[sdiy] IN your mind, what is ....

[john mahoney]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "The Old Crow" <oldcrow at oldcrows.net>
>
>   Hm, interesting topic turn,
Yes, it turned completely OFF topic! ;-)

The most versatile chips are CPUs, MPUs and microcontrollers, because they
can be programmed to do so many things. DSPs and PGAs are close behind. It's
not even fair to compare these guys to analog chips, that's why I ruled them
out from the start.

I believe that the 4004 evolved into today's Hyperthreaded Pentium and Xeon
processors, which is truly an amazing legacy. This chip family is only now
starting to reach it's upper limit. (Intel's emerging CPU family has a new
architecture, the HP collaboration thing...)

The 1802 is also a venerable chip, and the interstellar thing is a nice
feather in the cap, but it's still a minor player in a lot of ways.

That's all well and good, but...

If we are naming favorite vintage computer chips, I have got to mention the
6502. As the brain of the Apple ][, it helped to start the personal computer
industry. Commodore and Atari also sold countless 6502-based machines. Also,
as the brain of many arcade games, the 6502 helped me waste untold hours of
my youth playing Asteroids and Tempest and Defender and on and on. I think
those games were all powered by the sixty-five-oh-two.

Admittedly, the 6502 was the first girl I ever kissed -- umm, I mean the
first CPU that I programmed in machine language! -- so I've got a soft spot
for it. Though it was no sophisticate, the '02 was hardworking and friendly,
and we had many good times together. :-)
--
john