A Brief History of British Computing VCF PNW 2019
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Presented at the Vintage Computer Festival (VCF) Pacific North West (PNW) March 24th 2019. This talk will briefly cover the computers, technology and people from British computing history, including some of the more obscure and less well-known stories. We'll quickly review some British contributions to the early days of computers, then move on to the exciting times of the 70's & 80's. In those days the British home computing scene was the most active and innovative outside of the USA, but many British computers never made it to these shores and are largely unknown on this side of the pond. We'll finish up with some good places to see computers in the UK next time you visit.
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A Brief History of British Computing VCF PNW 2019
- 1. A Brief History of British Computing Steve Jamieson VCF March 2019
- 2. Charles Babbage, 1791-1871 • Mathematician - insurance, post office, economics, cryptography • 1828 – Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge • 1822 – Difference Engine #1 started – never completed • 1847 – Difference Engine #2 started... completed 1991 • 1833 – Analytical Engine – concepts & designs only, never built • Punched card control – like Jacquard loom • Purely mechanical, decimal, store, arithmetic unit ("mill") • Loops & branches possible, "Turing complete" • 1910 – "mill" built & demo'd (Henry Babbage) • 1834 – Ada Lovelace writes first "computer program"
- 3. 1847/1991 Difference Engine #2 1834 Analytical Engine trial model
- 4. Ada Lovelace, "Notes", 1834
- 5. George Boole, 1815-1864 • Largely self-taught mathematician, did not attend university • Spent early part of his life as a schoolteacher • 1844 - gold prize for his paper from the Royal Society • 1849 - professor of mathematics at Queen's College, Cork • 1854 – The Laws of Thought, introduced basic "boolean logic" • 1937 – Rediscovered by Claude Shannon, MIT Master's Thesis • AFAIK, the only guy to have a datatype named after him...
- 6. Early Days... but first, a few "translations"... USA • Vacuum Tube • Rube Goldberg • Mains Power - 110 V, 60 Hz • TV - NTSC, 525 lines/60 fps • Cable, 100+ channels • AT&T (phones only) • Zee • NSA UK • (Thermionic) Valve • Heath Robinson • Mains Power - 240 V, 50 Hz • TV - PAL, 625 lines/50 fps • BBC (2) + ITV (2) • GPO "Post Office" (mail + phone) • Zed • GCHQ
- 7. Allan Turing & Bletchley Park • 1936 – the "decision problem" (related to "halting problem") • Introduces the concept of the "Turing machine" a "universal computer" • 1936/38 - Princeton PhD – met & worked with John von Neumann • 1939 - Bletchley - the "Bombe", decoding the Enigma machine • 1943 - The "Heath Robinson" - POC for Lorenz decoding • 1943/45 – Colossus, 1600 (MK 1)/2400 (MK 2) valves • Chief Engineer Tommy Flowers, GPO • 10 built • A "fixed program computer" • … all dismantled/hidden (GCHQ) - top secret until mid-1980's
- 9. Enigma Cipher Machine 1940 The Bombe (replica)
- 10. Lorenz Cipher Machine 1943 Heath Robinson (replica)
- 11. Tommy Flowers1944 Colossus (replica 2007)
- 12. Cambridge EDSAC 1949-1958 • Maurice V. Wilkes • 3000 valves • Mercury delay lines • First use of mnemonics/assembler • Partially funded by Lyons • 1951 - Microprogram Control • 1957 - EDSAC 2 • 2018 - Replica at NMoC (Bletchley Park)
- 13. 1951 - Maurice V. Wilkes
