Fifty Years Ago .... from the pages of Computer Weekly

20th June 1974 computing, compiled by TNMOC volunteer archivist, Brian Aldous.

A selection of stories from Computer Weekly from 20th June 1974. The full archive of Computer Weekly can be seen at TNMOC, where there are special rolling displays of front pages from 25 and 40 years ago.

Microprocessor bid by Ferranti: In a bid to stake a claim in the world microprocessor market which, it is estimated, will be worth £500 million by 1980, Ferranti is developing its own “computer on a chip”. The F100L, as the new unit is known, is due to become available in 12 to 18 months’ time at a price of about £150 for OEM quantities. Manufacture of the 16-bit microprocessor will utilise the collector diffusion isolation LSI technique developed by Ferranti for fabrication of integrated circuits. Basically, collector diffusion isolation is a simple, high-yield bipolar process which requires only five masking operations, offering the function densities of MOS and related technologies. The logical design of the F100L was carried out by the digital systems division of Ferranti, at Bracknell, Berks, and trials and manufacture are being handled by the electronic components division, at Gem Mill, Lancashire. A spokesman for the company, at Gem Mill, told Computer Weekly that a trial chip had been nearly completed, and a TTL gate-for-gate equivalent had been made, for software development and rigorous testing purposes. The F100L is a single address, single accumulator fixed word length central processor with a 16-bit word length with twos’ complement fixed point arithmetic. In addition, direct addressing and indirect addressing, with or without automatic indexing, are provided. (CW 398 20/6/1974 p1)