Slashdot Mirror
Intel 4004 Turns 30
fm6 writes: "Just the thing to remind an aging geek of his mortality: this week marks the 30th anniversary of the Intel 4004, the very first microprocessor. Another historical page here, and a column bemoaning the absence of dancing in the streets here. Trivia -- why 4004? Because it was the fourth component in a 4-bit chipset." You might want to read the interview with Ted Hoff from a few months ago, it's pretty informative about the origins of the 4004.
CS and other hobbyists get all sniffly for the good old days. I was having a huge amount of fun a couple weeks ago hacking a 6502. That we even recall such an occasion should suggest to you that so long as some of us are alive, remembering and playing around with such artifacts defines who we are.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Actually, didn't the "PC" start the PC revolution. What would they have called it before? A Microcomputer.
In my opinion, the DEC PDP-8 was the "Model-T" of the computer industry. It was essentially the first computer you could actually buy, instead of having to lease. At an entry level cost of around US$ 18,000 it was easily affordable by most businesses and universities who needed a computer. There were enough of them made that a lot of third parties developed add-ons. Also, there are still a few PDP-8's running production applications as controllers for manufacturing machinery.