- 14. LEO Computers Ltd. • Who were J. Lyons & Co? • Giant food company, tea shops • Forward looking business • 1951 – LEO-1 (Lyons Electronic Office) • Based on Cambridge EDSAC • 6000 valves, mercury delay lines (64), 30 KW • First computer specifically intended for business purposes • 1961 – LEO III, LEO 260, LEO 360 • Transistors, microprogrammed, multitasking • 1963 - LEO -> English Electric -> ICT -> ICL (1968)
- 16. NPL Pilot ACE • 1945/46 - Automatic Computing Engine (ACE) design by Alan Turing • 1950 – Pilot ACE runs first program • 1450 valves, mercury delay lines, 1 MHz (fast!) • Donald Davies (1965, "packet switching") • 1952/53 - MOSAIC • Military/defense, 6000 valves + solid state diodes, 60 KW • 1955 – English Electric DEUCE (production version) • 33 sold • 1957 - "full" ACE completed • 7000 valves, 48-bit words
- 18. The University of Manchester • 1948 - Manchester "Baby" • POC for Williams-Kilburn (CRT) tube as RAM • 1949 – Manchester MK1 -> Ferranti MK1 • 1953 - "Transistor Computer" V1 • 1954 – Meg -> Ferranti Mercury • 1955 - "Transistor Computer" V2 -> Metrovick 950 • 1962 – MUSE -> Ferranti ATLAS (later...) • 1974 – MU5 (influenced ICL 2900) • 1982 - MU6
- 19. Tom Kilburn Freddie Williams 1948 "Baby" (replica)Williams-Kilburn tube Kilburn & Willams, "Baby"
- 20. Ferranti • 1951 – Ferranti Mark 1 • Commercial version of Manchester Mark 1 • 4,200 valves & Williams tube for RAM, 5 tons, 7 sold • 1956 – Ferranti Pegasus • Valves, modular, easier to program, 38 sold • 1957 – Ferranti Mercury (improved MK1) • Solid-state diodes reduce # valves (2000), core for RAM, add FPU • 1.3 tons, 19 sold (CERN) • 1958 – Ferranti Argus • Transistors, smaller for military & industrial use, range • 1962 – Ferranti Atlas (later...) • 1963 – Ferranti-Packard 6000 (later ICL 1900) • Transistors, multitasking, 6 sold • 1963 – merged into ICT -> ICL (1968)
- 21. 1957 Ferranti Mercury @CERN1951 Ferranti MK1 1956 Ferranti Pegasus 1963 Ferranti-Packard 6000
- 24. Ferranti Atlas, 1962 • University of Manchester, Ferranti, Plessey • MUSE (Kilburn) -> Atlas, 3 built • Britain's first (and only?) "supercomputer" (1 MIPS!) • Germanium transistors, core, pipelined • First machine with virtual memory & paging • Atlas Computer Laboratory, Chilton • Titan/Atlas 2 – Cambridge, 3 built, time-sharing • £2M+ (£42M today, $55M)
- 25. Atlas Computer Laboratory, Chilton 1962 Ferranti Atlas
- 26. EMI (Electrical and Music Industries) • 1955/57 - EMI Electronic Business Machine (valve/drum) • 1958/59 - EMIDEC 1100, first all transistor computer sold in UK • 36-bit, 4KB ferrite core RAM, 24 sold, £200K • Design led by Godfrey Hounsfield • Next - EMIDEC 2400, NRDC funded • 1968/75 - EMI Scanner (first CAT scanner) • EMI -> ICT (1962) -> ICL (1968) • 1979 – Sir Godfrey Hounsfield - Nobel Prize in Medicine
- 27. 1958 EMIDEC 1100 Godfrey Hounsfield
- 28. Some others... • Elliott Brothers Ltd. -> ICT -> ICL • 152 (1950), 40x (1953), 80x (1958 – transistors), 90x (-> GEC Computers) • The English Electric Company Ltd. -> ICT -> ICL • DEUCE (Pilot ACE), KDx (RCA), KDF9, System 4 (RCA Spectra), LEO • STC/STL Standard Telephones & Cables/Labs. • 1958 – Stantec ZEBRA (Dutch design) • 1959 – International Computers & Tabulators (ICT) -> ICL • 1968 - Computer Technology Ltd. (CTL) Modular One minicomputer • Iann Barron (Elliott 803, later INMOS/Transputer) • 16-bit ECL + core, memory mapped I/O, segmented memory, Exec.
- 29. 1963 Elliott 905 1954 Elliott 401 1964 English Electric KDF9
- 30. 1968 CTL Modular One Iann Barron
- 31. The "Cambrian Explosion" of the 70's & 80's • The first ones... • Sinclair & Acorn • Amstrad • Also ran's... • ICL • INMOS • Others...
