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S-100 Bus
The S-100 bus or Altair bus, later standardized as IEEE 696-1983 ''(inactive-withdrawn)'', is an early computer bus designed in 1974 as a part of the Altair 8800. The bus was the first industry standard expansion bus for the microcomputer industry. computers, consisting of processor and peripheral cards, were produced by a number of manufacturers. The bus formed the basis for homebrew computers whose builders (e.g., the Homebrew Computer Club) implemented drivers for CP/M and MP/M. These microcomputers ran the gamut from hobbyist toy to small business workstation and were common in early home computers until the advent of the IBM PC. Architecture The bus is a passive backplane of 100-pin printed circuit board edge connectors wired in parallel. Circuit cards measuring serving the functions of CPU, memory, or I/O interface plugged into these connectors. The bus signal definitions closely follow those of an 8080 microprocessor system, since the Intel 8080 microproce ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ed Roberts (computer Engineer)
Henry Edward Roberts (September 13, 1941 – April 1, 2010) was an American engineer, entrepreneur and medical doctor who invented the first commercially successful microcomputer in 1974. The article gives his date of birth as September 13, 1941. He is most often known as " the father of the personal computer." Roberts founded Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS) in 1970 to sell electronics kits to model rocketry hobbyists, but the first successful product was an electronic calculator kit that was featured on the cover of the November 1971 issue of ''Popular Electronics''. The calculators were very successful and sales topped one million dollars in 1973. A brutal calculator price war left the company deeply in debt by 1974. Roberts then developed the Altair 8800 personal computer that used the new Intel 8080 microprocessor. This was featured on the cover of the January 1975 issue of ''Popular Electronics'', and hobbyists flooded MITS with orders for this $397 com ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sol-20
The Sol-20 was the first fully assembled microcomputer with a built-in keyboard and television output, what would later be known as a home computer. The design was the integration of an Intel 8080-based motherboard, a VDM-1 graphics card, the 3P+S I/O card to drive a keyboard, and circuitry to connect to a cassette deck for program storage. Additional expansion was available via five S-100 bus slots inside the machine. It also included swappable ROM cartridge, ROMs that the manufacturer called 'personality modules', containing a rudimentary operating system. The design was originally suggested by Les Solomon, the editor of ''Popular Electronics''. He asked Bob Marsh of Processor Technology if he could design a Computer terminal, smart terminal for use with the Altair 8800. Lee Felsenstein, who shared a garage working space with Marsh, had previously designed such a terminal but never built it. Reconsidering the design using modern electronics, they agreed the best solution was t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cromemco
Cromemco, Inc. was a Mountain View, California microcomputer company known for its high-end Z80-based S-100 bus computers and peripherals in the early days of the personal computer revolution. The company began as a partnership in 1974 between Harry Garland and Roger Melen, two Stanford Ph.D. students. The company was named for their residence at Stanford University ( Crothers Memorial, a Stanford dormitory reserved for engineering graduate students). Cromemco was incorporated in 1976 and their first products were the Cromemco Cyclops digital camera, and the Cromemco Dazzler color graphics interface - both groundbreaking at the time - before they moved on to making computer systems. In December 1981, ''Inc.'' magazine named Cromemco in the top ten fastest-growing privately held companies in the U.S. In 1987, it was acquired by Dynatech Corporation of Boston. Early history The collaboration that was to become Cromemco began in 1970 when Harry Garland and Roger Melen, gra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roger Melen
Roger Douglas Melen (1946–2024) was an electrical engineer recognized for his early contributions to the microcomputer industry, and for his technical innovations. Dr. Melen was co-founder of Cromemco, one of the earliest microcomputer companies. At Cromemco he developed color graphics systems that were widely used in television broadcast, and in mission planning systems deployed by the United States Air Force. He also developed the first microcomputer systems widely distributed in China. In addition to his work in microcomputer systems and color graphics, Dr. Melen has made significant technical contributions to the development of CCD image sensors, ultrasonic imaging systems, implantable cochlear devices, image processing technology, and vehicular information systems. He has been recognized as one of the most important inventors and innovators in the history of Silicon Valley. Early contributions As a young man, Roger Melen enjoyed ham radio, operating an amateur radio st ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harry Garland
Harry T. Garland (born 1947) is a scientist, engineer, author, and entrepreneur who co-founded Cromemco Inc., one of the earliest and most successful microcomputer companies. He received the B.A. degree in mathematics from Kalamazoo College, and the Ph.D. degree in biophysics from Stanford University. Dr. Garland has been recognized as one of the most important innovators in the development of personal computers in Silicon Valley. Personal life He is the son of Harry G. Garland, the founder of Garland Manufacturing. Stanford University Garland began his graduate work at Stanford University in 1968. Garland's research at Stanford focused on the function of the human brain in controlling voluntary movement. He developed techniques in electromyography for monitoring muscle activity during voluntary movement and worked to delineate the role of the brain and the role of local reflexes in the control of muscles. This led to a deeper understanding of brain function during voluntary ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Signal (electrical Engineering)
