Note how it started off with a fairly humble application, a calculator and it grew into the industry giant we're familiar with today.

http://www.vintagecalculators.com/html/busicom_141-pf_and_in...

and people still reach for their phones to use the calculator even when they were already operating a mind bogglingly quick calculating machine. Or even get up to go find a desk calculator!

> Or even get up to go find a desk calculator!

They are used to its UI.

Yep. For any calculation of up to a dozen or so numbers it's far easier, quicker and more pleasant to use my HP than the computer, and even more so when in a meeting or on the phone. UI matters, physical interfaces matter.

http://aviation.stackexchange.com/q/22729/8205

I used to use a TI-83+, but now I've gotten into the habit of opening a Python or Node.js REPL for math. That way, I can copy-paste values to and from emails or chat. It also helps that I already know the syntax and math libs.

I tried bc[1] as well, but it has some really annoying defaults. For example: While it's capable of arbitrary precision, it calculates out to zero decimal places unless you tell it otherwise.

1. https://www.gnu.org/software/bc/

I've tried that but for me a REPL for calculating occupies an annoying middle ground: not as efficient as a calculator for quick calculations and not as powerful as say MathCAD for exploratory work. IPython's a step in the right direction.

I always start it as "bc -l". On some computers I have alias bc to that option.

Emacs calc is convenient and very full featured to say the least

I keep using sometimes my old Casio FX-85MS . I only need to change the power cell one time in all this years since I bought like 12 years ago

Knobs are awesome. I lament their passing in eg car radio and car aircon UI, and in microwaves.

Pilots lament their passing in the cockpit. Plenty of readings and buttons that were available instantly are now only available after the perusal of menus used to multiplex a single display or button across many readings or actuators.

Yep. Took me forever to be rid of the dedicated calculator for exactly that reason.

A striking thing is that the 4004, 8080, Z80, 6502 and Apple ][ all came out in a shorter timespan than that of the iPhone release till now.

Actually microprocessors and microcontroller we're pretty obvious ideas at the time, engineers knew they we're coming , and they didn't even deserved a patent.

It's probably just at the time tech and design tools matured enough to such complexity, and the potential market was ready.

The Die Shot, http://m.eet.com/media/1129709/12650-click_here_for_larger_i... is gorgeous.

Someone should make an attempt at it with contemporary tools.

ps: ah, well, there are http://www.4004.com/ http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware/2011/11/15/intel-celeb...

The start of a new era. I was just an infant when it came out. By the time I got into computers the 6502 and 8080 were out, by the time I was a teenager the 8086/8088 came out but all my family could afford was a Commodore 64.

I learned the 8088/8086 instruction set in college when I learned assembly language. I was too young for the 4004 chip. But it changed everything.

No multiply instruction. Less RAM than an Apollo Guidance Computer. Lame.

... fits on a fingernail (minus supporting circuitry), uses a fraction of the power. And orders of magnitude less costly.

And with transistors that big, it's probably rad-hard, too. Bonus!

(The first micro I saw with a multiply instruction was the 68000, which shipped 8 years after the 4004).

The 6809 already had 8x8 mul.

Are you comparing ARM with Intel now?

Unless I'm missing something clever here, I think it's worth noting that the 68k line was from Motorola.

RM will never live that one down apparently.

You'll note the new "iPod's" have both wireless and more space than a nomad.

He was just ahead of his time.

I know it's an old chip from the 70s, but is that really a wood panel on top of the case?

It does look sort of like wood in that picture, but I think it's just matte-finish gold (or gold-plated) metal.

There's a full simulator and set of schematics(!) for the 4004 and its associated support chips at http://www.4004.com/

Movie subtitle: "And so began a legacy of horrors that would never be topped in semiconductors..."

(Especially if you're in INFOSEC.)

It's been 44 years... oh, is that the joke? 4004 -> 44?

About time