- 33. 1977 NASCOM 1
- 34. 1977 Science of Cambridge (Sinclair) MK14
- 35. 1979 Acorn System 1
- 36. 1979 NASCOM 2
- 38. 1979 MICROTAN65
- 40. 1980 Acorn Atom
- 41. Sir Clive Sinclair (aka "Uncle Clive") • 1961 - Sinclair Radionics • 1977 – MK14 (SOC) • 1980 – ZX80 (SR) • 1981 - ZX81 • 1982 - Sinclair Spectrum • 1983 – Knighthood "Sir Clive" • 1984 - Sinclair QL ("ZX83") • 1986 – Amstrad Takeover • 1987 – Z88 (CC)
- 44. 1982 ZX Spectrum 1984 ZX Spectrum+
- 45. 1984 Sinclair QL ("Quantum Leap")
- 46. 1988 Cambridge Computer Z88 (Sinclair)
- 47. 1979 ITV 1981 BBC Christopher Evans
- 48. Acorn Computers • 1978 – Founded • 1979 – Acorn System 1/2/3/4 • 1980 – Acorn Atom • 1981 – BBC Micro • 1983 – Acorn Electron & ARM development starts • 1985 - Cambridge Workstation & Olivetti takeover • 1986 - BBC Master • 1987 – Acorn Archimedes • 1989 – A3000, A3010/20 (1992) • 1990 – ARM Ltd. • 1994 – Acorn RiscPC • 1988 – Acorn Phoebe Hermann Hauser Chris Curry Andy Hopper
- 49. 1981 BBC Micro 1986 BBC Master Second Processor
- 52. 1989 Acorn Archimedes A3000 1992 Acorn Archimedes A3010 A3020
- 53. 1992 Acorn A4 Laptop 1983 Cambridge Workstation 1992 Acorn Pocket Book
- 55. ARM (Acorn RISC Machine) • Design by Steve Furber (floorplan) & Sophie Wilson (ISA) • Follow-on from 6502 – WDC 65C816? 80286? • Very small design team, hence RISC • 1985 – ARM1, very low power consumption • 1990 - Apple Newton, ARM Ltd. (Acorn, Apple, VLSI) • 1997 – Nokia 6110 • 2007 - iPhone • 100 billion ARM cores...
- 58. AMSTRAD • 1968 - Alan Michael Sugar TRADing • Well known in UK for consumer electronics • 1984 – CPC 464 "Colour Personal Computer" • Intended to be 6502, switched to Z80 due to BASIC • 64KB RAM, 32KB ROM, integrated tape deck, sold with monitor • Ferranti ULA problems -> LSI Logic -> SGS Italy (LSI) • 1985 – AMSTRAD PCW "Personal Computer Word processor" • Z80, CP/M, with monitor & printer, 8 million sold • 1986 – Acquires Sinclair Research • ZX Spectrum +2, Sinclair PC 200 • 1986/90 - IBM compatibles, portables • PC 1512, PC 1640, PPC 512, PPC 640 • 2000 – "Sir Alan", 2005 - "The Apprentice", 2009 - "Lord Alan"
- 59. AMS 1984 CPC464 1985 PCW 1988 Sinclair PC200 1989 PPC
- 60. 1978 Research Machines 380Z 1979 RAIR Black Box
- 61. 1982 1982 Dragon 32/64 1982 Grundy NewBrain
- 62. 1982 Oric 1 1984 Oric Atmos 1982 Memotech MTX 1983 Apricot (ACT)
- 63. 1983 Camputers Lynx 1985 Enterprise
- 64. 1984 PSION Organiser 1993 PSION Series 3
- 65. Ferranti Semiconductor Ltd • 1972 – Ferranti Uncommitted Logic Array (ULA) • CDI (Fairchild, bipolar) process, single layer metal • 1980's – 40% gate array market share • ZX81, BBC Micro, Electron, Spectrum, QL • 1977 – Ferranti F100-L • Europe's first 16-bit MPU • Bipolar technology, fast – but hot! • Radiation hard • Full set of support chips • (some implemented as ULA's)
- 66. ICL – International Computers Limited, 1968 • 1968 - ICT (BTM + EMI + Ferranti) + EE LEO + Elliott Automation • British rival to IBM - government "encouraged/forced" mergers • 1964 - ICL (ICT) 1900 - 24 bit, 6 bit chars! GEORGE OS • 1974 - ICL 2900 Series, complex! VME OS • 1981 – ICL PERQ (Three Rivers Computer Corporation) • 1985 - ICL Series 39, new design/hardware for 2900 • 1984 – takeover by STC • 1990/98 - Acquired by Fujitsu
- 67. 1974 ICL 2900 1964 ICL 1900 1981 ICL PERQ
- 68. GEC Computers & Prestel (Videotex) GEC 4000 1981 Prestel
- 69. INMOS • 1978 - Founded with £50M of UK government funding (NEB) • Memory – USA - Colorado Springs, Richard Petritz, Paul Schroeder • Transputer – UK - Iann Barron • (Elliott 803/502, CTL Modular One) • HQ Bristol, fab Newport, South Wales (1982) • Memory – 16K SRAM, 64K DRAM • 1984 - Transputer, CSP, occam, designer David May • 1984 – acquired by Thorn EMI • 1989 – sold to SGS-Microelectronics (STMicroelectronics)
- 70. Sinclair... • 1985 - Anamartic • Wafer Scale Integration (WSI) • Some ideas from Ivor Catt... "spiral algorithm" • 1989 – 40MB SSD wafer stack (2x 20MB/wafer) • Planned - Transputer arrays on wafer... • 1990 - PgC7000 Project • QL replacement • Transputers to emulate x86 • Chris Shelton (Nascom 1 designer) • Async "ultra-RISC" design • 1994 – licensed to MTI – in Seattle!
