Text b history of the chip

Until 1990, most people credited Ted Hoff, an employee of Intel Corporation with inventing, in 1971, the first true microprocessor chip. However, on July 17, 1990, nearly 20 years after Hoff's chip was developed, Gilbert Hyatt, an independent inventor, won a 20-year-old battle to obtain a patent for a computer-on-a-chip that he invented in 1968.

Hyatt's patent has broad implications for established chip manufacturers such as Intel, Motorola, and Texas Instruments, because they may have to pay royalties to Hyatt to use the technology on which he holds a patent. Most chip manufacturers admitted that the announcement was a surprise to them and said they were unaware of the existence of such a patent claim. The validity of Hyatt's patent, however, is being contested in court, and no immediate effect on the chip industry is expected.

Notwithstanding the Hyatt patent, the origins of the chips used in today's computers can be traced to 1959, when Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments and Robert Noyce of Fairchild Semiconductor simultaneously developed the first integrated circuit (IC). Noyce and another scientist, Gordon Moore, formed the Intel (for INTegrated ELectronics) Corporation in 1968. Since then, Intel has become a leader of the chip industry. Then, as mentioned, in 1971, Intel developed a microprocessor chip named the Intel 4004. Even though the 4004 could work with only 4 bits at a time (compared to the 16- and 32-bit machines so common today), it was revolutionary in design and gave rise to the family of Intel chips that are such an important part of personal computers.

When the microprocessor was introduced, Intel thought sales of memory chips would increase, because the microprocessor can't run without chips. However, with the introduction of the first general-purpose microprocessor chip, the 8080, it became clear that this new chip would be of revolutionary significance. Intel and other companies then began developing improved versions of the 8080, including the Intel 8085, the Motorola 6800, and the Z80 from Zilog (a company formed by scientists leaving Intel).

Text c software down on the farm

In the world of agribusiness, the key to success is cutting costs. Because farmers have little or no control over the prices they will receive for their crops, their profit often depends on how little they spend on the production side. In the past, much of this cost-cutting depended on experience, guesswork, and just plain luck. However, today, many farmers are using computers to help them run their businesses. In fact, it has been estimated that almost half of all full-time farmers use a computer to help run the farm.

In managing a farm, computer software is used for a wide variety of tasks, ranging from basic accounting to making decisions about crops. One estimate put the number of software packages available to farmers at close to 2,000. Examples of the applications of computer software on the farm are

• ranking milk cows according to volume of milk produced so that less productive cows can be culled, which may result in a significant reduction in feed costs;

• assisting potato farmers in determining when to apply pesticides to their crops and when to irrigate their fields, depending on the temperature and humidity;

• allowing farmers to draw their fields to scale, indicating crops, drainage problems, pest control problems, fertilizer applications, and other pertinent information, some of which can be obtained from satellite photos, about each field.

While the computer produces important information in the planning process, the fanner still must make the final decisions about when to plant, when to harvest, and when to buy and sell. For farmers who are used to paying over $ 100,000 for their equipment, the cost of a personal computer and the associated software is small potatoes compared to the savings it can produce.