This is the first edition of a regular series of posts with links, images and articles of interest, inspired by Adam Tooze’s excellent Chartbook.
Each edition will start with a beautiful die picture. We’re starting with an image of an Intel Pentium 2 courtesy of Martijn Boer.
Federico Faggin’s Chip Art
We’ve discussed the origins and development of the 4004 (with more to come!)
When Federico Faggin was developing the 4004 he ‘signed’ the 4004 with his initials (seen on the right below).
The initials appear (in different places) in both the pre-production and production layouts. Faggin explains his rationale for signing the chips here.
Artists also sign their work not only to help others identify their work but also to give themselves a sense of completion.
This may be the first example of ‘chip art’ which has subsequently become much more extravagant.
8-Bit Workshop
My personal 'find of the week’. An online integrated development environment for 8-bit systems.
The 8-bit workshop includes emulators for a number of home computers and games systems along with lots more to explore.
It’s a shame it’s not open source, for no other reason that I’m sure many people would be happy to add new systems to those already available. Nonetheless well worth investigating.
Sir Clive Sinclair’s Transistor Manual
Many readers will be familiar with the late Sir Clive Sinclair of ZX Spectrum and C5 fame. Fewer may be familiar with the fact that he started as an author of technical books. Here is his transistor circuits manual from 1960 written when he was just 20 years old.
We can get a flavour of Sir Clive’s writing style from the first page.
For those not familiar with pre-decimalisation British currency, 18/0d was 18 shillings, equivalent to £0.90. Adjusted for inflation this would be around £22 now or roughly $25. So that’s $25 for one transistor!
Inside Intel
If you’re interested in the early history of Intel, then Tim Jackson’s Inside Intel is a detailed and pacy, if controversial (some of the accounts in it have been disputed) read.
To quote one Amazon review
If you're sick of the upbeat tone of many computer industry sagas, you'll definitely enjoy Inside Intel, Tim Jackson's investigation into the secrets of Intel's success. Instead of the usual cast of blue-eyed whiz-kid billionaires, you'll find a darker story of brilliant technical coups tempered by serious blunders and savage competition. Naturally, technical innovation lies at the heart of the story, but Intel didn't always get it right--and sometimes teetered close to ruin.
I believe that it’s out of print (it was published in 1997) but it’s available to borrow from the Internet Archive here. Enjoy but treat with a degree of scepticism!
Now The Chips Are Down
Returning to the subject of UK pioneers, one BBC TV program is credited for igniting interest in personal computing in the UK.
‘Now the Chips Are Down’ was broadcast by the BBC in 1978 and features cameos from some important figures, including Robert Noyce, pictured above with an image of the Intel 8080. It also contains some interesting footage of the semiconductor manufacturing processes of the time.
There is a copy of the documentary on DailyMotion here. The BBC’s iPlayer has a higher quality extended version here with a studio discussion at the end, but this seems to be IP blocked outside of the UK.
The program was highly influential. It led to the BBC’s Computer Literacy project, which in turn led to the creation of the BBC Micro and then Arm.
Finally, I plan to start posting more links on my twitter account so please head on over and say hello.
Thanks again for reading!