- 71. Sir Tim Berners-Lee 1989 - Invented the WWW while at CERN
- 72. IBM Hursley Park - Research & Development • 1959 - Hursley House, former home of Supermarine • 1961 - SCAMP – first IBM microprogrammed machine • 1962/64 - IBM 360/40 with TROS "Transformer Read Only Storage" • 1967 - PL/I responsibility • 1972 – IBM Future Systems (S/370 replacement - S/38, AS/400...) • 1974 - CICS (Customer Information Control System) & ATM's (1967) • 1979/82 - REXX – Mike Cowlishaw • 1979 - Disk drives – "swing arm" • 1987 - High end graphics - OS/2 Presentation Manager
- 74. Modern Times • 2005 - XMOS • 2005 – SpiNNaker • 2010 – DeepMind Technologies • 2014 – acquired by Google • 2016 - AlphaGo • 2012 - Raspberry Pi • ARM processor, Linux variants, Windows, 20M+ • 2016 - BBC micro:bit • Free to every 11/12 year old schoolkid in UK (1M+) • ARM processor, USB/battery, 5x5 LEDs, 2 buttons, Python/Visual • 2016 - ARM & Softbank
- 75. XMOS, 2005 • HQ in Bristol, UK (same as INMOS) • xCORE Microcontroller • 8/16 32-bit RISC cores plus "RTOS h/w" • Deterministic & predictable timing, no "interrupts" • Designed by Professor David May, ex-INMOS Transputer designer • xC (C with CSP-like extensions) & xTIMEcomposer • Audio & Voice processing, DSP, far-field, beamforming • Alexa, who's riding the voice assistant wave?
- 76. SpiNNaker Project, 2005 • Spiking Neural Network Architecture • Neuromorphic computing platform for the Human Brain Project (EU) • 1 Million+ ARM cores, 7 TB RAM, 100 KW • Custom chip 18 ARM cores + 128 MB SDRAM • University of Manchester, Advanced Processor Technology Group • Professor Steve Furber (original ARM designer) • What happens with Brexit?
- 80. Places to See Computers in the UK • Science Museum, London, 2nd Floor • Good, but nothing working, Babbage Difference Engine • National Museum of Computing (NMoC), Bletchley Park (Milton Keynes) • Good for early computers, some working, Colossus replica • The Centre for Computing History, Cambridge • The home of Acorn & ARM, Sinclair, good for home computers • IBM Hursley Park (by arrangement only) • Science and Industry Museum, Manchester (?) • Manchester "Baby" working replica • Museum of Computing, Swindon (?) • Computer Sheds/Jim Austin Computer Collection, York (by arrangement ?) • History of Science Museum, Oxford • Not much, some bits of the Babbage Difference Engine, but interesting! • Ada Lovelace's original "Notes"
- 81. Acknowledgements • Thank you Wikipedia! • The Register • Nosher.net • YouTube
Editor's Notes
- These slides were presented at the Vintage Computer Festival (VCF) Pacific North West (PNW) in Seattle on March 24th 2019.
- Babbage was the Lucasian Professor – before him came Isaac Newton, after, Stephen Hawking
- Scale – left one 6" high, right one 3" high Both in the Science Museum in London Note the Difference Engine #2 is technically not a replica – it's the first one that was ever built, even though it took until 1991 to complete.
- Daughter of Lord Byron Translated a paper (about the Analytical Engine) by an Italian mathematician , Luigi Menabrea "Diagram for the computation by the Engine of the Numbers of Bernoulli" Possibly the world's first computer program
- The Laws of Thought – very ambitious!
