4-bits, 8-bits, and a dollar!

In the beginning of the computer revolution, information about semiconductors (microprocessors, A/D converters, RAM, DRAM, EPROM, etc.) was only available in books that the semiconductor manufacturers printed. The semiconductor representatives were the lifeblood of our revolution!

I just skimmed the Wikipedia entry for the Cromemco [a]. Apparently, the Cromemco computer was known for its reliability. That was not my personal experience. However, I was wrong about the bus voltages. The S-100 bus [b] had bulk unregulated +8 Volt DC and ±16 Volt DC. It was an oven mounted with floppy drives!

[a] Cromemco - Wikipedia

[b] S-100 bus - Wikipedia

I built several projects using the Intel 8085, and I built one product. The product was very successful and it never experienced an race conditions or deadlocks. It was highly stable because I used a dead simple approach. That's what I'm talking about in this podcast. I hope you find it interesting.

Back in the 1970s and early 1980s programmers (i.e. developers, software engineers, etc.) had fun writing code. Working on PCs and SBCs, we were in a new world. We had to create this innovative technology, and there weren't any standards for writing comments, so we had fun with them.

Is it wrong for an unsupervised 10-year-old kid to make a solar cell using asbestos, phosphorous, and a 2,600-degree furnace? Well, it turned out fine for me, but I never let any of my kids even come close to doing this.

I tell a story about creating a device that interfaced a minicomputer to a machine that created three million volts to simulate a lightning strike. 

To reminisce means to indulge in an enjoyable recollection of past events. Since I actually grew up in technology, I've decided to share some of my memories. For me, I've had a wonderful time. I began learning electronics and computer programming when I was ten years old. My dad was a professor at Bradley University so, on weekends, he'd go in to prepare for his classes and I had the full run of the labs and even access to the IBM mainframe. Life was great!

Today's memory is of my experience in troubleshooting what, today, we'd call a single board computer. However, it was a 4-bit computer with 256 bits of memory! I hope you enjoy my memory.