27 Jan
2011
27 Jan
'11
12:30 p.m.
On 26 Jan 2011 at 18:56, Tony Duell wrote:
I can weasel my way out of that one by claiming that a chip -- on its own
-- is never a computer. It needs power, possibly a clock signal, etc
before it does anything.
More seriously, from what you say, I think I would consider it a computer
in some applications but maybe not in all. To give you another example,
is a Z80-based machine a compouter? Well, jasut behind me is a TRS-80
Model 4 which uses the Z80 as its processor,. I think most, if not all,
of us would call that a computer/ But next to it is an HP terminal that
uses a Z80 as its controller. It is not user programamble, it can only
ever runs the firmware. So I'd probably call that a terminal, not a
computer, at least when I'm using it (when I am repairing it, of course,
I have to know how the Z80 executes code, what the Z80 opcodes are, etc).
-tony
'A computer must be programamble' is not
the same thing as 'Any
programmable device is a computer'. I would class a Jacquard loom as a
programamble non-computational device.
Would you consider the MC14500 to be a "computer"? Motorola didn't
term it as such (they called it an "Industrial Control Unit"), but I
submit that it can be made to calculate, is programmable, and so is a
computer.