computer & microprocessor History

The computer

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The first Apple prototype—using a Mostek 6502 microprocessor, four kilobytes of memory, and a cassette recorder for storage of programs and data—smithsonian Institution.

One of the great success stories of the computer industry is that of Apple Computer, Inc., which developed the Apple II, one of the first more or less user-friendly desktop computers. The computer was assembled in 1976 by a couple of enterprising kids in their parents’ garage using standard parts that were readily available, designed around the new, cheap 6502 chip manufactured by Mostek. Within months, dozens of companies were developing software to run on Apple’s new machine. The big breakthrough for Apple came with the development of the first truly successful spreadsheet program, VisiCalc, in 1979. In its first year, VisiCalc was available only on the Apple; and it was so successful that it resulted in the sale of many Apple computers to businesses and individuals who wanted or needed to have VisiCalc.

Origional Apple Computer model

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The first commercial Apple computer, with its own keyboard, monitor,

disk drives and power supply.

The Special Protection for Computer Chips

Back in 1984, before it was clear that copyright would or could be made to effectively protect computer programs, the computer industry convinced Congress to pass a statute creating exclusive rights in computer semiconductor chips.

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The first microprocessor chip, the Intel 4004, containing 2250 transistors on a single chip.

A semiconductor chip is defined in the statute as a product “having two or more layers of metallic, insulating, or semiconductor material, deposited or otherwise placed on, or etched away or otherwise removed from, a piece of semiconductor material in accordance with a predetermined pattern.” These chips are usually made of silicon crystal, and the patterns are etched into the chips in layers so that they interact like miniature electronic circuits, connecting miniature transistors (that is, circuits that control other circuits). The chips are made up of as many as a dozen or more layers: each layer is designed by making a large scale “mask work,” which functions something like a photographic negative in that it allows the making of copies. The images produced from the mask works are miniaturized and embedded one on top of the other to make the three-dimensional semiconductor chip. It’s these chips that form the guts of virtually all computers manufactured today. Their main feature is that they are tiny: a sophisticated chip like the Intel Pentium CPU chip measures only 1.5 square inches, yet contains 3.1 million transistors.

The original Macintosh desktop

Apple’s next breakthrough was the development of the Macintosh computer in 1984. The Mac, as it came to be known, represented the first major successful use of a graphical user interface to run a desktop computer. Instead of typing in archaic lines of code that were gibberish to the uninitiated, the idea of the Macintosh was that major computer functions were represented by images, or icons. The user could run the computer by simply clicking on pictures. For example, to open a particular application, you didn’t have to type in the name of the program you wanted to run, but, using a pointing device known as a mouse, you just moved a cursor to a picture of the program and clicked twice. To open a file, or a work in progress, you just double-clicked on a visual representation of the file. The images were laid out on the screen in ways that allowed for their easy manipulation. You could store files in folders, and folders in folders, to organize your programs and data. You could click on “windows” that contained different groups of programs and data, and move the images from one window to another. You could open windows to work on them, and close them to clear them away from the screen while you worked on something else.

The microprocessor chip which runs on TRON

The microprocessor chip which runs on TRON, an operating system developed nearly 20 years ago. TRON has become the most widely used operating system, even more so than Microsoft’s Windows, having claimed the dominant share as the basic software for microprocessors used in digital gadgets. Had Sakamura decided to charge even one cent to each user of TRON, he would have been a billionaire by now.

HE could have been as rich as Bill Gates, but Ken Sakamura says he’s fine earning enough to lead an "ordinary life

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The smallest microchip work on TRON

For in the world of computers the obscure Japanese engineer stands in the top rank along with Gates, having developed an operating system that is more widely used than even Microsoft Corp’s Windows.
Sakamura’s system, TRON, is used to run items ranging from digital cameras to car engines, just as Windows operates personal computers.
What sets the two systems apart —and the fortunes of Sakamura and Gates —is that while Windows must be bought from Microsoft, TRON is distributed free of charge.
Had Sakamura decided to charge even one cent to each user of TRON, he would easily be a dollar billionaire by now, possibly even rivalling Gates, reputed to be the world’s richest man with a fortune estimated at $43 billion by Forbes magazine.
"I’m the engineer type, not a businessman," says Sakamura, 51, a professor at the University of Tokyo who developed the software nearly 20 years ago.
"I think Mr Gates is more of a businessman," he laughs, adding that he is happy with the salary paid by the school.
"As long as I’m leading an ordinary life, I have no problems."
According to a Tokyo University official, the annual salaries of its professors, excluding bonuses and allowances, range from seven to 10 million yen ($59-85,000). TRON is an "embedded" operating system running inside microprocessors, which control electronic devices ranging from mobile phones to fax machines and even kitchen appliances. Sakamura estimates that it is used in some three to four billion such appliances around the world, far outnumbering Windows, which controls an estimated 150 million computers.