Vintage Computers - The "Bugs" are 40 years old !

8080 Bugbook 

Bugbooks

Integrated Circuit looks like a Bug 

When Bugbooks 1 & 2 were written a logo was needed for the books and other projects. The books were written to teach basic digital electronics using small Scale Integrated Circuits.  I named the books bugbooks because the small digital integrated circuit looked like a bug with its legs. I had made several attempts at a logo however they were not very inspiring. The best I can remember Professor Peter Rony ask students to submit their ideas for a logo and  this one was selected.  I have been very pleased with this logo and it has made many millions of impressions during the past 40 years. The 'Bugs' logo has been great as a branding image for the work of my colleagues and myself.

Here are a few examples of the Bugs use during the past 40 years.
Enlarge the photo's by clicking on them and then even more by a right click and select "View image' you can easily read the text.

Code card 1978 

John Titus designed this very useful octal code card for 8080 microprocessor machine code programming in 1978.

Japanese translation
 of Bugbook 2

Japanese translation of Bugbook 2 in 1976. The Bugs logo is prominent on the front cover. Several of the Bugbooks were included in these translations.

Italian Bugbooks

An advertising button used by our Italian representative.  Our group had a large presence in Italy during the late 70's and early 80's. About 20 of our Bugbooks were translated into Italian,  we taught 15 or so microcomputer instrumentation seminars, and a lot of the MMD-1 training computers were sold.

Fist Fighter code fixer 

Our group was called "The Blackburg Group" and the Bugbooks was one of the group's many ideas and projects. Here is a product Dr. John Titus designed for the amateur radio market. This was called the fist fighter and it made perfect code out of code sent manually with a telegraph key. A very clever idea but it was not a popular product.  It did use the 'Bugs Logo' as you can see in an expanded photo.



More information about the name and use of the 'Bugs' & 'Bugbooks'

The reason I call our museum  "The Bugbook Historical Microcomputer Museum"  is because of the "Bugbooks"

Bugs Logo 

. About 1974 I was part of a team that produced these books. The first two Bugbooks were written and published by Professor Rony and I.  I named the books bugbooks because the small digital integrated circuit looked like a bug with its legs.  Professor Rony typed the manuscripts and we self published the first few printings of the "Bugbooks" . www.bugbookcomputermuseum.com  These books were the start of a book series called "The Blacksburg Continuing Education Series" .  The books covered various topics of digital electronics, computers and software. Dr. John Titus and Dr. Chris Titus joined the group and became important members of our team.  During the period 1974 to 1984 about 75 books were published with a circulation of over 1 million copies.  Our team hired 31 other authors to help write books in the series. In addition to the books our team designed several computers and other teaching / engineering aids that were sold world wide. John Titus was the computer designer and I designed the digital engineering  / teaching hardware aids.  Many engineers, technicians and  electronic hobbyist of the late 70's and 80s used  these books and hardware.  All the books and hardware are on display in our museum. A reoccurring comment from  folks visiting the museum is - I  learned digital electronics from the "Bugbooks". The Bugbook story involves many relationships, interesting events and eclectic people.  It is my  intent to get the details of these adventures in writing -- soon I hope.

David Larsen 

It has been an interesting 40 years.  I am still getting calls about the Bugbooks and other computer and electronic things. Just tonight a fellow here in Floyd called and was in need of a 10 ohm resistor. He could not find a shop in the area that sold these parts.  I was able to find one in my old junk pile and will deliver it to him tomorrow.  He needed it for his computer power supply - Still doing computer projects.
WOW just as I posted this I received an email from Earles L. McCaul the author of   TRS-80 ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE MADE SIMPLE.  This is one of the books in our "Blacksburg" series of books from 1981.

  ^{"by David Larsen"  KK4WW Computer Collector Historian}   
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Vintage Calculator / Computer Historical Information

Nigel Tout has put together a  whopping amount of information for us on his "Vintage Calculator Web Museum"  web site. This site is fun to read and learn about calculators.  I learned about this calculator site searching for information for my collection of about 1000 calculators.

This site is useful for just about any collector or historian of vintage electronic or mechanical calculating  devices.  I liked the story about how the Intel 4004 microprocessor chip was developed as a first for Intel. I linked this story in my blog about Intel Intellec 4 microcomputer.
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Information from Nigel's website - "A revolution in calculating machines took place between the early 1960s and the late 1970s. It was during this vintage period that the electronics for calculators was at the cutting edge of electronics research. Calculators evolved from large, expensive, mechanical machines to cheap, electronic, credit card sized devices. The development of micro-electronics for calculators was an important phase in the history of technology, which included the development of the microprocessor.
This fascinating story is illustrated here with -

• Mechanical calculators - both electrically driven and hand operated.
• Early electronic calculators - using vacuum tubes (cold-cathode tubes/valves), discrete transistors, cathode ray tube displays, delay-line memories, small- & medium-scale integrated circuits.
• Early hand-held calculators with LED, fluorescent, and early LCD displays.

