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IP: also WORTH READING History of 8008?
From: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Sat, 11 May 2002 17:06:56 -0400
Bob is an old and valued friend djf ------ Forwarded Message From: "Robert M. McClure" <rmm () unidot com> Date: Sat, 11 May 2002 13:48:54 -0700 To: farber () cis upenn edu Subject: Re: IP: WORTH READING History of 8008? Let me add a few bits to the Datapoint (Computer Terminal Corporation) story. Essentially, the story as related by Gordon Peterson is correct and there are but a few details to add and/or correct. I was, so to speak, present at the creation, and am the principal architect of the first Computer Terminal Corporation product, the Model 3300, which we described as a glass teletype. I had just set up shop as a consultant in early 1967 when I was called by an old friend, Charles W. Skelton who asked for an appointment. Charley (as he was called) was a former boss of mine at Texas Instruments, and he brought with him another old friend, J. P. (for Philip) Ray. Phil was a former student of mine at the University of Texas when I was a graduate instructor in EE and was later an associate at a company called International Data Systems. Charley started the meeting by noting that he and Phil and another person (August Roche) who I did not know previously had raised the money to start a company, called Computer Terminal Corporation, to design and manufacture computer terminals. The only problem, according to Charley, was that none of them had ever seen a computer terminal and had no idea what to do, and that all the money raising presentation had been clipped from various issues of Business Week, Fortune, etc. Basically, they asked if I had any ideas. As it turned out, I did. The time sharing computer business was just getting off the ground at that time and the principal terminals in use were Model 33 Teletypes. I suggested that the first product be essentially a complete emulation of the Model 33 protocol, on the ground that this would not require the time sharing computer operators to modify their software, which would be a big plus. The name Datapoint 3300 was chosen for this terminal. This, in fact, was what was done. Phil, who took over the company when Charley had a dispute with one of the investors, also wanted a first class industrial design and when to Raymond Loewy associates in New York. The associate actually assigned to the project was a young industrial designer named John Frassanito. Jack designed the 3300 and substantially every piece of equipment that CTC (later Datapoint) ever manufactured. (He has also done, and still does, a lot of design work for NASA as well.) There were several subsequent models of the "dumb" terminal. Gus Roche was the first Director of Engineering, but after Phil moved up to CEO, he became the Chief Operating Officer. Gus sought to hire and then did hire Vic Poor as Director of Engineering. Vic pushed the company, now Datapoint, into the programmable computer business. As Gordon related, Vic was the principal designer of the 2200, and Harry Pyle a major contributor. A slight error crept into the story at this point. While Harry was a major part of the software effort, much of the early software, including the operating system, was designed and written by Mike Green, another former student of mine who I had introduced to Datapoint. (For the historical record, Mike subsequently went to medical school, and currently practices in Minneapolis.) Discussions between Phil and myself led to the program to get the 2200 CPU reduced to silicon by Texas Instruments and Intel. I felt sure that that would ultimately be the way to go, but didn't realize the long struggle that it would take to get their. As was noted, TI did not successfully build a processor (but did apply for and receive several patents on the monolithic implementation of several of the features in the 2200 CPU). Intel did succeed, but by the time they had Datapoint had moved on to a faster and less expensive implementation using conventional TTL logic, so the Intel processor (the 8008) was never used by Datapoint. I would note in passing that a major contributor is several areas was the head of manufacturing for Datapoint, Dick Norman, who considerably simplified the construction, assembly and test of Datapoint products and (perhaps regrettably) reduced the cost of manufacturing the CPU board to the point that monolithic processors of the day simply could not compete. It is with regret that I note that several of the major participants in this drama are no longer with us, most notably Phil Ray, Gus Roche, and Dick Norman. Bob McClure ------ End of Forwarded Message For archives see: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
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- IP: also WORTH READING History of 8008? Dave Farber (May 11)