History Of The Microcomputer Revolution
In 1971, The Intel Corporation
introduced the 4004
microprocessor chip which began the microcomputer revolution. The 4004
was limited in power and was more of an industrial controller than a general
purpose computer chip. The architecture of the chip worked with 4 bits
of data as its basic unit. 4 bits of data can be used to express computer
instructions, but not characters or letters. Even the old teletype
machines used a 5 bit code to represent uppercase characters only.
Less than a year later, Intel
introduced the 8008 - an 8 bit computer on a chip. With an 8 bit architecture, you can do a
lot of things. With 8 bits you can express computer instructions, upper
and lower case characters, numbers, and symbols. In computer terms, 8 bits
of data comprises a byte, as in "Raw Bytes".
Intel's introduction made a lot
of people take notice. One of them was Paul Allen, who read about it while
attending Washington State University.
He and his friend Bill
Gates had already worked summers at a variety of computer jobs which
provided them with invaluable on-the-job computer learning experience.
In 1971 the boys had started a part-time company named Traf-O-Data related
to traffic analysis. We've all seen those boxes with rubber hoses that
stretch across a road that cities use to count cars. The cars rolled over
the hose, and inside the box a device punched holes in a paper tape. The
paper tapes were then transcribed by people onto punched computer cards,
and these cards were then entered into a big computer which analyzed the
data and produced reports . The boys had hired other students to do this
data entry, but they knew there had to be a better way.
As soon as Paul Allen read about Intel's
8008 microprocessor he realized this chip had the power to do some
real work. In 1972 they bought one of the first 8008
chips for $ 360, and hired a Boeing engineer to design and build the electronics.
Their idea was to be able to have their device read the paper traffic tapes
and convert this raw data into computer format - eliminating the manual
data entry. They had a modest amount of success with their device and sold
it to several cities. This experience with electro-mechanical devices and
a very early microprocessor may have reinforced their belief that software
- not hardware - was their future.
Paul Allen tired of college and dropped out to become a programmer at a
northwest computer company. In 1973 Bill Gates enrolled in Harvard
and applied for a summer computer job at Honeywell. He was able to get
his friend Paul a job at Honeywell also, so Paul left Washington to travel
to Boston. The two friends were together again, pursuing their dreams of
starting their own computer company.
In 1974 Intel introduced the
8080
- the first true general purpose microprocessor. Using new technology,
this chip offered 10 times the performance.
In January 1975, Popular
Electronics magazine's cover featured a picture of a computer and a
related cover story which read:
"Project Breakthrough! World's first minicomputer kit to rival commercial
models - the Altair 8800 ".
The story went on to say that this was a complete minicomputer kit
anyone could purchase for under $ 400.00.
In historical perspective there were a few minor inaccuracies here I'll
point out -
The picture was actually a mockup - not the real computer. The real
one had been lost in shipment to the magazine.
It was not truly the world's first minicomputer kit - there had
been other earlier computers in kit forms.
It wasn't a minicomputer - It was actually a microcomputer -
using the Intel microprocessor - but the term microcomputer hadn't
been invented yet.
But it was enough to make Paul Allen go running off to tell his friend
that the revolution had truly begun, and we'll hear more about that next
week on Raw Bytes.
For Raw Bytes, this is Frank Delaney
Copyright © 1995 MTA Micro Technology Associates
Frank Delaney
928 E. Thurston Spokane, WA 99203 (509) 624-7286/7230
Raw Bytes Computer News - KPBX FM 91.1 National Public Radio
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Copyright © 1997-2006 William Thomas Sanderson.
Portions Copyright © 1995 MTA Micro Technology Associates
Frank Delaney
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