- NTSC = National Television System Committee (or "Never Twice the Same Color") PAL = Phase Alternating Line GPO = General Post Office – in UK the GPO used to control phone service as well as mail service NSA = National Security Agency GCHQ = Government Communications Head Quarters
- Movie - “The Imitation Game” - good movie but lots of “artistic license” The Bombe – electromechanical machine for decoding Enigma British did not invent The Bombe – Polish idea More than 200 Bombes made during WW2, but most were *not* at Bletchley There were also Bombes in USA – US Navy and US Army, were faster than UK Bombes Lorenz was a more complex encryption machine used by the German High Command Could not be decrypted by The Bombe POC = Proof Of Concept Tommy Flowers - secret to improved reliability - don't turn the valves off! Bletchley Park was the Government Code & Cipher School GC&CS, forerunner of GCHQ
- Algorithms have been around long before computers – named after a 9th century Arabic mathematician German mathematician David Hilbert posed some questions to be answered about algorithms - one being the "decision problem" Turing needed to invent the concept of a machine to execute algorithms so he could reason about them
- This is the working replica machine at Bletchley Park. All original machines are lost.
- Notice how similar this is to telephone switching racks. Optical tape reader on RHS. After the war, the race was on to build “The Computer” for UK – they thought the UK would only need one computer Lot of ex-radar guys coming off wartime government projects Lots of war surplus electronics equipment could be repurposed What was driving computer development? Race for the British nuclear bomb Commercialization of nuclear power Start of the Cold War – boom in British aviation, jet engines, breaking the sound barrier, V-bombers, more developments in radar All of this stuff needed lots of intensive calculations and computers were the solution
- University of Cambridge EDSAC was inspired by the USA EDVAC EDVAC = Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer EDSAC = Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator 1951 - Wilkes defines the concept of microprogram control & bit slicing EDSAC 2 was the first microprogram control machine NMoC = National Museum of Computing (at Bletchley Park) Telecoms racks
- Microprogramming is a systematic way to design the control section of a computer processor. Break down a computers instructions into a smaller set of steps called "microinstructions" Used by most mainframes of the time, IBM 360, 370, most of the minis, PDP-11, VAX, Data General, Motorola 68000 (but not most 8-bit MPU's) Unfortunately this was taken to extremes – hence RISC
- ICT = International Computers & Tabulators. ICL = International Computers Ltd. J.Lyons & Co. were like an early version of Starbucks – but no free WiFi...
- LEO-1 was used "in-house" only for Lyons LEO-2 & subsequent LEO computers were sold commercially
- NPL = National Physical Laboratory ACE = Automatic Computing Engine MOSAIC = Ministry of Supply Automatic Integrator and Computer – Cold War MOSAIC was installed at TRE = Telecommunications Research Establishment (Malvern, Radar)
- Notice the wheels! Pictures on RHS are the actual Pilot ACE in the Science Museum
- Tom Kilburn & Freddie Williams – ex-Radar guys POC = Proof of Concept CRT = Cathode Ray Tube Meg = Megacycle machine (1 MHz) MUSE = “microsecond engine” MU = Manchester University Transistor computer – germanium transistors More expensive than valves, less reliable – but less power and faster
- “Baby" was Britain's first working stored program electronic computer "Baby" working replica is in the Museum of Science & Industry, Manchester Small – 550 valves, 1 ton, 3.5 KW Tom Kilburn – Professor - went on to work on many of MU’s early computers Freddie Williams never worked on another computer after “Baby”
- RAM = Random Access Memory FPU = Floating Point Unit CERN = European Organization for Nuclear Research (French) Ferranti-Packard 6000 was a design from Ferranti's Canadian subsidiary
- Ferranti Mercury - CERN's first computer FP 6000 later became the basis for the ICL 1900
- Programming card for the Ferranti Pegasus
- Not just “a computer” any more - different computers for different purposes Various Argus machines – closer to a minicomputer All different word lengths, technologies Used for industrial & military applications Not included in the ICL merger, Ferranti Computer Systems
- Doubled the computer power in UK the day it was switched on 48 bit words Atlas 2 - Atomic Weapons Research Establishment (AWRE), Aldermaston
- Note the beer & sandwiches!
- EMIDEC = EMI Digital Electronic Computer NRDC = National Research Development Council CAT = Computer Aided Tomography EMI Electronic Business Machine – derived from Pilot ACE 1961 – The Beatles, funded development of CAT scanner?
