Those of us old folks who got in on the start of embedded controllers can remember when small-room-sized computers started to have competition from Minicomputers. They were built of multiple circuit boards in an enclosure about the size of a large microwave oven and were the first computers to be uksed for more control-related applications.The computing was done with core chipsets that were 4-bits wide (extremely low level of integration by today’s standards, but the available technology drove the applications). If you wanted a 12-bit processor you laid out 3 sets of processor chips (or 4 sets for 16-bit processing) on circuit boards.

About that time Intel and Motorola (and was it Fairchild and RCA?) began to develop more highly integrated ICs that held more of the processor on a single chip, called microprocessors. Continue reading →