A signal is both the process and the result of transmission of data over some media accomplished by embedding some variation. Signals are important in multiple subject fields including signal processing, information theory and biology. In signal processing, a signal is a function that conveys information about a phenomenon. Any quantity that can vary over space or time can be used as a signal to share messages between observers. The '' IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing'' includes audio, video, speech, image, sonar, and radar as examples of signals. A signal may also be defined as observable change in a quantity over space or time (a time series), even if it does not carry information. In nature, signals can be actions done by an organism to alert other organisms, ranging from the release of plant chemicals to warn nearby plants of a predator, to sounds or motions made by animals to alert other animals of food. Signaling occurs in all organisms even at cellular level ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edge Connector
An edge connector is the portion of a printed circuit board (PCB) consisting of signal trace, traces leading to the edge of the board that are intended to plug into a matching jack (connector), socket. The edge connector is a money-saving device because it only requires a single discrete female connector (the male connector is formed out of the edge of the PCB), and they also tend to be fairly robust and durable. They are commonly used in computers for expansion slots for peripheral cards, such as Peripheral Component Interconnect, PCI, PCI Express, and Accelerated Graphics Port, AGP cards. Socket design Edge connector sockets consist of a plastic "box" open on one side, with pins on one or both sides of the longer edges, sprung to push into the middle of the open center. Connectors are often Key (engineering), keyed to ensure the correct Electrical polarity, polarity, and may contain bumps or notches both for polarity and to ensure that the wrong type of device is not inserte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Central Processing Unit
A central processing unit (CPU), also called a central processor, main processor, or just processor, is the primary Processor (computing), processor in a given computer. Its electronic circuitry executes Instruction (computing), instructions of a computer program, such as arithmetic, logic, controlling, and input/output (I/O) operations. This role contrasts with that of external components, such as main memory and I/O circuitry, and specialized coprocessors such as graphics processing units (GPUs). The form, CPU design, design, and implementation of CPUs have changed over time, but their fundamental operation remains almost unchanged. Principal components of a CPU include the arithmetic–logic unit (ALU) that performs arithmetic operation, arithmetic and Bitwise operation, logic operations, processor registers that supply operands to the ALU and store the results of ALU operations, and a control unit that orchestrates the #Fetch, fetching (from memory), #Decode, decoding and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cromemco XXU S-100 Processor
Cromemco, Inc. was a Mountain View, California microcomputer company known for its high-end Z80-based S-100 bus computers and peripherals in the early days of the personal computer revolution. The company began as a partnership in 1974 between Harry Garland and Roger Melen, two Stanford Ph.D. students. The company was named for their residence at Stanford University ( Crothers Memorial, a Stanford dormitory reserved for engineering graduate students). Cromemco was incorporated in 1976 and their first products were the Cromemco Cyclops digital camera, and the Cromemco Dazzler color graphics interface - both groundbreaking at the time - before they moved on to making computer systems. In December 1981, ''Inc.'' magazine named Cromemco in the top ten fastest-growing privately held companies in the U.S. In 1987, it was acquired by Dynatech Corporation of Boston. Early history The collaboration that was to become Cromemco began in 1970 when Harry Garland and Roger Melen, graduate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Non-maskable Interrupt
In computing, a non-maskable interrupt (NMI) is a hardware interrupt that standard interrupt-masking techniques in the system cannot ignore. It typically occurs to signal attention for non-recoverable hardware errors. Some NMIs may be masked, but only by using proprietary methods specific to the particular NMI. With regard to SPARC, the non-maskable interrupt (NMI), despite having the highest priority among interrupts, can be prevented from occurring through the use of an interrupt mask. An NMI is often used when response time is critical or when an interrupt should never be disabled during normal system operation. Such uses include reporting non-recoverable hardware errors, system debugging and profiling, and handling of special cases like system resets. Modern computer architectures typically use NMIs to handle non-recoverable errors which need immediate attention. Therefore, such interrupts should not be masked in the normal operation of the system. These errors include non-r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zilog Z80
The Zilog Z80 is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit microprocessor designed by Zilog that played an important role in the evolution of early personal computing. Launched in 1976, it was designed to be Backward compatibility, software-compatible with the Intel 8080, offering a compelling alternative due to its better Integrated circuit, integration and increased performance. Along with the 8080's seven Processor register, registers and flags register, the Z80 introduced an alternate register set, two 16-bit index registers, and additional instructions, including bit manipulation and block copy/search. Originally intended for use in embedded systems like the 8080, the Z80's combination of compatibility, affordability, and superior performance led to widespread adoption in video game systems and home computers throughout the late 1970s and early 1980s, helping to fuel the personal computing revolution. The Z80 was used in iconic products such as the Osborne 1, TRS-80, Radio Shack TRS-80, Col ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zilog
Zilog, Inc. is an American manufacturer of microprocessors, microcontrollers, and application-specific embedded System on a chip, system-on-chip (SoC) products. The company was founded in 1974 by Federico Faggin and Ralph Ungermann, who were soon joined by Masatoshi Shima. All three had left Intel after working on the Intel 4004, 4004 and Intel 8080, 8080 microprocessors. The company's most famous product is the Zilog Z80, Z80 microprocessor, which played an important role in the evolution of early computing. Backward compatible, Software-compatible with the Intel 8080, it offered a compelling alternative due to its lower cost and increased performance, propelling it to widespread adoption in video game systems and home computers during the late 1970s and early 1980s. The name, pronounced with a long "i" (), is an acronym of ''Z integrated logic'', also thought of as "Z for the last word of Integrated Logic". History Zilog was started in California in 1974 by Federico Faggin and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
