Journey Through the World of Bits and Bytes


	Timeline - 1970's
	1971- The first microprocessor, the Intel 4004, is designed. This single chip contains all the basic parts of a computer.
	1973- The term “microcomputer” appears in print.
	1975- MITS ships one of the first PCs, the Altair 8800 with one kilobyte of memory, as a $375 mail-order kit.
	Paul Allen and Bill Gates write the first computer language program for personal computers, which is a form of BASIC designed for the Altair. Gates drops out of Harvard and founds Microsoft with Allen.
	MOS Technology 6502 is widely used in popular home computers. This technology adds two 8-bit numbers in a millionth of a second.
	The Byte Shop, one of the first computer stores, opens in California . About two years later, owner Paul Terrell will sell a chain of 74 Byte Shops for $4 million.
	1976- Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs found apple computer, which will become a multimillion dollar company and play a major role in the computer industry.
	1977- Apple Computer Inc., Radio Shack, and Commodore all introduce mass-market computers, beginning the PC era and the microcomputer race.
	Apple Computer’s Apple II, the first personal computer with color graphics, debuts, and the now-famous Apple logo is designed by Rob Janoff of Regis McKenna Advertising.
	Radio Shack’s TRS-80 Model is introduced. Radio Shack calls a press conference at the New York Stock Exchange to announce its debut.
	1978- Intel invents the 8060. It uses 29,000 transistors, costs $360, and can access one megabyte of memory.
	The 5.25-inch floppy disk is the industry standard.
	1979-The Motorola 6800, one of the most powerful and versatile 16-bit chips, performs multiplication as a single operation rather than multiple addition operations and adds two 16-bit numbers in 240 billionths of a second.

	The Apple II plus is introduced. It has 48 kilobytes of memory and sells for around $1,500.
	Texas Instruments enters the microcomputer market with the TI 99/4 personal computer and sells for $1,500.
	Hayes markets its first modem, which sets the industry standard for modems in years to come. Most modems produced today are Hayes-compatible.
	More than half a million computers are in use in the United States .
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