Origins of the Modern PC

Homncruse writes "ComputerWorld dispels myths about the history of modern day computers — or, more appropriately, the invention of the first microprocessor. Contrary to popular belief, 'the [Intel] 8008 was not actually derived from the 4004 — they were separate projects.' In fact, the 8008 concept didn't originate from Intel (though they were eventually granted IP rights.) The article goes on to explain the events leading up to the invention and first intended use of the 8008 (a predecessor to the 8086, etc.), and how Intel was initially uneasy about the venture."

Comments

Re:Tenuous connection

[DerekLyons]

attempting to fit working programs into 4, 8, or even a glorious 16 kilobytes of RAM, was an art form that no one has had to practice in more than 30 years.

You know, there are still some of us who routinely develop software for controllers in weather probes, dive computers, GPS chips, and so on... there definitely are times where 16 kilobytes is glorious.

Oh indeed - damm few slashdotters are familiar with anything but PC hardware. Even those 'familiar' with the hardware really aren't except at the 'box marked magic happens here' level.
 
You can do a hell of a lot without much memory when you aren't handicapped by a consumer grade PC OS. (Which emphatically includes Linux as well as Windows plus whatever Apple is running nowadays.)