The increasing capability of the electronic integrated circuits can be seen, which led to the microprocessor and the personal computer.
This site is dedicated to those who had to use slide-rules and mechanical calculators at school, university, and at work, back when the idea of a pocket electronic calculator was just a dream, and when they were eventually developed and went on sale having one was still a dream since at that time they were unaffordable for most people." (from vintagecalculator.com)



Here is another site about calculators  http://www.devidts.com/be-calc/





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Here I am with my wife Gaynell on a cool fall day last year. We  have a lot of fun doing things together. I would guess we have traveled to about 30 countries and operated ham radio and visited friends. We still travel but as we get older we like staying home near family. About one or two trips a year outside the US is about it for now. I  will be 75 this year and my wife does not tell  her age. This is  our LCF Group.
"by David Larsen" KK4WW Computer Collector / Historian

Organs on a Chip - New chip simulates body function

"Creating a Lung on a Chip to Test New Asthma Drugs".  While returning home from a visit with my 91 year old brother I came across an article in USA Today by Jonathan D. Rockoff. These are not silicon chips like the ones used digital computer circuitry but chips made from living tissue.
           
I am writing about these chips because this is such a fascinating concept for medical research and of course computers play a large part in the use of these chips. This design  shows that some engineers can think outside the box and be really original & creative.  I think this is some very important research - golly what will be next.

Wyss Institute

These microchips are made from human tissue and in this case "lung tissue" and "blood vessel cells" in a creative nano design. Nano particles of  pathogens or other foreign elements are introduced and the tissue may react  just like in a human body. This gives medical researchers a possible way to quickly test for the human reaction without using animals for this purpose. It may be possible to conduct 1000's of tests for new drugs and produce cures faster and cheaper.

Here is information from the Harvard Gazette about 'Lung on a chip'

Take a look at this video Lung on a chip by Wyss Institute.

You can do a Google search and find out a lot more about this new technology.  I just wanted to bring it  to your attention. I think we will see chips in the future that combine silicon digital circuitry and the living tissue in the same package.

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Visiting my brother in Missouri was a lot of fun. He is doing well for a almost 92 years old and even still driving his car - I am not sure this is a good idea but he likes to get his own groceries and go to church. While there we had some nice trips out in the country near the Ozark Mountains and visited lots of old water mills and historic sites. It reminded me of our Blue Ridge Mountains at  home here in Floyd Virginia.
"by David Larsen"  KK4WW Computer Collector / Historian

Vintage Apple-1 computer - Five Owners meet including Steve Wozniak

Last week their was an interesting gathering of Steve Wozniak and friends with five Apple-1 computers - with at least 3 of the computers working. This group Apple-1 computers and owners apparently started with Ralph Simpson , a volunteer at the "History San Jose's Collection Center" getting permission to get their Apple 1 up and running. Ralph contacted Mike Willegal a well known microcomputer expert and historian - here is his response.

Apple-1 computer

 " "There is a little back story to this "event". After much back and forth with higher ups at the museum, Ralph Simpson managed to convince them to let him get their Apple-1 into operating condition. When permission was finally granted, Ralph contacted me, to see if I had any recommendations about how to proceed. I put him in touch with Wendell Sander and Dan Kottke and it kind of snowballed from there. By the way, the Apple-1 that Woz brought to the event was not his prototype, but a unit from the second production run.

Regards,Mike <mike@willegal.net> via yahoogroups.com" "

Wendell Sander & Steve Wozniak

The  Apple-1 owners at the event were Wendell Sander, Allen Baum, Andy Jong, Steve Wozniak (Woz)  at the History Center.  At least 3 of the Apple-1 computers were up and running by the end of the day. That is the most operating in one location in the last 30 years. "Wozniak agreed - it was historic and may not ever happen again" (from Mercury News) . 

 Two of these Apple-1 computers were not know to exist by  historical collectors prior to this event.  Their are less then 50 of the original Apple-1 computers existing out of a  total production of about 200 in 1976. Steve Wozniak was the sole designer for the Apple-1 and the original Apple-2. He also wrote the software operating system and a version of Basic to run on these machines. It must have been a great meeting with Woz and the others.  All the folks bringing their Apple-1 computers had early connections with the Apple Company.

The 5 Apple-1 computers at this gathering should be unique from almost all the other known Apple-1 computers.  They were signed at the event by Woz and Wendell Sander (an early Apple employee).
 

 Steve Wozniak signing Apple-1 board

Wendell Sander signing Apple-1 board

   
        The mystic and excitement that follows the Apple-1 computers continues to grow and get more interesting everyday with new stories and facts from the owners.  It will not be too many years and all the original  owners of the Apple-1 computers, developers and employees working at Apple during the Apple-1 times will be gone. Lots of exciting history and stories about the original Apple-1 computers are still being generated and much of it now makes the national or international news. I have several Apple-1 computers in my historical collection and  look forward to the buzz about these Icon's of the microcomputer revolution,

I want to credit Mike Cassidy and Mike Willegal for the information I used in this column. Here are links to their stories. You will enjoy these - the videos on the column by Mike Cassidy - just great.

