This Was A Big Deal - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: AF6LJ
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: November 16, 2015, 03:20:11 am
content: Maybe i am just old or maybe I am sentimental or who knows.But this story really grabbed my be the brain today.Maybe it is because when I worked at a local company I actually held a development board for one of these and realized then how much of a change it was going to bring into our lives.Every so often in our lives we see something and realize it represents the leading edge of a paradigm change both in engineering and in our daily lives.From Slashdot...The Intel 4004 Microprocessor Turns 44Posted by timothy on Sunday November 15, 2015 @05:08PM from the what's-a-couple-of-zeros-anyhow dept.mcpublic writes:Today is the 44th anniversary of the Intel 4004, the pioneering 4-bit microprocessor that powered the first electronic taxi meters. According to the unaffiliated (and newly renamed) Intel 4004 45th Anniversary Project web site, they have just re-created the complete set of VLSI mask artwork for the 4004 using scalable vector graphics, and updated their Busicom 141-PF calculator replica aimed at collectors and hobbyists. Included is some interesting historical perspective: Back in the early 1970s, there was no electrical CAD software, design-rule checkers were people, and VLSI lithographic masks were hand-crafted on giant light tables by unsung "rubylith cutters."

author: ez24
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 16, 2015, 03:47:57 am
content: I bet some can even remember tossing them out when they became obsoletehttp://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Intel-C4004-4004-CPU-MCS-4-chip-Holy-Grail-of-CPUs-1st-CPU-/181912858930?hash=item2a5ad9f132:g:K-sAAOSwAYtWLROlNow where are those landfills in Silicon Valley?

author: coppice
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 16, 2015, 04:17:15 am
content: The first CPU is historically interestingThe first transistorised CPU is historically interestingThe first single chip CPU is historically interestingThe first MCU is historically interestingCan you tell me what is historically interesting about the 4004?

author: crispy_tofu
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 16, 2015, 04:26:30 am
content: Quote from: coppice on November 16, 2015, 04:17:15 amQuote from: coppice on November 16, 2015, 04:17:15 am

author: coppice
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 16, 2015, 04:41:06 am
content: Quote from: crispy_tofu on November 16, 2015, 04:26:30 amThe 4004 was not the first single chip CPU. It is a little unclear which device was the first single chip CPU, but it was definitely not the 4004.

author: AF6LJ
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: November 16, 2015, 04:59:00 am
content: Quote from: coppice on November 16, 2015, 04:17:15 amThe first CPU implemented in integrated circuit form.It made the computer you are reading this on affordable by just about anyone.

author: AF6LJ
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: November 16, 2015, 05:00:45 am
content: Quote from: coppice on November 16, 2015, 04:41:06 amHow about some examples?If it wasn't the first, than what was?

author: coppice
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 16, 2015, 05:13:14 am
content: Quote from: AF6LJ on November 16, 2015, 05:00:45 amEven Wikipedia knows an F14 was flying with a single chip CPU on board before Intel made the 4004. :-) There were a number of nearly concurrent developments at that time, though, and nobody seems too clear which was the first functional single chip CPU.

author: aargee
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 16, 2015, 06:17:16 am
content: The state of the one in the EBay listing looks as if it comes straight from a land fill as well.

author: Richard Crowley
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 16, 2015, 07:05:53 am
content: Quote from: coppice on November 16, 2015, 05:13:14 amThe CADAC was a secret project developed for the military and not revealed until almost 30 years later.And since it was a Government project, it probably cost $60000 vs. the Intel 4004 at $60.

author: VK3DRB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 16, 2015, 10:59:25 am
content: The eBay bloke is asking $900? Tell him he's dreaming! (Quote from the iconic Aussie movie The Castle).If he gets it we should mine some old calculators...http://www.vintagecalculators.com/html/busicom_141-pf_and_intel_4004.htmlI have a derivative of the 4004 on my 1970's desk calculator.