- ECL = Emitter Coupled Logic (very fast, same as in CDC6600/Cray etc. - but power hungry)
- Elliott 401 pics from the Science Museum
- Iann Barron with Transputer
- Personal Computer World & Practical Computing magazines both came out in 1979. Sigmoid curve somewhat illustrates the growth of the home computer market in UK. Talking about UK computers – but there were some popular US computers in the UK market - Commodore PET TRS-80 Some Apple II – mostly for business VIC 20 – later Commodore 64, Atari machines, Amiga US machines very expensive, USD translated to GBP directly UK less disposable income, mid-70’s not great economic times in UK Power supply & video conversion costs Very few S-100 systems (too costly)
- SCRUMPI = for SC/MP, also "Scrumpy" is a type of Cider popular in the West Country, hence the country bumpkins in the ad! Was also SCRUMPI 2 & 3 Sales were probably in the few 100’s
- Designed by Chris Shelton Single board with separate full keyboard Kit form Z80 @2 MHz + 2K SRAM, no BASIC 16 line X 48 char mono TV display Tape interface £197.50 ($400 then, $1,564 today) UK's "Apple 1"? (Apple 1 – 1976, famously $666.66) 12,000 units? (might include Nascom 2?)
- Microcomputer Kit 14 – 14 chips on board Based on a reference design from National Semiconductor SC/MP evaluation board Steve Furber worked on this project 15,000 kits sold
- 6502, 2 Eurocard, 1 KB RAM, CUTS, designed by Sophie Wilson CUTS = Computer Users Tape Standard (also known as "Kansas City" tape standard) Also – System 2/3/4/5 - Eurocard rack Sold mainly for scientific & industrial applications, not targeted to hobbyist 65 GBP kit, 75 GBP assembled No sales info
- Single (bigger) board with separate keyboard Kit form Z80 @2 MHz/4 MHz & 8K DRAM, 8K Microsoft BASIC 16 line X 48 char mono TV display Tape interface £225 ($450 then, $1,454 today)
- Single board with integrated keyboard Kit form 6502 @1MHz, 4K SRAM, 8K Microsoft BASIC 16 line X 48 char mono TV display Tape interface UK Version of Ohio Scientific Superboard II (1978, $279 assembled) £240 ($500 then, $1,553 today) About 5000 kits sold
- 79 GBP kit, 91 GBP assembled - a bit like Acorn System 1 6502 @ 750 KHz (for TV), mono display, 1 K Other expansion boards available – Eurocard? 10,000 units total
- Notice the apparent size of the ZX80 in the ad compared with the TV and tape deck - in reality it's much smaller! Kit 79.95 GBP Assembled 99.95 GBP under 100 GBP Z80 @ 3.25 MHz, 1 KB RAM, Sinclair BASIC, mono display 50,000 units sold
- Nice design, Allen Boothroyd, also designed BBC Micro & Electron & other Acorn computers 6502 1 MHz 2 KB CUTS mono/color display, Acorn BASIC (Sophie Wilson), Econet Based on Acorn System 3 (keyboard) 120 GBP kit, 170 GBP assembled Sales unknown?
- SOC = Science of Cambridge SR = Sinclair Research CC = Cambridge Computer Notorious for product delays, flaky products & high return rates (40% early Spectrums) But – a lot of features for very low prices “Sinclair time” = 1 Sinclair day = 6 real days
- Sinclair C5 electric trike, made in Hoover (vaccuum cleaner) factory Black Watch – first LED watch in UK, but easily destroyed by static from nylon carpets
- Slightly improved ZX80, cost reduced – only 4 chips! ULA, MPU, RAM, ROM GBP 49.95 kit, GBP 69.95 assembled (shaved 30 GBP off price of ZX80) Z80 3.25 MHz 1 KB mono CUTS, better 8K Sinclair BASIC (+ floating point) Ferranti ULA to reduce chips count significantly – also IP protection? 1.5 million sold Sold in US as Timex Sinclair, 600K sold Big market for memory expansion modules (16K)
- Spectrum – named to emphasize color graphics capability, great for games Z80 3.5 MHz 16 K CUTS color display 8K Sinclair BASIC 125 16K, 175 48K 5 million units (total, lifetime, all models) Lots of official & unofficial clones, even with ULA!
