Mark-8: Difference between revisions
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[[Image:Radio Electronics Cover July 1974.jpg|thumb|The July 1974 issue of ''Radio-Electronics'': "Build The Mark-8: Your Personal Minicomputer".<ref name="RE-1974-07-J"/><ref name="RE-1974-07-PDF"/>]] |
[[Image:Radio Electronics Cover July 1974.jpg|thumb|The July 1974 issue of ''Radio-Electronics'': "Build The Mark-8: Your Personal Minicomputer".<ref name="RE-1974-07-J"/><ref name="RE-1974-07-PDF"/>]] |
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The '''Mark-8''' is a [[microcomputer]] design from 1974, based on the [[Intel 8008]] [[central processing unit|CPU]] (which was the world's first [[8-bit]] microprocessor). The Mark-8 was designed by Jonathan Titus, a Virginia Tech. graduate student in Chemistry. After building the machine, Titus decided to share its design with the community and reached out to ''[[Radio-Electronics]]'' and ''[[Popular Electronics]]''. He was turned down by ''[[Popular Electronics]]'', but ''[[Radio-Electronics]]'' was interested and announced as a 'loose kit' in the July 1974 issue of ''[[Radio-Electronics]]'' magazine.<ref name="RE-1974-07-J">{{cite journal |last = Titus |first = Jonathan |title = Build the Mark 8 Computer |journal = Radio Electronics |volume = 45 |issue = 7 |pages =29–33 |date = July 1974}}</ref><ref name="RE-1974-07-PDF">[https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Radio-Electronics/70s/1974/Radio-Electronics-1974-07.pdf Radio-Electronics; July 1974 issue.]</ref> |
The '''Mark-8''' is a [[microcomputer]] design from 1974, based on the [[Intel 8008]] [[central processing unit|CPU]] (which was the world's first [[8-bit]] microprocessor). The Mark-8 was designed by Jonathan Titus, a Virginia Tech. graduate student in Chemistry. After building the machine, Titus decided to share its design with the community and reached out to ''[[Radio-Electronics]]'' and ''[[Popular Electronics]]''. He was turned down by ''[[Popular Electronics]]'', but ''[[Radio-Electronics]]'' was interested and announced the Mark-8 as a 'loose kit' in the July 1974 issue of ''[[Radio-Electronics]]'' magazine.<ref name="RE-1974-07-J">{{cite journal |last = Titus |first = Jonathan |title = Build the Mark 8 Computer |journal = Radio Electronics |volume = 45 |issue = 7 |pages =29–33 |date = July 1974}}</ref><ref name="RE-1974-07-PDF">[https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Radio-Electronics/70s/1974/Radio-Electronics-1974-07.pdf Radio-Electronics; July 1974 issue.]</ref> |
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== Project kit == |
== Project kit == |
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Revision as of 22:53, 25 September 2020
The Mark-8 is a microcomputer design from 1974, based on the Intel 8008 CPU (which was the world's first 8-bit microprocessor). The Mark-8 was designed by Jonathan Titus, a Virginia Tech. graduate student in Chemistry. After building the machine, Titus decided to share its design with the community and reached out to Radio-Electronics and Popular Electronics. He was turned down by Popular Electronics, but Radio-Electronics was interested and announced the Mark-8 as a 'loose kit' in the July 1974 issue of Radio-Electronics magazine.[1][2]
Project kit
The Mark-8 was introduced as a 'build it yourself' project in Radio-Electronics's July 1974 cover article, offering a US$5 booklet containing circuit board layouts and DIY construction project descriptions, with Titus himself arranging for $50 circuit board sets to be made by a New Jersey company for delivery to hobbyists. Prospective Mark-8 builders had to gather the various electronics parts themselves from a number of different sources.[3] A couple of thousand booklets and some one-hundred circuit board sets were eventually sold.
The Mark-8 was introduced in R-E as "Your Personal Minicomputer". This may be readily understood considering that the microcomputer revolution had yet to happen; the word 'microcomputer' was still far from being common fare. Thus, in their announcement of their computer kit, the editors quite naturally placed the Mark-8 in the same category as the era's other 'minisize' computers. As quoted by an Intel official publication, "The Mark-8 is known as one of the first computers for the home" [4]
Influences
Although not very commercially successful, the Mark-8 prompted the editors of Popular Electronics magazine to consider publishing a similar but more easily accessible microcomputer project, and just six months later, in January 1975, they went through with their plans announcing the Altair 8800[5]. According to a 1998 Virginia Tech University article, Titus' Mark-8 microcomputer now resides in the Smithsonian Institution's "Information Age" display [6]
See also
References
- ^ a b Titus, Jonathan (July 1974). "Build the Mark 8 Computer". Radio Electronics. 45 (7): 29–33.
- ^ a b Radio-Electronics; July 1974 issue.
- ^ Mark-8 Minicomputer, Bryan's Old Computers, retrieved Feb 11 2009
- ^ Intel Microprocessor Timeline
- ^ About Forrest M. Mims III, By writer, editor and publisher Harry L. Helms, retrieved Feb 24 2009
- ^ Pioneers in microprocessor technology, Virginia Tech. Magazine, 1998
External links
- Mark-8 Minicomputer – an original Mark-8, restored to working condition
- A Mark-8 Experience – Terry Ritter's detailed memoir of building and running a Mark-8 in 1974.
- Collection of old analog and digital computers at www.oldcomputermuseum.com
- Jonathan A. Titus, Microcomputer Pioneer
- A look at 5 very different MARK-8 computers
- Titus and the Mark-8, Bit-by-Bit, a Haverford College Publication