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Comp-Sultants
The Micro 440 was an early microcomputer released by Comp-Sultants, Inc.. Powered by an Intel 4040 microprocessor, it was, by ''Byte'' magazine's estimation, the first third-party computer based on that chip. It sold poorly, and the company folded after less than two years, although the Micro 440 found some popularity after its demise among hobbyists as a bare-bones chassis. Background and development Comp-Sultants was formally incorporated in Huntsville, Alabama by Paul and Joanne Bloom and Brian Nelson in 1973. Paul Bloom was the company's president and spent the first few years at Comp-Sultants designing early microprocessor-based real-time programmable logic controllers, including one for a cold-forge machine and another for an injection-molding machine. Although the company was incorporated in 1973, according to a classified ad in a 1969 issue of ''Software Age'', the company had been active for four years, offering translation services for software to run on the GE-200 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Intel 4040
The Intel 4040 ("''forty-forty''") is the second 4-bit microprocessor designed and manufactured by Intel. Introduced in 1974 as a successor to the Intel 4004, the 4040 was produced with a 10 μm process and includes silicon gate enhancement-load PMOS logic technology. The 4040 contained 3,000 transistors and could execute approximately 62,000 instructions per second. General performance, bus layout and arithmetic logic unit (ALU) were identical to the 4004. The main improvement was to use a larger 24-pin dual in-line package, giving it 8 more pins than the 16-pin 4004. Two of these were used to implement interrupts, which were lacking in the 4004 and considered a major oversight. Two more implemented a halt/stop system, which put the processor into a low-power mode and also allowed for single-step operation that made debugging much easier. Another pin was used to bank select a second read-only memory (ROM), doubling the amount of ROM the processor could address compare ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Altair 8800
The Altair 8800 is a microcomputer introduced in 1974 by Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS) based on the Intel 8080 CPU. It was the first commercially successful personal computer. Interest in the Altair 8800 grew quickly after it was featured on the cover of the January 1975 issue of ''Popular Electronics''. It was sold by mail order through advertisements in ''Popular Electronics'', ''Radio-Electronics'', and in other hobbyist magazines. The Altair 8800 had no built-in screen or video output, so it would have to be connected to a serial terminal (such as a VT100-compatible terminal) to have any output. To connect it to a terminal, a serial interface card had to be installed. Alternatively, the Altair could be programmed using its front-panel switches. According to the personal computer pioneer Harry Garland, the Altair 8800 was the product that catalyzed the microcomputer revolution of the 1970s. The computer bus designed for the Altair became a ''de facto'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Source-code Editor
A source-code editor is a text editor program designed specifically for editing source code of computer programs. It may be a standalone application or it may be built into an integrated development environment (IDE). Features Source-code editors have features specifically designed to simplify and speed up typing of source code, such as syntax highlighting, Indentation style, indentation, autocomplete and brace matching functionality. These editors may also provide a convenient way to run a compiler, Interpreter (computing), interpreter, debugger, or other program relevant for the software-development process. So, while many text editors like Microsoft Notepad, Notepad can be used to edit source code, if they do not enhance, automate or ease the editing of code, they are not ''source-code editors''. Structure editors are a different form of source-code editor, where instead of editing raw text, one manipulates the code's structure, generally the abstract syntax tree. In this case ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Debugger
A debugger is a computer program used to test and debug other programs (the "target" programs). Common features of debuggers include the ability to run or halt the target program using breakpoints, step through code line by line, and display or modify the contents of memory, CPU registers, and stack frames. The code to be examined might alternatively be running on an '' instruction set simulator'' (ISS), a technique that allows great power in its ability to halt when specific conditions are encountered, but which will typically be somewhat slower than executing the code directly on the appropriate (or the same) processor. Some debuggers offer two modes of operation, full or partial simulation, to limit this impact. An exception occurs when the program cannot normally continue because of a programming bug or invalid data. For example, the program might have tried to use an instruction not available on the current version of the CPU or attempted to access unavailable or pro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Machine Code Monitor
A machine code monitor ( machine language monitor) is software that allows a user to enter commands to view and change memory address, memory locations on a computer, with options to load and save memory contents from/to secondary storage. Some full-featured machine code monitors provide detailed control ("single-stepping") of the execution of machine language programs (much like a debugger), and include absolute-address Assembly language#Assembler, code assembly and disassembler, disassembly capabilities. Motorola published the MIKBUG ROM monitor for the 6800 in 1973 and the BUFFALO ROM monitor for the Motorola 68HC11, 68HC11. Machine code monitors became popular during the home computer era of the 1970s and 1980s and were sometimes available as resident firmware in some computers (e.g., the built-in monitors in the Commodore 128, Zenith Z-89, Heathkit H89 and Zenith laptops). Often, computer manufacturers rely on their ROM-resident monitors to permit users to reconfigure their ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Read-only Memory