author: AF6LJ
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: November 16, 2015, 01:45:22 pm
content: Quote from: Richard Crowley on November 16, 2015, 07:05:53 amA calculator chip flying in a fighter jet in secret cannot have the impact on our society that the 4004 did. This is about That chip, the 4004 changed our lives not some piece of silicon used to kill women and children in a far off country to support someone's political agenda.

author: Mechanical Menace
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 16, 2015, 01:49:09 pm
content: Amazing how far they've come in 44 years.Quote from: AF6LJ on November 16, 2015, 01:45:22 pmOh don't sell the 4004 short, I'm sure plenty were used to kill women and children in a far off country to support some politicians business interests.

author: ConKbot
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 16, 2015, 01:52:41 pm
content: Quote from: AF6LJ on November 16, 2015, 01:45:22 pmAs you so kindly pointed out, it was a fighter jet, not a bomber. Meant for fleet protection and air superiority, how about we use our brains a bit before we go off half cocked ranting?

author: AF6LJ
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: November 16, 2015, 02:03:22 pm
content: Quote from: ConKbot on November 16, 2015, 01:52:41 pmSo you are saying it is impossible for an F-15 to attack ground targets?

author: rdl
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 16, 2015, 02:09:24 pm
content: Nobody called the F-14 a bomber in the first place. Now just stop.

author: Delta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 16, 2015, 02:41:23 pm
content: Oh FFS. A thread about historic CPUs goes off down the "all military is nasty wasty and they just like killing women and children"... Pathetic.Anyway, I reckon the AL-1 was the first single chip CPU. But it is unfair to downplay the influence of the 4004, but just as some people think "military = bad", some think "Intel = bad", so that's that to them.

author: Mechanical Menace
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 16, 2015, 03:00:21 pm
content: Quote from: Delta on November 16, 2015, 02:41:23 pmYou're the only person whose said that in this thread :/

author: zapta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 16, 2015, 03:23:02 pm
content: Quote from: Mechanical Menace on November 16, 2015, 03:00:21 pmThe other two are non persons? Trolls? :/

author: AF6LJ
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: November 16, 2015, 03:30:37 pm
content: I did make a statement regarding the microprocessor used in the F-15.Most military developments don't make it into peacetime uses for years to a decade or two.The first Integrated circuits came about shortly after I was born (mid 1950s) We didn't see them make their way into the mainstream until the mid 1960s.Being a true Pro-Life person I don't approve of any items built for offencive uses.A true pro lif'er believes in self defense but nothing more in the ways of violence.

author: Mechanical Menace
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 16, 2015, 03:58:26 pm
content: Quote from: zapta on November 16, 2015, 03:23:02 pmWhich two people said what Delta claimed? I and AF6LJ may have questioned the motives of those sending the military certain places but neither of us said that all the military just love killing kiddies. I've seen the state of the troops who have had to come eye to eye with 'collateral damage" and they definitely don't enjoy the memories.

author: Macbeth
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 16, 2015, 04:25:26 pm
content: So the 4004 could only annihilate women and children. It took another 6 months before Intel released the 8008 patriarchal shitlord killer?

author: AF6LJ
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: November 16, 2015, 04:32:45 pm
content: Quote from: AF6LJ on November 16, 2015, 03:20:11 amSetting the thread back on track.Maybe some of you should actually read what I said before quoting the article.Be back later.

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 16, 2015, 04:37:22 pm
content: Think I still have one in the basement on a board. Must go down and see if i still have that Busicom mainboard down there......

author: retrolefty
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 16, 2015, 07:08:29 pm
content: Quote from: AF6LJ on November 16, 2015, 01:45:22 pmOh, I see what you did there.

author: ez24
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 16, 2015, 07:42:10 pm
content: Quote from: VK3DRB on November 16, 2015, 10:59:25 amNot dreaming too far off, here is one that sold for $521 - start digging into those landfillsor old calculatorshttp://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-INTEL-C4004-White-Golden-Plate-Extremly-Rare-Ceramic-Processor-Cpu-Good-/231740575196?hash=item35f4d08ddc:g:kg4AAOSwniRWOBfV

author: AF6LJ
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: November 16, 2015, 07:56:25 pm
content: I predict landfill prospecting will become the next big thing.