Forgot your password?
Cyhist Feb 08 1997 B
Document Actions
Date: Sat, 8 Feb 1997 11:57:15 -0800
Reply-To: "CYHIST Community Memory: Discussion list on the History of
Cyberspace" <CYHIST@SJUVM.STJOHNS.EDU>
Sender: "CYHIST Community Memory: Discussion list on the History of
Cyberspace" <CYHIST@SJUVM.STJOHNS.EDU>
From: John Clark <john_c@CERF.NET>
Subject: Re: CM> Microprocessors and Busicom
In-Reply-To: <199702072225.OAA25332@nic.cerf.net>
______________________________________________________________________
Community Memory: Discussion List on the History of Cyberspace ______________________________________________________________________
On Fri, 7 Feb 1997, David S. Bennahum wrote:
>I would like to know what the distinction is between an "integrated circuit" and a "microprocessor." When is one not the other?
Actually a very good question. i think an integrated circuit is any general complex of electronic components and their constituent connections implemented on a very small semiconductor chip. a microprocessor is a special case of the above, where the implementation is a computer of some sort.
>
>I am also keen on opening a thread which would address the question of how the microprocessor altered the dynamics of programming, and the computer industry at the time. The microprocessor took what had been an industry whose clients were mostly government, business and large institutions like universities, and exponentially increased the number of potential buyers, by making first digital devices (watches, video game machines, etc), then computers, available in the home.
Oh, so you *want* to hear a war story ;-) When i first started in telecommunications, when men were men, and modems ran at 300bps. Big companies used dedicated mini computers as switches to route the data from their central sites out over dialup/leased circuits (say tail circuits) to their remotes. Some clever guy decided that money could be saved on phone line costs by having the mini computer statisticaly multiplex the connections together when they were going to the same remote. Thus packet switching was born. When 8080/Z-80 class micros first became generally available in the mid 70's some startup companies started experimenting with using them to build small 8/16/32 port multiplexors. By 1982 at least one of those companies was making $250 Million dollars a year selling those microprocessor based multiplexors, to mini computer users.
Presumably this had some effect on what
>I'll call the culture of programming. The types of applications that were need changed, and the way they were coded, in terms of planning and execution, may have changed as well.
The first of those programs had to be very concise, because of timing and the low volume RAM's ROM's available, later we got sloppy having 8K ROM and 16K RAM to play with :-)
Is this accurate? How tulmultuous
>were these changes? Anyone out there who recalls what that transition was like?
We worked really long days ;-)
>How long did it take before the magnitude of this transition was
>apparent?
i'd say about the time we went public. ;-)))
>
>best,
>db
>
>______________________________________________________________________
>
Reply-To: "CYHIST Community Memory: Discussion list on the History of
Cyberspace" <CYHIST@SJUVM.STJOHNS.EDU>
Sender: "CYHIST Community Memory: Discussion list on the History of
Cyberspace" <CYHIST@SJUVM.STJOHNS.EDU>
From: John Clark <john_c@CERF.NET>
Subject: Re: CM> Microprocessors and Busicom
In-Reply-To: <199702072225.OAA25332@nic.cerf.net>
______________________________________________________________________
Community Memory: Discussion List on the History of Cyberspace ______________________________________________________________________
On Fri, 7 Feb 1997, David S. Bennahum wrote:
>I would like to know what the distinction is between an "integrated circuit" and a "microprocessor." When is one not the other?
Actually a very good question. i think an integrated circuit is any general complex of electronic components and their constituent connections implemented on a very small semiconductor chip. a microprocessor is a special case of the above, where the implementation is a computer of some sort.
>
>I am also keen on opening a thread which would address the question of how the microprocessor altered the dynamics of programming, and the computer industry at the time. The microprocessor took what had been an industry whose clients were mostly government, business and large institutions like universities, and exponentially increased the number of potential buyers, by making first digital devices (watches, video game machines, etc), then computers, available in the home.
Oh, so you *want* to hear a war story ;-) When i first started in telecommunications, when men were men, and modems ran at 300bps. Big companies used dedicated mini computers as switches to route the data from their central sites out over dialup/leased circuits (say tail circuits) to their remotes. Some clever guy decided that money could be saved on phone line costs by having the mini computer statisticaly multiplex the connections together when they were going to the same remote. Thus packet switching was born. When 8080/Z-80 class micros first became generally available in the mid 70's some startup companies started experimenting with using them to build small 8/16/32 port multiplexors. By 1982 at least one of those companies was making $250 Million dollars a year selling those microprocessor based multiplexors, to mini computer users.
Presumably this had some effect on what
>I'll call the culture of programming. The types of applications that were need changed, and the way they were coded, in terms of planning and execution, may have changed as well.
The first of those programs had to be very concise, because of timing and the low volume RAM's ROM's available, later we got sloppy having 8K ROM and 16K RAM to play with :-)
Is this accurate? How tulmultuous
>were these changes? Anyone out there who recalls what that transition was like?
We worked really long days ;-)
>How long did it take before the magnitude of this transition was
>apparent?
i'd say about the time we went public. ;-)))
>
>best,
>db
>
>______________________________________________________________________
>