- QL = Quantum Leap “ZX83” Moto 68008 7.5 MHz 128 KB Sinclair proprietary microdrives (2) continuous loop tapes, color display - not great performance Sinclair QDOS in ROM, Super BASIC, office suite by PSION 2X Ferranti ULA’s Very late delivery delays - “Quite Late” 150,000 sold, not very successful (IBM PC - 1981, impact 1982/83) Dropped by AMSTRAD but not until he sold the old stock & made money back Clones - CST (Cambridge Systems Technology) Thor & BT Merlin Tonto, ICL One Per Desk Linus Torvalds (Linux) started out on this machine
- CMOS Z80A 3.25 MHz 32 K memory card slots works on regular batteries BBC BASIC First to use “super twist” LCD display, invented by Royal Signals & Radar Establishment, RSRE at Malvern, MOD held patents Not cheap, quite successful, one of Sinclair’s better machines
- Very influential book & TV documentary Questions asked in parliament Prompted BBC to respond
- ARM = Acorn RISC Machine RISC = Reduced Instruction Set Computer
- 1980 - BBC Computer Literacy Project, DTI (Department of Trade & industry) push to put BBC micro in all schools 1982 - “The Computer Programme” BBC2 Acorn Proton – became BBC Micro, model A & model B 6502 2 MHz 16K (A) 32K (B), CUTS, TV color, BBC BASIC (Sophie Wilson) GBP 235 Model A, GBP 335 Model B UK’s Apple 2 Second processors – Tube interface - 6502, Z80 (CP/M), NS 32016, Teletext, Prestel 1.5 million+ sold 1986 – BBC Master, 128K bank-paged RAM, ROM cartridge slots. Range of machines, including “Master Compact”. Also 80186 co-processor available via slot.
- Cost reduced version of BBC Micro, same BBC BASIC Note the ULA and the metal cover to keep it popping out of socket (due to thermal expansion) Only 4x 64K x1 RAM chips, hence 2MHz RAM, 1 MHz 6502 (two accesses to memory required for each byte, compromised performance) Some compromises to graphics (compared with BBC) Announced 1982, delayed 1983 (Ferranti ULA problems), available 1984 in quantity 250K unsold in stock, missed Xmas 1983, financial troubles (& USA FCC certification), Olivetti takeover
- (explain more about ARM chip later) First home computer with a RISC (ARM) chip (Apple Power Mac came later 1994) 1987 – 300 & 400 series, ARM2 8 MHz, ARTHUR OS (later RISC OS) + BBC BASIC in ROM Differ in amounts of memory, hard disk, expansion slots, BBC branding Expensive – 800 GBP, desktop format, 3.5 floppy, separate keyboard, mouse (completely proprietary) “podules” (aka expansion cards)
- 1989 – BBC A3000 ARM2 8 MHz, cost reduced Last BBC branded micro, red keys, RISC OS & BASIC in ROM 1992 - A3010/3020 - ARM250 the first ARM SoC (ARM3 CPU 12 MHz, I/O controller, video & sound, memory controller) - both with 3.5 floppy SoC = System On Chip 3020 – hard disk, for education Did OK in educational markets
- Cambridge Workstation – repackaged BBC + NS32016 second processor Was supposed to be a whole line but this was only one shipped 1992 - A4 - A4 is the standard paper size in UK ARM3 24 MHz – first laptop with RISC (ARM) chip 2 MB, hard disk, 3.5 floppy, greyscale LCD Acorn Pocket Book – rebadged PSION 3, not ARM chip (PSION 5)
- RiscPC – slice design, pluggable CPU card, second processor card (486/586) ARM610 CPU 30/33 MHz ARM710 CPU 40 MHz (both made by VLSI) 1996 - StrongARM CPU (made by DEC) 200-300 MHz (but unfortunately speed limited by system bus) 1998 - Phoebe 2100 – abandoned, only yellow cases sold 233 MHz StrongARM CPU (300 MHz planned), fix bus problems, more “PC compatible”, PCI bus, only one in Computer History Museum, Cambridge
- WDC = Western Design Center (Phoenix, AZ) Very low power – missing power connection story - 1/20th power consumption of contemporaries Note – 32 bit processor in 84 pin quad package, more pins, more bandwidth Nokia pushed ARM to license technology to Texas Instruments, start of their very successful licensing model
- Bottom left – Steve Furber Top right – Sophie Wilson Bottom right is original floorplan pencil sketch of the first ARM chip by Steve Furber (in The Center for Computing History, Cambridge)
