Intel and Microprocessors

There are slides devoted to this topic: Lecture 0, p. 57, p. 60, Lecture 10a, pp. 20-22, Lecture 12a, pp. 5-10.

Websites

Check out the Computer History Museum’s introduction to microprocessors. Afterwards, look at their page on Intel’s microprocessors, and the later history of microprocessors. The CHM then covers the “microprocessor wars,” and the use of microprocessors in everyday life.

For a longer history, check out the History of Computers’ “Microprocessor” article, which chronicles the development of the microprocessor at Intel and improvements made by other companies.

Check out this history and picture gallery of individual Intel microprocessors from Lexikon’s History of Computing. After, head on over to “A Brief History of the Microprocessor” for a lengthier account.

Videos

This hour-long discussion of the “Microprocessor Marketing Wars” explains how Intel gained their dominant position in the microprocessor market. Interesting and funny, it does assume a little bit of knowledge of microprocessor history.

In celebration of the 35th anniversary of the 4004’s release, watch several speakers – including Ted Hoff and Frederico Faggin – discuss the importance of the microprocessor.

Articles

IEEE: “The Intel 4004 Microprocessor: What Constituted Invention?” William Aspray. This article explores the history of the invention of the 4004, giving credit to many people who have otherwise been forgotten in the 4004’s history–and radically rewriting the established history of the 4004 in the process.

To learn about the process of designing and marketing the 4004 microprocessor, read  “The History of the 4004,” published 25 years after the 4004 was born. The article, co-written by the four men who were most involved in the creation of the microprocessor, assumes that the reader understands advanced software and engineering concepts; however, it’s also a great inside look into the accidental process behind invention. The second-to-last page of the article is missing.

IEEE: “A History of Microprocessor Development at Intel,” Robert Noyce and Marcian Hoff: In this article, Intel leaders Noyce and Hoff offer a lucid history of the motivations behind and development of microprocessors at Intel, beginning with the 4004 and continuing through the 8008, to the iAPX 432, and the state of the industry when the article was written (in 1981).

Books

Freed, Les, The History of Computers, “The Intel 4004 and the Pioneer 10 Spacecraft,” 92-93

Campbell-Kelly and Aspray, Computer: A History of the Information Machine, 209-211