Micral

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A Micral
A Micral

According to the Computer History Museum, the Micral N was the earliest commercial, non-kit personal computer based on a microprocessor, the Intel 8008. The name Micral means small in French slang.

André Truong Trong Thi (EFREI degree, Paris), a French immigrant from Vietnam and François Gernelle developed the Micral N computer for the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), starting in June 1972. Alain Perrier of INRA was looking for a computer for process control in his hygrometric measurements. The software was developed by Benchetrit, with Alain Lacombe and Jean-Claude Beckmann working on the electrical and mechanical aspects.

The computer was to be delivered in December 1972, and Gernelle, Lacombe, Benchetrit and Beckmann had to work in a cellar in Chatenay-Malabry for 18 hours a day in order to deliver the computer in time. The software was written on an Intertechnique Multi-8 minicomputer using a cross-assembler. The computer was based on an Intel 8008 microprocessor clocked at 500 kHz. It had a back-panel bus, the Pluribus with 74-pin connector. 14 bords could be plugged in a Pluribus. With two Pluribus, the Micral N could support up to 24 boards. The computer used MOS memory instead of core. The Micral N could support parallel and serial input-output. It had 8 levels of interrupt and a stack. The computer was programmed with perforated cards, and used a teletype as output. It was delivered to the INRA in January 1973, and commercialized in February 1973 for FF 8,500 (about $1,750) making it a cost-effective replacement for minicomputers which augured the era of the PC.

Indeed, INRA was originally planning to use PDP-8 computers for process control, but the Micral N could do the same for a fifth of the cost. Philippe Kahn was involved with developing software for the Micral. In that respect, consummate businessman Truong and young mathematician Philippe Kahn may be the very first to have opened up a new vision. An 8-inch floppy disk reader was added to the Micral in December 1973, following a command of the Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique. This was made possible by the pile-canal, a buffer than could accept one megabyte per second. In 1974, a keyboard and screen were fitted to the Micral computers. A hard disk (first made by CAELUS then by Diablo) became available in 1975. In 1979, the Micral 8031 D was equipped with a 5" 1/4 inches hard disk of 5 Megabytes made by Seagate.

The following Micral computers successively used the Intel 8080 at 1 MHz (Micral G and Micral S), Zilog Z80 (Micral CZ) and Intel 8088 as microprocessors. The Micral M was a multiprocessor. The original SYSMIC operating system was renamed Prologue in 1978. Interestingly, Prologue was able to perform real-time multitasking, and was a multi-user system. The last Micral designed by François Gernelle was the 9020.[1] In 1981, R2E was bought by Groupe Bull. Starting with the Bull Micral 30, which could use both Prologue and MS-DOS, Groupe Bull transformed the Micral computers into a line of PC compatibles. François Gernelle left Bull in 1983.

Truong's R2E sold about 90,000 units of the Micral that were mostly used in vertical applications such as highway toll booths and process control.

Litigation happened after Truong started claiming that he alone invented the first personal computer. The courts did not judge in favor of Truong, who was declared "the businessman, but not the inventor", giving in 1998 the sole claim as inventor of the first personal computer to Gernelle and the R2E engineering team. In all circumstances Philippe Kahn had nothing but praise for Truong and his whole team, saying that his personal involvement was mostly due to being in the right place at the right time.[2] This attitude has been common in Kahn's comments throughout the years which makes him very different from high tech personalities such as Gates, Ellison and others.

Kahn went on to found several Silicon Valley technology companies: Borland Software, Starfish Software, LightSurf Technologies, and is currently founder and CEO of Fullpower Technologies.[3]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Computer History Museum
  2. ^ Parks, Bob (October, 2000). Wired Magazine, The Big Picture - Borland International Inc.'s Philippe Kahn. Retrieved on 20 April 2006.
  3. ^ Maney, Kevin. "Baby's arrival inspires birth of cellphone camera — and societal evolution", USA Today, 2007-01-23. Retrieved on 25 December. 

[edit] External links

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