Computer Terminal Corporation 2200 terminal This terminal was why Intel had the first 8 bit Microprocessor - Intel 8008 in 1972 Subscribe to my channel http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=lcfgroup http://www.microcomputermuseum.com Short story about the origin of the Intel 8008 microprocessor. The Teletype was the communications terminal used from the late 50's until in the 80s - first as a data terminal connected to the telephone system with a modem. It was used to send messages to users and mostly for sending and receiving telegrams. Later the Teletype was used for a minicomputer printer and paper tape punch to store the data. Long distant voice calling were so expensive and unreliable it was rarely used in the 50's and 60s'. The Teletype was a totally mechanical device that could decode 8 bit data strings - ASCII code - and print all capital letters on paper & also punch paper tape for permanent Storage of the data. The Teletype could also read the paper tape and convert the code into the 8 bit serial ASCII data for transmitting over a telephone line using a modem. The word Byte for 8 bits of data most likely came from this sending and receiving alphabetic characters as 8 bits of data. The Teletype was a great invention however it was a mechanical monster with 100's of cams and levers that could and failed often. It was a mechanical device and very noisy & distracting in and office. In the end of 1960's, 2 graduates at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio, Harry Pyle and Victor D. Poor, came up with the idea of a high density integrated circuit which would be programmable. Harry and Victors ideas were used to create the logic of the CTC2200 and this became the code for the 8008 microprocessor. When transistors and more importantly integrated circuits became available and all electronic version of the Teletype became possible. The Control Terminal Corporation produced an electronic replacement for the Teletype the "CTC 2200". The CTC 2200 was actually programmable terminal using a custom designed 8 bit computer. The computer was made from discrete components and and small scale integrated circuits. Microprocessors had not been designed in the late 60's when the CTC2200 was developed. The engineers at CTC did have the idea to put the computer logic they had designed into the CTC2200 on a single chip - making a microprocessor. A design team went to Intel to have them design and make a microprocessor using the logic in the CTC2200. Robert Noyce of Intel when approached with this project did not like the idea as he thought a computer on a chip would hurt the memory chip market of Intel by competing with computer makers using the Intel memory chips. However Robert Noyce did agree to make the chip for $50,000. The CTC engineers also went to Texas Instruments and ask them to make the same chip to be sure they had a backup source. The Texas Instrument chip did not function properly and was not used. The Intel chip was a long time in development. The CTC team decided to just build the 2200 terminal with there current design of about 100 small scale integrated circuits and give up the rights to the intellectual property rights for the Intel microprocessor design --and did not pay the $50,000 to Intel. Giving up the intellectual rights to the microprocessor is among the worst business decisions ever. Intel went ahead with the full development of the microprocessor and called it the 8008. The microprocessor used the same digital logic and operational software codes as CTC2200 . The computer logic in the CTC2200 then was an original 8 bit computer that used the 8008 software code and was the beginning of 8 bit computers (8008 microprocessor) for Intel.

• published: 03 Jun 2014
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