[vcf-midatlantic] replying and elaborating to Herb Johnson's postings re: 4004 Based Microcomputer

[Christian Liendo]

I get it and I appreciate the discussion

I have a full blown computer that does nothing other than play games

Our print site has raspberry Pis acting as PLCs because the PLCs are
no longer made and someone wrote software to do the job.

The original Micral was made for industry, in fact Warner and Swasey
licensed it and built them in the US.

So I think this will be an interesting discussion

On Fri, Jan 12, 2024 at 1:48 PM Jeffrey Jonas via vcf-midatlantic
<vcf-midatlantic at lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
>
> This touches upon several of my pet peeves,
> so please pardon the way my reply drones on and on and on
> until I start foaming at the mouth and falling over backwards ... Oh!
> https://youtu.be/DO7VkEFZ7B8 [Monty Python skit]
>
>
> Herb touches upon how our expectations of "computers" have evolved.
> To folks outside the engineering profession,
> "embedded processors", "industrial controllers" and other special-purpose
> machines
> don't look-and-feel like that's now accepted as a "computer".
> Yet the Arduino has made such embedded processing more accessible than ever
> to the hobbyist, experimenter, artist, etc.
>
> Perhaps that applies here: what were once called "computers"
> are now considered embedded processors,
> IoT (Internet of Things) or Internet appliances.
>
> I was about to say how cellphones are more of an appliance than a computer
> by the way most folks just download apps.
> They're not self-hosting, requiring a host system to compile the code.
> But then again, even I am using my home PC as an appliance.
> I rarely program or even customize it.
> I'm running the web browser, text editor, moving files, etc.
>
>
> Having salvaged lotsa vintage electronics, I've seen the insides of lotsa
> equipment.
> I've subscribed to Circuit Cellar from the beginning.
> They were an early advocate of single chip microcontrollers.
> These chips come to mind when thinking of embedded processors
> (in chronological order)
>
>
> 1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_4004
> 1971: the Intel 4004.
> I encountered one deep inside a Calcomp DS12 hard drive controller.
> See page 55 http://www.bitsavers.org/magazines/Datamation/19710801.pdf
>
> [AND FOR THE RECORD:
> the 4004 was the first _commercially_available_ microprocessor.
> The military was first with the MP944 chip set for the
> US Navy's F-14 Tomcat fighter's CADC: completed June 1970.
>
> https://firstmicroprocessor.com/
> https://www.computerhistory.org/siliconengine/microprocessor-integrates-cpu-function-onto-a-single-chip/
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-14_CADC
> https://www.wired.com/story/secret-history-of-the-first-microprocessor-f-14/
> ]
>
>
> 2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_MCS-48
> This family of single chip microcontrollers was released in 1976.
> The IBM PC used them as the keyboard controller
> (allowing a thin coiled cord and serial link instead of ribbon cable and
> parallel interface).
>
>
> 3) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zilog_Z8
> 1979: the Zilog Z8.
> Very popular with hobbyists for the piggyback ROM socket.
> Circuit Cellar / Micromint made many Z8 systems such as FORTH in ROM.
> http://cini.classiccmp.org/pdf/MicroMint/Micromint_Z8_Forth.pdf
>
>
> 4) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PIC_microcontrollers
> 1976: General Instruments' PIC (Peripheral Interface Controller)
> evolved from ROM only to flash memory, so they're easily reprogrammed and
> re-purposed.
> PIC, like PDP, is a name to avoid saying "computer" or "microprocessor".
>
>
> 5) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AVR_microcontrollers
> 1996: Atmel AVR series of single chip microcontrollers.
> Similar to the PIC, popularized by the Arduino.
>
> The Arduino ecosystem is no longer just for experimenters and hobbyists.
> It's now used for Industrial automation and machine controllers,
> replacing embedded processors such as the Z80 and STD bus.
> See:  https://www.automationdirect.com/open-source/home
>
> What scares me is NOT the tool but how you use it.
> Just as everything looks like a nail if you have only a hammer,
> and screwdrivers have been abused as pry bars, wedges, paint-can-openers,
> etc.
> The Arduino is just a tool.
> My fear is the lack of disciplined programming, proper safety engineering
> practices
> and peer review of mission critical devices that risk injury or death.
> I remember the horror of the Therac-25. Do you?
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Therac-25
>
> Even Google knows to throw me relevant ads:
> https://www.onlogic.com/
> "Ideal for IoT, Edge and AI Inferencing applications"
> Just like the movie Westworld, what could possibly go wrong ... go wrong
> ... go wrong
>      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westworld_(film)
>      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westworld_(TV_series)
>
> That's what happens when robots/androids violate Isaac Asimov's "Three Laws
> of Robotics"
>
> 1) A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human
> being to come to harm.
> 2) A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such
> orders would conflict with the First Law.
> 3) A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does
> not conflict with the First or Second Law.
>
>
> and that's the way it is.
>
> -- jeff jonas