Chronology
of
Personal Computers
1969
- January 17
- United States attorney general Ramsey Clark charges IBM with
unlawful
monopolization of the computer industry, and requests the federal
courts
break it up. (13 years later, the US Justice Department will drop
the
case.) [606.10] [1149.166]
- (month unknown)
- Honeywell releases the H316 "Kitchen Computer", the first
home computer, priced at US$10,600 in the Neiman Marcus catalog.
[1112.142]
- Bubble memory debuts. [1112.142]
- Busicom, a Japanese calculator manufacturer, asks Intel to
build a
custom-chip set for a new calculator. Ted Hoff suggests that instead of
set of chips, they create a general-purpose programmable chip. (Intel
is initially not anxious to produce processor chips to compete with
their
customers for memory chips, but eventually decides to take a chance in
this new field.) [106.103] [900] [1038.145] [1064.240] (ETI company
[266.11])
- Jerry Sanders and seven others leave Fairchild Semiconductor to
form
Advanced Micro Devices. [732.54]
- May
- Advanced Micro Devices Incorporated is founded. [141]
- (month unknown)
- Computer Terminal Corporation visits Intel, asking them to
integrate
about 100 TTL components of their Datapoint 2200 terminal's 8-bit CPU
into
a few chips. Ted Hoff says they could put it all on one chip, so Intel
and CTC sign a contract for it. (The resulting chip becomes Intel's
8008 processor.) [1038.148]
- IBM builds SCAMP, probably the world's first personal computer.
[606.22]
- For the Busicom project, Intel's Marcian (Ted) Hoff and Stan
Mazor
design a 4-bit CPU chip set architecture that could receive
instructions
and perform simple functions on data. The CPU becomes the 4004
microprocessor.
[266.12] [556.9] [1038.146]
- October
- Engineers from Japan's Busicom company meet with Intel to
inspect work
on their calculator IC project. They accept the Intel design for a chip
set, and sign an exclusive contract for the chips. [208.67] [556.9]
[606.17]
(ETI company [266.13])
- (month unknown)
- Intel announces a 1 kilobit RAM chip, which has a significantly
larger
capacity than any previously produced memory chip. [9]
- Gary Starkweather, at Xerox's research facility in Webster, New
York,
demonstrates using a laser beam with the xerography process to create a
laser printer. [714.98]
1970
- March
- Xerox announces that it will create a computer laboratory to
research
digital technology. (The resulting laboratory, PARC, will develop
many
personal computer technologies, but fail to bring them to market.)
[716.49]
- April
- Wayne Pickette takes his computer-on-a-chip design to Intel,
and is
hired, beginning work for Dr. Ted Hoff. [778]
- (month unknown)
- Intel begins work on the layout of the circuit for what would
be the
4004 microprocessor. Federico Faggin directs the work. [266.13]
- June
- Xerox opens the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC). [266.267]
[716.56]
[1112.142] (1969 [203.59]) (founded by Kay Power in 1972 [343.41])
- (month unknown)
- Intel creates the 1103 chip, the first generally available DRAM
memory
chip. [176.74] [202.163] [1112.142]
- Bell Labs develops Unix. (Unix will become the dominant
operating
system of high end microcomputers, or workstations.) [1112.142]
- October
- At Intel, the 4001 2 kilobit ROM chip is first fabricated, the
first
chip of the 4000 family. [1038.146]
- At Intel, Wayne Pickette proposes to Ted Hoff the idea of
building
a computer-on-a-chip for the Busicom project. [778]
- November
- At Intel, the 4002 320 bit RAM chip is first fabricated.
[1038.146]
- At Intel, the 4003 10-bit I/O chip is first fabricated.
[1038.146]
- December
- Gilbert Hyatt files a patent application entitled "Single Chip
Integrated Circuit Computer Architecture", the first basic patent
on the microprocessor. (Twenty years later, the US Patent Office
will
grant his patent, but five years after that will overturn the award.)
[162] [185.193] [590.5]
- At Intel, the first run of 4004 microprocessors is fabricated.
