6502

[goflo at pacbell.net]

$.02 more, if you don't mind - You can build a very respectable
processor with
discrete logic - It's not as daunting a task as you might think. The
limiting
factor in the days before cheap LSI was memory, especially RAM -
Expensive and
power-hungry. This was true from vacuum tube computers right on through
the '70s.

Intel originally developed the 4004 under contract to a Japanese
calculator company.
Somewhat later they negotiated a license to sell it on their own hook,
feeling that
its potential use in what are now called microcontroller applications
would enhance
memory sales (Intel's primary business then). Boy, were they right.

The latest 2 Gig Wazooium MMX II is awesome, but the real marvel is that
$40
32 meg SIMM ...

goflo at pacbell.net wrote:
> Don't know how it was done - My guess would be 54XX TTL, although the
> terminology
> itself was not yet standardized then. 74XX numbers were originally Texas
> Instruments
> part numbers. Part # standardization did'nt really come along till the
> '70s.
 
> mrvette wrote:
> > so you are saying that the sapce landing processor used TTl 7400 series chips in
> > an array?   or thousands of discrete transistors?     GENE
 
> > goflo at pacbell.net wrote:
> > > The 4004 was developed by Intel in 1970-71 ...
> > > Prior to that processors were constructed using discrete logic.
> > > 6502 came along much later.