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A Replica of the First 4004 Calculator

Posted by kdawson on from the intel-inside-first-post dept.

mcpublic writes "For the 37th anniversary of Intel's 4004, the world's first off-the-shelf, customer-programmable microprocessor, vintage computer enthusiast Bill Kotaska has successfully built a replica of Busicom's historic 141-PF printing calculator using vintage Intel chips. Decades before the ubiquitous 'Intel inside' sticker, Japanese calculator maker Busicom introduced the first product ever built around an Intel microprocessor. Bill's homebrew replica includes a rare Shinshu Seiki Model-102 drum printer and runs firmware extracted from the original Busicom ROMs. Schematics and photos of his re-creation are available at the unofficial 4004 web site, along with Tim McNerney's new PIC-based emulator of the Model-102 printer. The site includes the Busicom 'source code,' 4004 details, interactive simulators, and other goodies for students, engineers, and computer historians." We discussed the 36th 4004 anniversary project here last year.

4 of 63 comments (clear)

  1. He should be incarcerated or worse by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This criminal mind has misappropriated proprietary copyrighted code by the Japanese company Busicom. If he can't wait until 70 years from the death of the author, i.e. until year 2100 or so, jail is too good for him. I hope they throw him to a bunch of radioactive mutated lawyers.

    1. Re:He should be incarcerated or worse by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Your sarcasm detector is miscalibrated. The "insightful" mod is correct, because what he actually said is: "If he had followed the law, this project would not have been possible. Copyright law extends too far."

    2. Re:He should be incarcerated or worse by FuzzyBad-Mofo · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You're right.

      No victim? No crime.

      Unfortunately some legal systems of the world are still based on archaic thought patterns..

  2. Re:Looks complicated by Smivs · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Yes, of course I was joking! This was clearly a significant piece of kit in it's day. My point was simply that a 'replica' should look like the original article....a collection of panels, suspension parts and an engine don't make a replica car. What we were shown is perhaps more properly called a 'working demonstration model'.

    --
    Smivs on the intertubes!