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Martin Research
Martin Research Ltd., later Qwint Systems, Inc., was an American computer company founded by Donald Paul Martin in Northbrook, Illinois, United States. The company released their Mike family of modular kit microcomputers starting in 1975. These computers, spanning several models based on the Intel 8008, 8080, and Zilog Z80 microprocessors, proved very popular among hobbyists who wanted an inexpensive trainer computer. Foundation (1974–1975) Donald Paul Martin (1940 – August 27, 2019) founded Martin Research in Northbrook, Illinois, in around late 1974. Before starting his company, Martin graduated with a degree electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Martin was also a co-founder of the Chicago Area Computer Hobbyists' Exchange (CACHE), a Chicago-based computer club, established around the same time of Martin Research's incorporation. Early in the company's existence, Martin had aspirations of having a wide swath of industrial buyers who ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Northbrook, Illinois
Northbrook is a suburb of Chicago, located at the northern edge of Cook County, Illinois, United States, on the border of Lake County, Illinois, Lake County. It is part of a collection of upscale residential communities north of Chicago and belongs to Northfield Township and the greater North Shore. Per the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 35,222. When incorporated in 1901, the village was known as Shermerville in honor of Frederick Schermer, who donated the land for its first Northbrook station, train station. The village changed its name to Northbrook in 1923 as an effort to improve its public image. The name was chosen because the West Fork of the North Branch of the Chicago River runs through the village. Glenbrook North High School, founded in 1952 as Glenbrook High School, is located in Northbrook. The village is also home to the Northbrook Park District, the Northbrook Court shopping mall, the Ed Rudolph Velodrome, the Chicago Curling Club, and th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seven-segment Display
A seven-segment display is a display device for Arabic numerals, less complex than a device that can show more characters such as dot matrix displays. Seven-segment displays are widely used in digital clocks, electronic meters, basic calculators, and other electronic devices that display numerical information. History Seven-segment representation of figures can be found in patents as early as 1903 (in ), when Carl Kinsley invented a method of telegraphically transmitting letters and numbers and having them printed on tape in a segmented format. In 1908, F. W. Wood invented an 8-segment display, which displayed the number 4 using a diagonal bar (). In 1910, a seven-segment display illuminated by incandescent bulbs was used on a power-plant boiler room signal panel. They were also used to show the dialed telephone number to operators during the transition from manual to automatic telephone dialing. They did not achieve widespread use until the advent of light-emitting diode, LEDs in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Datamation
''Datamation'' is a computer magazine that was published in print form in the United States between 1957 and 1998,Venerable IS Journal Shuts Down Sharon Machlis // ComputerWorld, page 15, 19 January 1998 and has since continued publication on the web. ''Datamation'' was previously owned by QuinStreet and acquired by TechnologyAdvice in 2020. Datamation is published as an online magazine at Datamation.com. History and profile Its predecessor started as a trade/engineering magazine called ''Research & Engineering'' (1955–1957). In 1957 it was rebranded to ''The Magazine of Datamation'' (from the issue no. 7), and in ...[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Printing Terminal
A computer terminal is an electronic or electromechanical hardware device that can be used for entering data into, and transcribing data from, a computer or a computing system. Most early computers only had a front panel to input or display bits and had to be connected to a terminal to print or input text through a keyboard. Teleprinters were used as early-day hard-copy terminals and predated the use of a computer screen by decades. The computer would typically transmit a line of data which would be printed on paper, and accept a line of data from a keyboard over a serial or other interface. Starting in the mid-1970s with microcomputers such as the Sphere 1, Sol-20, and Apple I, display circuitry and keyboards began to be integrated into personal and workstation computer systems, with the computer handling character generation and outputting to a CRT display such as a computer monitor or, sometimes, a consumer TV, but most larger computers continued to require terminals. Ear ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Teletype
A teleprinter (teletypewriter, teletype or TTY) is an electromechanical device that can be used to send and receive typed messages through various communications channels, in both point-to-point and point-to-multipoint configurations. Initially, from 1887 at the earliest, teleprinters were used in telegraphy. Electrical telegraphy had been developed decades earlier in the late 1830s and 1840s, then using simpler Morse key equipment and telegraph operators. The introduction of teleprinters automated much of this work and eventually largely replaced skilled operators versed in Morse code with typists and machines communicating faster via Baudot code. With the development of early computers in the 1950s, teleprinters were adapted to allow typed data to be sent to a computer, and responses printed. Some teleprinter models could also be used to create punched tape for data storage (either from typed input or from data received from a remote source) and to read back such tap ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Personal Computer
A personal computer, commonly referred to as PC or computer, is a computer designed for individual use. It is typically used for tasks such as Word processor, word processing, web browser, internet browsing, email, multimedia playback, and PC game, gaming. Personal computers are intended to be operated directly by an end user, rather than by a computer expert or technician. Unlike large, costly minicomputers and mainframes, time-sharing by many people at the same time is not used with personal computers. The term home computer has also been used, primarily in the late 1970s and 1980s. The advent of personal computers and the concurrent Digital Revolution have significantly affected the lives of people. Institutional or corporate computer owners in the 1960s had to write their own programs to do any useful work with computers. While personal computer users may develop their applications, usually these systems run commercial software, free-of-charge software ("freeware"), which i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Programmer (hardware)
