Microprocessors

Question 1

General knowledge
– The general time that significant events (such as the creation of different computer models or technologies) occurred
– The people and organizations/companies behind these events/technologies and their background
– What companies produced which computers
– The names, general appearance and basic technical specifications of the computers of this time
– What were the specifications of the technologies of the day (such as the number of colors available with different graphical modes)
– What (if any) were the distinguishing feature or features of a computer
– How were these technologies or computers used

Answer 1

Altiar 8800: Created by Ed Roberts, sold by MITS (Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems)

Question 2

• How the invention of the microprocessor revolutionized computing

Answer 2

Allowed computers to be more widely used via being compact and cheap

Question 3

• What was the first computer that was targeted specifically for the home user

Answer 3

Altair 8800?

Question 4

• What was the influence of Microsoft on microcomputers

Answer 4

raised the standard for operating systems at the time (didn’t have to restart whole microcomputer when changing disks)

Question 5

• The history of the IBM-PC

Answer 5

Could not reach agreement with cp/m dev so IBM turned to OS by Microsoft
IBM was latecomer into the microcomputer market
eventually took over due to how much software was made for the pc

Question 6

The foundation of Apple Computers

Answer 6

Started by Steve jobs and Steve Wozniak

Question 7

The history of some of Apple’s early computers: Apple I, Apple II, Lisa, Macintosh

Answer 7

Apple I:
Boot code was in ROM
Data was saved on cassette tapes

Apple II:
Financed by sales of apple 1
Released in 1977
Ran using version of BASIC coded by wozniak
later used licensed version of BASIC from microsoft

Lisa:
Has a GUI
5Mhz 68000 processor
1MB RAM
Macintosh:

Question 8

• How IBM lost control over a computer architecture that it developed through the rise of clone computers

Answer 8

since IBM wasn’t developing computer parts in house other people could by the same components and produce clones that consisted of the exact parts one would get from IBM.

Question 9

How the rise of clone computers lead to the market dominance of Microsoft in the microcomputer market

Answer 9

All of these computers were running Microsoft OS (MS-DOS) so they had a really big market share

Question 10

When the Xerox Star was made available as well it’s influence on microcomputers

Answer 10

The first GUI-driven microcomputer

released 1981