Read-only memory (ROM) is a type of non-volatile memory used in computers and other electronic devices. Data stored in ROM cannot be electronically modified after the manufacture of the memory device. Read-only memory is useful for storing software that is rarely changed during the life of the system, also known as firmware. Software applications, such as video games, for programmable devices can be distributed as ROM cartridge, plug-in cartridges containing ROM. Strictly speaking, ''read-only memory'' refers to hard-wired memory, such as diode matrix or a #Solid-state ROM, mask ROM integrated circuit (IC), that cannot be electronically changed after manufacture. Although discrete circuits can be altered in principle, through the addition of Jump wire, bodge wires and the removal or replacement of components, ICs cannot. Correction of errors, or updates to the software, require new devices to be manufactured and to replace the installed device. Floating-gate ROM semiconductor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Power Supply Unit (computer)
A power supply unit (PSU) converts Mains electricity, mains AC to low-voltage regulated DC power for the internal components of a desktop computer. Modern personal computers universally use switched-mode power supply, switched-mode power supplies. Some Power supply, power supplies have a manual switch for selecting input voltage, while others automatically adapt to the main voltage. Most modern desktop personal computer power supplies conform to the ATX, ATX specification, which includes form factor and voltage tolerances. While an ATX power supply is connected to the mains supply, it always provides a 5-volt standby (5VSB) power so that the standby functions on the computer and certain peripherals are powered. ATX power supplies are turned on and off by a signal from the motherboard. They also provide a signal to the motherboard to indicate when the DC voltages are in spec, so that the computer is able to safely power up and boot. The most recent ATX PSU standard is version 3.0 a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Teletype
A teleprinter (teletypewriter, teletype or TTY) is an electromechanical device that can be used to send and receive typed messages through various communications channels, in both point-to-point and point-to-multipoint configurations. Initially, from 1887 at the earliest, teleprinters were used in telegraphy. Electrical telegraphy had been developed decades earlier in the late 1830s and 1840s, then using simpler Morse key equipment and telegraph operators. The introduction of teleprinters automated much of this work and eventually largely replaced skilled operators versed in Morse code with typists and machines communicating faster via Baudot code. With the development of early computers in the 1950s, teleprinters were adapted to allow typed data to be sent to a computer, and responses printed. Some teleprinter models could also be used to create punched tape for data storage (either from typed input or from data received from a remote source) and to read back such tap ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Light-emitting Diode
A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor device that emits light when current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy in the form of photons. The color of the light (corresponding to the energy of the photons) is determined by the energy required for electrons to cross the band gap of the semiconductor. White light is obtained by using multiple semiconductors or a layer of light-emitting phosphor on the semiconductor device. Appearing as practical electronic components in 1962, the earliest LEDs emitted low-intensity infrared (IR) light. Infrared LEDs are used in remote-control circuits, such as those used with a wide variety of consumer electronics. The first visible-light LEDs were of low intensity and limited to red. Early LEDs were often used as indicator lamps, replacing small incandescent bulbs, and in seven-segment displays. Later developments produced LEDs available in visible, ultraviolet (U ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Toggle Switch
In electrical engineering, a switch is an electrical component that can disconnect or connect the conducting path in an electrical circuit, interrupting the electric current or diverting it from one conductor to another. The most common type of switch is an electromechanical device consisting of one or more sets of movable electrical contacts connected to external circuits. When a pair of contacts is touching current can pass between them, while when the contacts are separated no current can flow. Switches are made in many different configurations; they may have multiple sets of contacts controlled by the same knob or actuator, and the contacts may operate simultaneously, sequentially, or alternately. A switch may be operated manually, for example, a light switch or a keyboard button, or may function as a sensor, sensing element to sense the position of a machine part, liquid level, pressure, or temperature, such as a thermostat. Many specialized forms exist, such as the toggle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Random-access Memory
Random-access memory (RAM; ) is a form of Computer memory, electronic computer memory that can be read and changed in any order, typically used to store working Data (computing), data and machine code. A random-access memory device allows data items to be read (computer), read or written in almost the same amount of time irrespective of the physical location of data inside the memory, in contrast with other direct-access data storage media (such as hard disks and Magnetic tape data storage, magnetic tape), where the time required to read and write data items varies significantly depending on their physical locations on the recording medium, due to mechanical limitations such as media rotation speeds and arm movement. In today's technology, random-access memory takes the form of integrated circuit (IC) chips with MOSFET, MOS (metal–oxide–semiconductor) Memory cell (computing), memory cells. RAM is normally associated with Volatile memory, volatile types of memory where s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