In the context of Installation (computer programs), installing firmware onto a device, a programmer, device programmer, chip programmer, Programmable read-only memory#Programming, device burner, or PROM writer is a device that writes, a.k.a. burns, firmware to a target device's non-volatile memory. Typically, the target device memory is one of the following types: Programmable read-only memory, PROM, EPROM, EEPROM, Flash memory, MultiMediaCard#eMMC, eMMC, Magnetoresistive random-access memory, MRAM, Ferroelectric RAM, FeRAM, Non-volatile random-access memory, NVRAM, Programmable logic device, PLD, Programmable logic array, PLA, Programmable Array Logic, PAL, Generic array logic, GAL, Complex programmable logic device, CPLD, Field Programmable Gate Array, FPGA. Connection Generally, a programmer connects to a device in one of two ways. Insertion In some cases, the target device is inserted into a socket (usually Zero insertion force, ZIF) on the programmer. If the de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
EPROM
An EPROM (rarely EROM), or erasable programmable read-only memory, is a type of programmable read-only memory (PROM) integrated circuit, chip that retains its data when its power supply is switched off. Computer memory that can retrieve stored data after a power supply has been turned off and back on is called non-volatile. It is an array of floating-gate transistors individually programmed by an electronic device that supplies higher voltages than those normally used in digital circuits. Once programmed, an EPROM can be erased by exposing it to strong ultraviolet (UV) light source (such as from a mercury-vapor lamp). EPROMs are easily recognizable by the transparent fused quartz (or on later models' resin) window on the top of the package, through which the silicon chip is visible, and which permits exposure to ultraviolet light during erasing. It was invented by Dov Frohman in 1971. Operation Development of the EPROM memory cell (computing), memory cell started with investi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Interrupt
In digital computers, an interrupt (sometimes referred to as a trap) is a request for the processor to ''interrupt'' currently executing code (when permitted), so that the event can be processed in a timely manner. If the request is accepted, the processor will suspend its current activities, save its state, and execute a function called an '' interrupt handler'' (or an ''interrupt service routine'', ISR) to deal with the event. This interruption is often temporary, allowing the software to resume normal activities after the interrupt handler finishes, although the interrupt could instead indicate a fatal error. Interrupts are commonly used by hardware devices to indicate electronic or physical state changes that require time-sensitive attention. Interrupts are also commonly used to implement computer multitasking and system calls, especially in real-time computing. Systems that use interrupts in these ways are said to be interrupt-driven. History Hardware interrupts wer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Altair 8800
The Altair 8800 is a microcomputer introduced in 1974 by Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS) based on the Intel 8080 CPU. It was the first commercially successful personal computer. Interest in the Altair 8800 grew quickly after it was featured on the cover of the January 1975 issue of ''Popular Electronics''. It was sold by mail order through advertisements in ''Popular Electronics'', ''Radio-Electronics'', and in other hobbyist magazines. The Altair 8800 had no built-in screen or video output, so it would have to be connected to a serial terminal (such as a VT100-compatible terminal) to have any output. To connect it to a terminal, a serial interface card had to be installed. Alternatively, the Altair could be programmed using its front-panel switches. According to the personal computer pioneer Harry Garland, the Altair 8800 was the product that catalyzed the microcomputer revolution of the 1970s. The computer bus designed for the Altair became a ''de facto'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kilobaud Microcomputing
''Kilobaud Microcomputing'' was a magazine dedicated to the computer homebrew hobbyists from 1977 to 1983. It was one of the three influential computer magazines of the 1970s, along with ''BYTE'' and ''Creative Computing''. It focused mostly on the kit-build market, rather than the pre-assembled home computers that emerged, and as the kit market declined in the early 1980s, ''Kilobaud'' lost relevance and closed in 1983. After this, company continued publishing other magazines dedicated to particular platforms rather than the kit market. Beginnings Wayne Green was the founder and publisher of ''BYTE'' magazine, one of the influential microcomputer magazines of the 1970s. After putting out four issues, in November 1975 Green came to work and found that his ex-wife and the rest of the ''Byte'' magazine staff had moved out of his office and had taken the January issue with them. Consequently, the January 1976 issue had Virginia Green listed as publisher instead of Wayne Green. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crystal Oscillator
A crystal oscillator is an electronic oscillator Electrical circuit, circuit that uses a piezoelectricity, piezoelectric crystal as a frequency selective surface, frequency-selective element. The oscillator frequency is often used to keep track of time, as in quartz clock, quartz wristwatches, to provide a stable clock signal for digital data, digital integrated circuits, and to stabilize frequencies for radio transmitters and radio receiver, receivers. The most common type of piezoelectric resonator used is a quartz crystal, so oscillator circuits incorporating them became known as crystal oscillators. However, other piezoelectric materials including polycrystalline ceramics are used in similar circuits. A crystal oscillator relies on the slight change in shape of a quartz crystal under an electric field, a property known as inverse piezoelectricity. A voltage applied to the electrodes on the crystal causes it to change shape; when the voltage is removed, the crystal generates ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
