mcpublic - Slashdot User

Submission + - First replica built, mother-of-all 'Intel inside's (4004.com)

Submitted by

mcpublic

on Saturday November 15, 2008 @05:24AM

mcpublic writes: "For the 37th anniversary of Intel's 4004, the world's first COTS, customer-programmable microprocessor launched on November 15th, 1971, vintage computer enthusiast Bill Kotaska has successfully built the first replica of Busicom's historic 141-PF printing calculator using vintage Intel chips. Decades before the ubiquitous 'Intel inside' sticker, Japanese calculator maker Busicom introduced the first product ever to sport an Intel microprocessor inside. Bill's homebrew replica includes a rare Shinshu Seiki Model-102 drum printer and runs firmware extracted from the original Busicom ROMs. Schematics and photos of his re-creation are available at the unofficial 4004 web site, along with Tim McNerney's new PIC-based emulator of the Model-102 printer. As reported here last year, the web site includes the Busicom 'source code', 4004 details, interactive simulators, and other goodies for students, engineers, and computer historians alike."

Submission + - Historians Recreate Source Code of First 4004 App

Submitted by

mcpublic

on Thursday November 15, 2007 @08:40AM

mcpublic writes: "The team of 'digital archeologists' who developed the technology behind the Intel Museum's 4004 microprocessor exhibit have done it again. 36 years after Intel introduced their first microprocessor on November 15, 1971, these computer historians have turned the spotlight on the first application software ever written for a general-purpose microprocessor: the Busicom 141-PF calculator. At the team's web site you can download and play with an authentic calculator simulator that sports a cool animated flowchart. Want to find out how Busicom's Masatoshi Shima compressed an entire four-function, printing calculator into only 1,024 bytes of ROM? Check out the newly recreated assembly language "source code," extensively analyzed, documented, and commented by the team's newest member: Hungary's Lajos Kintli. 'He is an amazing reverse-engineer,' recounts team leader Tim McNerney, 'We understood the disassembled calculator code well enough to simulate it, but Lajos really turned it into "source code" of the highest standards.'"

Submission + - Intel releases 4004 microprocessor schematics

Submitted by

mcpublic

on Tuesday November 14, 2006 @03:38AM

mcpublic writes: "Intel is celebrating the 35th anniversary of the Intel 4004, their very first microprocessor, in a way they've never done before, by releasing the chip's schematics, maskworks, and users manual to the public for non-commercial use. This historic revelation was championed by Tim McNerney, who designed the Intel Museum's newest interactive exhibit. Opening on November 15th, the exhibit will feature a fully-functional, 130x scale replica of the 4004 microprocessor running the the very first software written for the 4004. To create a giant Busicom 141-PF calculator for the museum, 'digital archeologists,' Fred Huettig, Brian Silverman, and Barry Silverman, first had to reverse-engineer the 4004 schematics and the Busicom software. Their re-drawn and verified schematics plus an animated 4004 simulator written in Java are available at the team's unofficial 4004 web site. Digital copies of the original Intel engineering documents are available by request from the Intel Corporate Archives. Intel first announced their 2,300 transistor 'micro-programmable computer on a chip' in Electronic News on November 15, 1971, proclaiming 'a new era of integrated electronics.' Who would have guessed how right they were?"

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