- Documentary about the Sinclair/Acorn story - On YouTube Barron of Beef pub, Sinclair vs Curry "altercation” Sophie Wilson makes a guest appearance as the barmaid in the pub
- Computers as "consumer products" CPC 464 – 2 million sold, cheap, simple & solid machine PCW - 8 million sold Spectrum +2 with built in tape deck, next built in floppy Also inherited QL Sinclair PC200 – the last Sinclair branded machine
- CPC 464 – 2 million sold Sinclair PC 200 – almost IBM compatible, 8086, MSDOS, GEM PPC 512 – portable, IBM compatible, NEC V30 (8088 clone)
- Not S-100 bus systems (was one company – Transam) RM 380Z – Z80 4 MHz CP/M rack mount case, various boards Pricey but govt subsidized 50% edu discount Also 480Z – enhanced, cost reduced, case with keyboard RAIR BB – 8085, CP/M, rebadged by ICL Later – 8088, IBM compatible
- Jupiter ACE – Z80 3.25 MHz 1 KB FORTH in ROM, designers worked for Sinclair (ZX81/Spectrum) Mono, CUTS, around 5000 sold, also ACE 4000 (800 sold) Dragon 32/64 - started by toy company - Mettoy - from Wales – hence Dragon name & logo reference design, similar/compatible with TRS-80 color computer, bankrupt 1984, brief GEC takeover & branding Unusual Motorola 6809, MS BASIC in ROM, probably about 200K sold? (also sold version in US) Grundy NewBrain – Z80 4 MHz 32 KB BASIC in ROM, TV (2 color), CUTS, CP/M BBC Micro candidate – Newbury then Grundy, 50K+ sold Was also candidate for Norwegian school micro but that fell through due to bankruptcy
- Oric 1 – Tangerine - 6502 1 MHz 16 KB CUTS MS BASIC in ROM 210K+ sold, Atmos, cost reduced, better keyboard, some clones Memotech MTX - Z80 32 KB CUTS 275 GBP Aluminium case, full keyboard, good graphics Soviet Union school micro, prepared red Russian language prototypes Lost deal then bankrupt ACT Apricot - 8086 Almost IBM compatible, MSDOS, CP/M 86, incompatible BIOS
- Lynx - Z80A 4 MHz 48 KB Lynx BASIC & CP/M, hi res color graphics but slow, not great for games, not sure who their market was - 225 GBP About 30K sold, quite a few in Europe Enterprise - Z80A 4 MHz 64 KB built in joystick (also serves as “mouse”) BASIC in cartridge 2 ASICs one graphics “Nick” & one sound & memory “Dave” Lots of names, including “Elan” and “Flan” 80,000 made – 20,000 shipped to Hungary, also Germany Probably the last of the British 8-bit micros
- Founded by David Potter (PSION = "Potter Scientific Instruments") Started off as a software company for Sinclair – Spectrum, and QL office packages Hand held devices 1.5 million Series 3, very successful, NEC V30H CPU (8088 clone) Also PSION Series 5 with ARM chip Evolved into Symbian (phones)
- Univ. Of Surrey at Guilford satellite, heater story CDI = Collector-Diffusion Isolation
- ICT = International Computers and Tabulators BTM = British Tabulating Machines EE = English Electric LEO = Lyons Electronic Office STC = Standard Telephones & Cables British rival to IBM, mostly sold to government & commonwealth countries
- "Big Orange"
- GEC = General Electric Corporation (UK), giant electrical engineering conglomerate No relation to the USA GE 16/32 bit machines, minis, some 2900 based & last Motorola 88000 RISC
- NEB = National Enterprise Board CTL = Computer Technology Limited CSP = Communication Sequential Processes, formal language invented by Tony Hoare CSP - Professor Tony Hoare – invented QuickSort, the "null" reference, Oxford University Programming Research Group Worked for Elliott Brothers Ltd. On ALGOL
- MTI = Microprocessor Technology Inc. Also Pandora & other projects, including Amiga rival
- WWW = World Wide Web CERN = European Center for Nuclear Research (in French...)
- Supermarine were most famous for being the designers of the Spitfire SCAMP = Scientific Computer and Modular Processer (sic) CICS = Customer Information Control System REXX is a bit similar to Python, an interpreted scripting language
- CICS = Customer Information Control System SCAMP = Scientific Computer and Modular Processer (sic)