On 3/10/2019 7:30 PM, Guy Dunphy via cctalk wrote:
That's fascinating, thanks. I'd never heard of it.
The Intel 4004 came out in 1971.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_4004
I'd understood that was the first chip that could be considered a 'processor'
(though it required some support chips to do anything.)
The TI Cal-Tech design was begun in 1965 and they had a working calculator in 1967. I
wonder if the chips in that had any kind of code programmability?
Looking at the vintage calculator page, I would give the "FAR EAST" my
vote for the first processor type chips. Everything was in-house
development you can say they all came out at the same time. Look at TTL
pre 1970 4 gate logic, after 1970 74181 alu 7416x 4 bit counters 7489
16x4 RAM. About 1973 Tristate logic and 32x8 , 256x4 PROMS.
Guy