
The first one I worked with was the Intel 8080, then the 8085, then the Motorola 6800, then the 6809E. Ahh The fun days of piecing parts together. If we had eight 2Kx1 static rams (they did not need constant refresh like dynamic does), we were really happy! Core memory just started on its way out. Then came EPROMS and EEPROMS, UARTS, Disk Controllers, and a whole bunch of neat little pieces parts toys.
The fun days in another life.
My how time flies.
Mar 5, 2021 20:47:19 #
Longshadow wrote:
The first microprocessor, the Intel 4004 came out ... (show quote)
In 1971 was in the USAF and working T&D with Hughes Aircraft on a Forward Air Control digital communications system. I do not remember the processor they were using, but we had core memory which we used toggle switches to program.
Mar 5, 2021 21:03:27 #
Longshadow wrote:
The first microprocessor, the Intel 4004 came out in 1971. Wow, 50 years!...
I thought it was earlier than that but my memory is really poor on dates. I know I worked with some TTL integrated circuits around 1963 or 64. I thought about getting a 4004 but I don't think I did anything until the 8008. I built it into an old ASR-33 teletype (the 8-bit machine) to make my own computer. The machinist we had in grad school had a side business taking junked teletypes and refurbishing them and selling them to ham radio guys. I had an ASR-33 and an ASR-28 (5-bit). Finally got rid of them in the late '80s.
Mar 5, 2021 21:05:37 #
letmedance wrote:
In 1971 was in the USAF and working T&D with Hughes Aircraft on a Forward Air Control digital communications system. I do not remember the processor they were using, but we had core memory which we used toggle switches to program.
A Maintenance Panel!
I programed three different IC test systems that had maintenance panels.
Lots of blinkie lights, switches and buttons. One was programmed in HEX and two were in Octal. (That was fun)
If the systems barfed, we had to hand-load the bootstrap to get it to read the OS loader from paper tape, which would then load the OS from mag tape.
Mar 5, 2021 21:11:14 #
Mar 5, 2021 21:11:54 #
I think KERA has been running a short on Jack Kilby, who invented the the microchip for about that long to fill up an hour.
Mar 5, 2021 21:22:11 #
DirtFarmer wrote:
I thought it was earlier than that but my memory i... (show quote)
Logic ICs preceded microprocessors by years. All discrete logic- AND gates , OR, NOR, INVERTERS, NAND, D-Flip-Flops, J-K Flip-flops, 4 and 8 bit registers, and more. Before processors, a computer was built with all logic devices (ICs). Before that, all individual transistors. That's why computers took up whole buildings. Now they fit in the palm of your hand.
I worked with all the 7400 series (TTL) logic plus others. Then 74LS series came out, followed later by the 74HC series.
The teletypes were amazing mechanical marvels.
Chunga, chunga, chunga, chunga, chunga, and it would print ONE character.
The guy that invented them has to have landed in the loony bin.
Mar 5, 2021 21:23:54 #
Ourspolair wrote:
Oh the joys of loading programs with punched paper tape...
Oh yes!
(Faster than loading what's on the paper tape by hand though!)
Mar 5, 2021 21:34:50 #
fjdarling
Loc: Mesa, Arizona, USA
It feels good to hear all those acronyms and nomenclatures again. It's bringing back some special memories of hours spent getting the software to work with the hardware, and figuring out how to get it all to do something useful. My first computer had 8K RAM - I couldn't afford the upgrade to the maximum of 16K. My youngest daughter was about 3 years old when I wrote her first educational program in a BASIC language that was very similar to TRS-80 Level 1. Oh, yeah. Fun times.
Mar 5, 2021 22:08:12 #
fjdarling wrote:
It feels good to hear all those acronyms and nomenclatures again. It's bringing back some special memories of hours spent getting the software to work with the hardware, and figuring out how to get it all to do something useful. My first computer had 8K RAM - I couldn't afford the upgrade to the maximum of 16K. My youngest daughter was about 3 years old when I wrote her first educational program in a BASIC language that was very similar to TRS-80 Level 1. Oh, yeah. Fun times.
I had a Radio Shack Color Computer before I got an IBM Compatible. I literally got into the guts of that Color Computer! It came with either 16K or 32K of memory, changed it to 64K.
Unbelievable how much I've forgotten over the years from lack of use!
Now I'm basically an end user, except for building my website (hand coded, no builders).
We were computer geeks LONG before the phrase was coined!
Mar 6, 2021 08:18:21 #
fjdarling wrote:
It feels good to hear all those acronyms and nomenclatures again. It's bringing back some special memories of hours spent getting the software to work with the hardware, and figuring out how to get it all to do something useful. My first computer had 8K RAM - I couldn't afford the upgrade to the maximum of 16K. My youngest daughter was about 3 years old when I wrote her first educational program in a BASIC language that was very similar to TRS-80 Level 1. Oh, yeah. Fun times.
My first computer came with 1K RAM! A Sinclair ZX81 - I believe sold as Timex 1000 in the US. You could expand it to 16K with a plug-in box which sat on the back of the thing, and was so flimsy that the machine would crash if a truck drove down the road!
Mar 6, 2021 08:43:06 #
Bloke wrote:
My first computer came with 1K RAM! A Sinclair ZX81 - I believe sold as Timex 1000 in the US. You could expand it to 16K with a plug-in box which sat on the back of the thing, and was so flimsy that the machine would crash if a truck drove down the road!
Mar 6, 2021 08:59:24 #
DirtFarmer wrote:
I thought it was earlier than that but my memory i... (show quote)
In late 1964 I wrote my first program. It was my freshman year in college and it was in LOGIC class. Right after proving logically that the moon was made of green cheese, we had to write a program that would run on the schools computer. No idea what the computer was but a "programmer" had to read the program, and set up some sort of plug in board that ran the giant computer that was in its own air conditioned room (the only air conditioned room in the school), and the program/computer had to run some sort of card sorting punch card machine (collator?) that would sort the punch cards alphabetically. The card sorting machine was impressive, it spit out a zillion or more cards a second.... I vaguely remember getting our "report cards" on these punch cards, but it could have been a dream, it was a long time ago. At the time I was way more interested in hot rods, hot broads, and cold beer....
Mar 6, 2021 09:12:58 #
Mar 6, 2021 09:15:29 #
Ah, memory lane. My first job out of college was was repairing mainframes for Burroughs. I actually got to work on some computers that used diode logic, before transistors. I used to have a piece of an old core stack. It had about a thousand little iron donuts on it, each one would just fit the tip of a pencil. If I remember right, there were 5 wires through each donut, 4 used for addressing and magnetizing or demagnetizing and 1 for sensing. To read the core, controlling electronics would try to magnetize the donut. If it was successful, it would flip from a '0' to a '1' and the wire would sense the change meaning the donut used to be a '0'. If there was no change that meant the donut was already a '1'. Of course after the 'read' the machine would have to rewrite the core to it's previous state. Can't believe I remember all this junk.
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