9 Mar
2016
9 Mar
'16
4:49 p.m.
On 03/09/2016 09:28 AM, william degnan wrote:
Not a lot is said about early use of microprocessors
in industrial
microcomputers. Everything you read about is so home computing oriented,
but I believe actual sales would have been greater in the industrial space
1974-77.
I compiled a quick thread on my site about the earliest use of
microprocessors in industrial microcomputers on my web site with links to a
related article from EDN Microprocessor Design Series Volume II and scans
of Process Computer Systems product brochures. PCS was a pioneer in
industrial micro-computing.
If anyone has info to share / correct please let me know and I will add to
the thread.
http://vintagecomputer.net/browse_thread.cfm?id=631
Allen-Bradley had a 16-bit mini they called the 7300
Industrial Processor. They sold a lot of them in their 7320
(and 7340, 7360) CNC machine tool controls. (I have one
here.) See :
http://pico-systems.com/images/S_AB7320D.jpg
The row of red LEDs at the bottom of the pic is the front
panel of the 7300 CPU. They had an industrial control bus
that allowed you to connect a wide variety of interface
boards, like encoder counters, DACs, digital inputs and
outputs, etc. It used battery-backed DRAM, and was made
around 1978.
Jon