However,
due to a missing masking layer, the entire run is unusable. At the time
the chip is called a "mini-programmer". [106.104] [900] [1038.146]
1971
- January
- At Intel, a second fabrication run of 4004 processors is made.
This
time, the processors work with only minor errors. [1038.146]
- February
- At Intel, a third fabrication run of 4004 processors is made,
with
corrected masks. [1038.146]
- March
- Intel ships sample calculator chip sets to Busicom, each set
consisting
of four 4001 ROM chips, two 4002 RAM chips, two 4003 I/O chips, and one
4004 CPU. [1038.146] (February [556.10])
- (month unknown)
- Intel decides to market the 4000 family. [1038.148]
- Intel renegotiates its contract with Busicom, gaining Intel the
right
to market the 4004 microprocessor openly in non-calculator
applications.
Intel returns US$60,000 to Busicom in exchange for product rights to
the
4004 processor. [266.14] [606.18] [900] [1038.148]
- Texas Instruments develops the first microcomputer-on-a-chip,
containing
over 15,000 transistors. [714]
- June
- Texas Instruments runs an advertisement in Electronics
magazine, showing
a "CPU on a Chip" that it developed for Computer Terminal's Datapoint
2200 terminal. (However, the chip is never marketed due to
unresolved
problems in operation.) [1038.148]
- Gary Boone, of Texas Instruments, files a patent application
relating
to a single-chip computer. [590.5]
- (month unknown)
- 3M introduces a 1/4 inch tape drive and cartridge, the first
such system
practical for desktop computer use. Tape storage capacity is 30 MB.
[1089.364]
- The National Radio Institute introduces the first computer kit,
for
US$503. [208.66]
- The Kenback Corporation introduces the Kenback-1 computer, for
US$750.
It uses a 1 KB MOS memory made by Intel. [208.66] [1112.146]
- Niklaus Wirth invents the Pascal programming language. (Pascal
was
developed as a teaching language, but becomes a popular general-use
programming
language. ) [132] [1112.142] (1969 [447.385])
- IBM introduces the 23FD floppy disk drive. It uses an 8-inch
floppy
plastic disk, called a "memory disk", coated with iron oxide
on one side. The drive can only read the disks. [202.170] [971.F9]
[1089.392]
(1965 [363.46]) (1970 [1112.142])
- Wang Laboratories introduces the Wang 1200 word processor
system. (Though
not a general purpose computer system, dedicated word processing
systems
such as this became early targets of desktop computer systems.)
[202.185]
- Intel introduces the 1101 chip, a 256-bit programmable memory,
and
the 1701 chip, a 256-byte erasable read-only memory (EROM). [208.70]
- Datapoint (formerly Computer Terminal) decides it no longer
needs the
1201 microprocessor that Intel is working on for them. Datapoint agrees
to let Intel use its architecture in exchange for canceling the
development
charges. (This chip becomes the Intel 8008 processor.)
[1038.148]
- August
- The newly developed device, the EPROM, is integrated with the
4004
to enhance development cycles of microprocessor products. [778]
- (month unknown)
- Steve Wozniak and Bill Fernandez build a computer with lights
and switches,
mostly from chips rejected by local semiconductor companies. They call
it the Cream Soda Computer, as they drank Cragmont cream soda while
they
worked. [266.205] [548.414] (fall 1970 [930.26])
- November
- In major trade publications including Electronic News, Intel
officially
introduces the MCS-4 (Microcomputer System 4-bit) microcomputer system.
It is comprised of the 4001 ROM chip, 4002 RAM chip, 4003 shift
register
chip, and the 4004 microprocessor. Clock speed of the CPU is 108 kHz.
Performance
is 60,000 operations per second. It uses 2300 transistors, based on
10-micron
technology. It can address 640 bytes. Initial price is US$200.
Documentation
manuals were written by Adam Osborne. The die for the chip measures 3x4
mm. The chip is introduced to the public in Las Vegas by Wayne
Pickette.
[9] [176.74] [202.165] [296] [393.6] [62] [773] [900] [953.28] [266.14]
[393.6] (750 kHz [556.11]) (1972 [339.86])