Mike Cassidy - Mercury News Columnist
Mike Willegal - his blog post.
The 4 photos used here are from the Mercury News Column and credited to  (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)
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David Larsen KK4WW

This was a busy weekend for me. I was  hoping to spend most of the time out at our Chantilly Farm working the amateur radio station for Field Day   .  Saturday my wife Gaynell and I went to a "Celebration of life for Professor Paul Field". Paul and I worked together on many projects during my 31 years at Virginia Tech and was wonderful friend.  The Celebration was a great tribute to Paul and I am going to do my next blog about this former college. Our collaboration included a  lot of work with early microcomputers. Sunday was a special day at church  that was most of the day.
                       "by David Larsen"  KK4WW Computer Collector/Historian

Computer First Microcomputer in USA - 4 bit MCS-4 Intellec 4 Microcomputer - Vintage Intel

We are fortunate to have  an MCS-4 Intellec 4 Intel Microcomputer  

MCS-4 Intellec 4

development system in our historical collection.  The Intellec 4 computers are possibly the first commercial microcomputers manufactured (1972) in the USA. The 4004  microprocessor (a 4 bit processor) chip used  in the MCS-4 was introduced in November of 1971 and was the first Intel microprocessor chip.  Only a few of the MCS-4's still exist. The Intel museum does not have one or at least it did not in 1992 when an Intel representative  contacted me to borrow our MCS-4.  They kept the microcomputer for 18 months and used it in some litigation process.  Intel did introduce an additional development computer in 1977 - the MCB8-10 and it looked like a home built system. The MCS -4 was followed by the MCS-8 which used the 8008 8 bit microprocessor. The Bugbook Historical Museum also has one of the MCS-8 computers.

Inside the MCS-4

Serial number 136

The MCS-4 uses a 100 pin bus and has a dozen or so card slots for expansion. It is an operational computer for developing and testing software and hardware.  This was the very beginning of commercial development tools for the microcomputer revolution. Engineers were slow to realize the potential of the microprocessor. The first time user found the MCS-4 a rather complicated   system to use - not much educational information or training was available.  It did not take long before it was clear the microprocessor and the microcomputer were a really big and important new electronic design device.  Now you could write a program to preform any digital or math function and change it with a new program.  For example the early digital calculators used a none programmable Large Scale Integrated Circuit (LSI) and every new calculator required a new design for the LSI chip.

Indeed it was the Japanese company Busicom that sparked the design of the Intel 4004 for their next calculator. Busicom Story here.(from nigel.tout@vintagecalculators.com ) It seems so obvious now but it was about 3 years before the microcomputer was more than a toy for hobby folks to use.

4k RAM memory

4004 microprocessor chip

CPU Card

The CPU card also contains 4 EPROM chips and each chip is 250 bytes or 1kbyte for the 4 white 1702A chips on the board.

     Change in technology 43 years after the 4004 microprocessor
 The MCS -4 memory card is only 4 kilobyte - that is the whole card. This is a good time to try and make a comparison of the 1972 technology with today.   In 1964 Gordon Moore (Moore's Law) predicted integrated circuit technology would double the circuit density on a chip every 2 years. Today a memory card for a laptop computer may contain 4 Gbyte of  RAM memory.  It would take 1,000,000 - yes one million of the 4kilobyte RAM cards like the one in the in the Intellec 4 to have the same amount of memory as the 4 Gbyte card.
Now if you laid the 1,000,000 Intellec cards out end to end it be a string of cards 2300 miles long.
One more calculation - a common 64Gbyte USB memory stick would require a string of these Intellec cards 36,000 miles - that is circling the earth 1.5 times.  The USB Memory stick cost about $35 -- these comparisons are just amazing and just give it 5 more years WOW.

The first Intel Microprocessor was the 4004 chip and a little later they came out with the 4040 microprocessor. The 4040 was still a 4 bit microprocessor but much faster in operation.  The same hardware as the Intellec 4 shown in this blog was upgraded to use the 4040 - it was called the Intellec 40 Mod. Here are some photos of the 40 Mod that give you a good look at the computer hardware. The 40 Mod is basically the same except for the CPU card as the Intellec 4.


 Here is a video of the Intellec 4 in our Bugbook Historical Microcomputer Museum"CLICK"


Here is a video story about the 4004 and Intellec 4 by Intel - interesting about the first commercial microprocessor "CLICK"

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This weekend my wife Gaynell and I are flying out to Missouri to visit my 91 year old brother.
He is doing well but we like to visit at least once per year. The Birthday party we went to in NC last weekend for our 1 year old Great grandson Tucker Helms was fun. The weather was nice most of the time but at the end of the day it did rain on our outdoor party. Weekend before we were in MD for the16th Birthday of our twin Grand daughters Natalie and Emily.  Lots of travel but worth every minute. Looks like we will be home for a few weeks after this trip and looking forward to being home.
"by David Larsen" KK4WW Computer Collector/Historian