Apple II (1977), one of the first home computers, developed under Steve Jobs.
The microcomputer revolution (also known as the personal computer revolution, home computer revolution, or digital revolution) is a phrase used to describe the rapid advances of MOS microprocessor-based computers, known as microcomputers, from esoteric hobby projects in the 1970s to a commonplace fixture of homes in industrial societies during the 1980s. Prior to 1977, the only contact most of the population had with computers was through utility bills, bank and payroll services, or computer-generated junk mail. Within a decade, home computers became common consumer goods.
The advent of affordable personal computers has had lasting impact on education, business, music, social interaction, and entertainment.
MOS chips and microprocessors[]
MOS transistor (MOSFET), the basis for microcomputers.
Mohamed M. Atalla invented the MOS transistor (1959) and MOS integrated circuit (1960), the basis for microcomputers.
The minicomputer ancestors of the modern personal computer used early integrated circuit (microchip) technology, which reduced size and cost, but they contained no microprocessor. This meant that they were still large and difficult to manufacture just like their mainframe predecessors. After the "computer-on-a-chip" was commercialized, the cost to manufacture a computer system dropped dramatically. The arithmetic, logic, and control functions that previously occupied several costly circuit boards were now available in one integrated circuit, making it possible to produce them in high volume. Concurrently, advances in the development of solid-state memory eliminated the bulky, costly, and power-hungry magnetic-core memory used in prior generations of computers.
The basic building block of every microprocessor and memory chip is the metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET), also known as MOS transistor,[1] which was invented by Mohamed Atalla and Dawon Kahng at Bell Labs in 1959.[2][3] Atalla then proposed the MOS integrated circuit (MOS IC) chip in 1960.[4] The MOS transistor made it possible to build high-density microchips,[5][6] which led to the development of the first microprocessors[7] and memory chips.[1]
Intel 4004 (1971), the first single-chip MOS microprocessor. MOS microprocessors form the basis of microcomputers.
Masatoshi Shima and Stanley Mazor developed the Intel 4004 (1971), the first single-chip microprocessor.
Microprocessors made their 1971 introduction with the Intel 4004, developed at Busicom and Intel by Masatoshi Shima, Frederico Faggin and Stanley Mazor. The single-chip microprocessor was made possible by an improvement in MOS technology, the silicon-gate MOS chip, developed in 1968 by Federico Faggin, who later used silicon-gate MOS technology to develop the first single-chip microprocessor, the Intel 4004, in 1971.[7]
Early microcomputers[]
Sord SMP80/20, one of the first microcomputers, released in 1974. It was a successor to the first microcomputer, the Sord SMP80/08 (1972).
In April 1972, the first microcomputer was developed, Sord Computer Corporation's SMP80/08, based on the Intel 8008 microprocessor. In May 1974, Sord introduced the SMP80/x, based on the Intel 8080, a more powerful and easier to use microprocessor.[8]
Early microcomputers such as the Altair 8800 (1975) from MITS had front-mounted switches and diagnostic lights (nicknamed "blinkenlights") to control and indicate internal system status, and were often sold in kit form to hobbyists. These kits would contain an empty printed circuit board which the buyer would fill with the integrated circuits, other individual electronic components, wires and connectors, and then hand-solder all the connections.[9]
Home computer revolution[]
Steve Jobs developed the Apple II, one of the first home computers, in 1977.
Home computers made their introduction in 1977:
- In North America, the Apple II (developed under Steve Jobs), Commodore PET and TRS-80 debuted in 1977. In retrospect they were dubbed "the 1977 trinity" and considered the watershed in bringing computers to the mainstream market.
Sord M200 Smart Home Computer, one of the first home computers, released in 1977.
- In Japan, Sord Computer Corporation introduced the Sord M200 Smart Home Computer in 1977.[10] Similar to the American trinity, Japan has the term "the three 8-Bit houses" (8ビット御三家, hachi-bitto gosanke) for their most relevant machines of that era. It does not include the aforementioned Sord, but instead the Hitachi Basic Master, Sharp MZ-80K, and NEC PC-8001.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, from about 1977 to 1983, it was widely predicted [11] that computers would soon revolutionize many aspects of home and family life as they had business practices in the previous decades.[12] Mothers would keep their recipe catalog in "kitchen computer" databases and turn to a medical database for help with child care, fathers would use the family's computer to manage family finances and track automobile maintenance. Children would use disk-based encyclopedias for school work and would be avid video gamers. Home automation would bring about the intelligent home of the 1980s. Using Videotex, NAPLPS or some sort of as-yet unrealized computer technology, television would gain interactivity. The personalized newspaper was a commonly predicted application. Morning coffee would be brewed automatically under computer control. The same computer would control the house lighting and temperature. Robots would take the garbage out, and be programmable to perform new tasks by the home computer. Electronics were expensive, so it was generally assumed that each home would have only one multitasking computer for the entire family to use in a timesharing arrangement, with interfaces to the various devices it was expected to control.
See also[]
- History of personal computers
- Golden age of arcade video games
- BASIC
- Computer literacy
- Computer Lib
- Microsoft
- Open Letter to Hobbyists
- Home computer
- Apple II
- Commodore PET
- TRS-80
- Lisp machine
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Colinge, Jean-Pierre; Greer, James C. (2016). Nanowire Transistors: Physics of Devices and Materials in One Dimension. Cambridge University Press. p. 2. ISBN 9781107052406. https://books.google.com/books?id=FvjUCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA2.
- ↑ "1960 - Metal Oxide Semiconductor (MOS) Transistor Demonstrated". The Silicon Engine (Computer History Museum). https://www.computerhistory.org/siliconengine/metal-oxide-semiconductor-mos-transistor-demonstrated/.
- ↑ Lojek, Bo (2007). History of Semiconductor Engineering. Springer Science & Business Media. pp. 321–3. ISBN 9783540342588.
- ↑ Moskowitz, Sanford L. (2016). Advanced Materials Innovation: Managing Global Technology in the 21st century. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 165–167. ISBN 9780470508923. https://books.google.com/books?id=2STRDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA165.
- ↑ "Who Invented the Transistor?". Computer History Museum. 4 December 2013. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
{{cite web}}: - ↑ Hittinger, William C. (1973). "METAL-OXIDE-SEMICONDUCTOR TECHNOLOGY". Scientific American 229 (2): 48–59. Bibcode 1973SciAm.229b..48H. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0873-48. ISSN 0036-8733. JSTOR 24923169.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 "1971: Microprocessor Integrates CPU Function onto a Single Chip". Computer History Museum. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
{{cite web}}: - ↑ http://museum.ipsj.or.jp/en/computer/personal/0086.html
- ↑ "Ed Roberts Interview". Retrieved 22 May 2016.
{{cite web}}: - ↑ http://museum.ipsj.or.jp/en/computer/personal/0087.html
- ↑ The Computer Revolution from eNotes.com
- ↑ The computer revolution from The Eighties Club