Semiconductors & the History of the PC

Semiconductors & the History of the PC (Part Two)

IC Resources is the recruitment partner for some of the most influential companies in the semiconductor industry.  IC Resources provide a large number of semiconductor jobs such as Semiconductor Equipment Engineers, Digital CAD Flow Developers, Analog/Mixed Signal IC Design Engineers, Field Application Engineers (FAE) and Project Management, both permanent and contract for professionals specialising in semiconductors.

The Semiconductor industry is one of the most important industries in the world today. Semiconductors are in fact the cornerstone of the post-modern age, the reason technology surges forward at such a rate and enabled the birth of modern electronics and the instigator of our reliance on electronic gadgets and entertainment and the phenomenon of the home computer. Following on from the previous post, “How Semiconductors Changed the World,” we continue our charting of the history of the personal computer from 1971 to 2001:

• 1971: The unveiling of the Kenbak 1, an 8-bit computer with 256 bytes of memory, considered to be the first personal computer.
• 1973: Based on an Intel 8008 microprocessor, the Micral N form the French company Réalisation d'Études Électroniques (R2E), was the first ever commercial non-kit computer.
• 1975: The Altair 8800 was launched by MIT featuring Intel’s second 8-bit microprocessor the 8080. The S-100 bus became the standard computer bus and its programming language saw the beginnings of Microsoft with Altair BASIC .
• 1976: The single board Apple I, designed and hand built by Steve Wozniack.
• 1977: The Commodore Pet (Personal Electronic Transactor), Commodore's first full-featured computer announced.
  Apple II introduced, replacing the Apple I, featuring a printed circuit motherboard, keyboard, games paddles and a backed up by cassette.
  Based on a TRS-80 microprocessor, the hugely popular Tandy Radioshack desktop computer was launched.
• 1981:  The first time a personal computer was called a PC, IBM based its machine on the Intel 8080 and an OS that they named PC-DOS and which was later renamed MS-DOS.
• 1983: Compaq cloned the IBM PC.
  The launch of the earliest viable PC networking software revived the Novell Corporation.
• 1984: The Apple Macintosh boasted a graphical interface and the first to use a mouse.
  The AT from IBM was launched using an Intel 80286 microprocessor.
• 1985:  A leap forward in the shape of Microsoft Windows.
• 1987: IBMs PS/2 employed 3.5” floppy discs and enjoyed a high resolution video display.
• 1989:  A meeting of minds – Microsoft and IBM form an alliance to develop systems software enhancing MS-DOS, OS/2 and LAN to work with Intel 386 and 486.
  Novell reaches prominence in networking software with the Netware 3.1x range.
• 1990:  Windows 3.0, the next phase in the Microsoft march to OS domination is launched.
• 1993:  Microsoft strikes again with Windows NT. Unlike its predecessors this is not a 16 bit OS, for networking this is the big contender to Novell.
  The Mosaic web browser, credited with popularizing the World Wide Web, is launched.
• 1995:  Not resting on its laurels, Microsoft launches the fully integrated 32 bit Windows 95 to replace Windows 3.11, Windows for Workgroups and MS-DOS. There is also the introduction of the server OS Windows NT 4.0.
• 1998:  Windows 98 integrated 95 and the Microsoft browser IE 4.0.
• 1999:  As a challenger to the growing monopoly that is Windows, Linux is born.
  Novell begins to concentrate more on the internet.
  The dot-com bubble begins to grow as internet based industries spring up.
• 2000:  Windows 2000 arrives with network server software.
  The dot-com bubble bursts, several companies stock prices tumble, some going bust and investors lose millions.
• 2001:  Windows XP replaces Windows 2000.

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How Semiconductors Changed the World

Semiconductors, Human Evolution & the History of the Personal Computer

For semiconductor jobs, IC Resources is the first choice for professionals looking for the next step in their semiconductor career.  IC Resources offer permanent and contract semiconductor jobs such as Semiconductor Equipment Engineers, Digital CAD Flow Developers, Analog/Mixed Signal IC Design Engineers, Field Application Engineers (FAE), Project Management and many more throughout the UK, Europe, USA and Asia Pacific.

There are many examples of inventions and discoveries that academics, theologians and philosophers point to and say that they are the great moments in the history of mankind: discovering fire, inventing the wheel, language, farming, organised religion, the printing press etc. Everybody has a different point of view on this subject. Yet a contender for the title of most important invention in recent times has to be the microprocessor. Without semiconductors there would be no microprocessors, without microprocessors there would be no personal computers, laptops or tablets, no embedded systems providing digital control of appliances and industrial processes, and no mobile phones.

Before the microprocessors incorporated entire CPUs, computer processors had to be built using small and medium scale integrated circuits often containing hundreds of transistors all soldered onto printed circuit boards, several boards would then be interconnected on a chassis. The speed at which these early computers could operate was limited by the distance that signals had to travel between the integrated circuits on the boards. The computers themselves were huge, filling rooms; they were expensive to produce and therefore to buy; they used a lot of electricity to operate and thus produced a tremendous amount of heat. All of these factors made them prohibitive to individual ownership; they were owned and operated by large corporations, governments and universities.

These giants were not personal computers, there would be several terminals hooked into the mainframe or the end user's requests were filtered through operating staff. Computers became more personal with the introduction of the minicomputer such as the LINC and PDP-8 in the 1960s, but these were still roughly the size of a fridge and would cost tens of thousands of pounds to buy.

Then in the early 1970s everything changed with the first commercially available microprocessor, the Intel 4004, and with the introduction of the Kenback signalling the birth of the personal computer. Suddenly the computer could run quicker, was smaller, there were less connections meaning less could go wrong making it more efficient, they were cheaper to produce which pushed the cost of purchasing the PC down. From then on, everybody could afford to own and run a computer and that is why nearly every home in the UK has one today.

This has had a revolutionary effect on the way people live their daily lives, conduct business, learn and, most importantly, enjoy global communication and social interaction; the world has become a community. It is a leap in human evolution that cannot be underestimated in its importance and, when people in the future look back at the history of mankind, this era of technological renaissance could possibly be viewed as our most pivotal moment.

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