Intellec-8 microcomputer
CPU: 8008 - Manufacturer: Intel
Original Price: $2398 - Original Date: 1973
These machines were not sold to the general public

This historic machine and its companion, the Intellec-4, which employed the Intel 4004 CPU, were the first American microcomputers ever to be sold and pre-date the Altair 8800 by almost two years.

The Intellec Microcomputer Development Systems (MDS) were complete computers intended for the development of Intel microcomputer based products. They included a main unit with CPU, RAM, ROM, I/O and interrupt circuitry, as well as all necessary software: Assembler, linker, debugger.

Optional EPROM programmer and In-Circuit Emulator (ICE) allowed real-time emulation and diagnostics into user configured system before saving final program into an EPROM.

The Intel company offered the Intellec systems as a development system for their microprocessors: Intellec 4 and Intellec 40 for the 4-Bit microprocessors i4004 and i4040, Intellec 8 and Intellec 8 mod 80 for the 8-Bit processors.

Due to not calling the DEC-PDP-Computer "computer", the Intellec systems only imitated a minicomputer with their complex, but senseless front panel: a front panel is obligatory for a computer with a core memory, which does not have a ROM, to bring the loader to the memory once at start up.

A microcomputer system with a ROM and a RAM has a monitoring program in its ROM in any case, so the computer can be completely operated via the serial interface with a teletype. By the way, it is not possible to show the internal registers at the lamp registers, as it is possible at a processor built with the TTL technology.

Manufacturer: Intel
Date: 1973

This exhibit has a reference ID of CH3366. Please quote this reference ID in any communication with the Centre for Computing History.

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