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LightfootLightfoot Posts: 228
edited 2006-07-09 01:45 in General Discussion
What year was the first "Single IC" microcontroller released?

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Well well, I'm seeing things, three of them.

-Stanley Blystone

Comments

  • Bruce BatesBruce Bates Posts: 3,045
    edited 2006-06-17 08:19
    Stanley -

    The answer to the question you pose very much depends on how you choose to define the word "microcontroller". The first microprocessor is generally accepted to be the Intel 4004 which began its availability in 1971. Here is some more information on the Intel 4004:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_4004

    Regards,

    Bruce Bates

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  • LightfootLightfoot Posts: 228
    edited 2006-06-17 17:18
    I mean an IC with a microprosser, EEPROM, RAM, serial ports, tristate registers, watchdog timers, etc in one package.

    Thanks [noparse]:)[/noparse]

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    Well well, I'm seeing things, three of them.

    -Stanley Blystone
  • Chris SavageChris Savage Parallax Engineering Posts: 14,406
    edited 2006-06-17 17:55
    I think he means a microcontroller rather than a microprocessor.

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    Chris Savage
    Parallax Tech Support
    csavage@parallax.com
  • pjvpjv Posts: 1,903
    edited 2006-06-17 17:56
    Hi Stanley;

    The first one I ever heard of was the 4004, but I believe it was a processor only.

    The first "computer" I ever built was an Intel 8008, circa 1972 or so, and we complemented it with a whopping 16 BYTES of external RAM. Funny thing was, the chip used a split power supply; plus 5 and minus 3 as I recall, but had no ground pin. Very odd.

    It was plenty to do the traditional "flashing LED" program though, and started my love affair with these little beasts.

    Cheers

    Peter (pjv)
  • Mike GreenMike Green Posts: 23,101
    edited 2006-06-17 19:25
    Stanley,
    I know you're asking about a microprocessor with integrated on-chip EEPROM, RAM, timers, etc. I suspect the 8030/8050 series may have been the first, but the critical issue is EEPROM. There were lots of integrated processors/RAM/timers/etc. that used light erasable or one-time only program memories. For the history buffs out there, the 8008 was the first processor on-a-chip and was designed by both Intel and Texas Instruments under contract from Datapoint as a replacement for their TTL business computer processor board. Neither Intel nor Texas Instrument were able to deliver a chip under the contract. Intel's didn't work as I recall and TI's required a lot of support circuitry. Neither one was strictly compatible with Datapoint's instruction set. The three companies elected to go their separate ways. Datapoint didn't have to pay for the development costs of something they couldn't effectively use and both Intel and TI were free to continue their own development efforts. Intel was to first to market, and the rest is history (Datapoint is now defunct!) If you've ever wondered where the 8008 and 8080 instruction sets came from, it was Datapoint and some of the original design decisions for that were a result of the original shift register memory based processor they used.
    Mike
  • mediaprefectmediaprefect Posts: 31
    edited 2006-07-09 01:45
    Mike,

    Are you saying the 4004 was never in production? I thought I used to have a databook on it years ago. I know I at least had some literature on it.
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