Jason Abels
											




The Analytical Machine




	01010100011010000110010100100000010000010110111001100001011011000111100101110100011010010110001101100001011011000010000001001101011000010110001101101000011010010110111001100101 The previous sequence of zeros and ones is how a computer would say "The Analytical Machine" in the binary number system.  Digital computers have been using the same binary number system since the Altair 8008 self assembly kit was introduced in 1979 for $400.  Even in 1979, a 1.2 kBps internal modem (modern  modems cost $10 and are 56 kBps) cost as much as $700.  Computers have played an important role in both work and play.  While processor speed doubles every 18 months, prices keep dropping.

	When personal computers were first sold, they all had names: Apple II, Altair 8008, Radio Shack TRS-80, and the Commodore PET.  As technology progressed, most computers lost their names, due to increased expandability and so many different hardware configurations.  The one exception is Macintosh.  Since their computer parts are largely not interchangeable, they retained their names, such as the iMac and their newest product, sometimes known as the iMuffin (because of its muffin shaped base). 

	Even though the Altair 8008 was not the first personal computer, it was the first practical one.  The very first was the IBM 610 Auto-Point Computer, but it cost $55,000, and obviously did not sell well to consumers.  The Altair, selling in late 1979, was named after a Star Trek location.  This computer had the first 8 bit processor (the newest processor is a 64 bit).  An 8 bit processor performs 8 bit equations at one time.  For the time, the 2 Megahertz processor was astoundingly fast (nowadays 3,000 Mhz is commonplace), and people were amazed at the 256 bytes of Random Access Memory (1,00,000,000 bytes of RAM is seen today).  Later that year, International Business Machines (IBM) started shipping a similar but a very faster model.  It came equipped with 64 kilobytes (64,000) of RAM, a 10 megabyte hard disk drive (10,000,000 bytes), and came in 5, 6, 8, and 10 Mhz versions.  It included a 11.5 inch green phosphorous converted television screen and could display 80 by 25 characters at one time.  This new machine allowed users to do two or three times more the calculations and run more advanced programs. Most people could never imagine that someone would ever need anything more powerful.  This machine inspired Linus Torvalds to start writing Linux (which is a free Windows alternative).  While The Internet did not even exist in 1979, this computer came with an optional 1.2 kBps internal modem, for remotely connecting to other computers through a phone line.  This was a huge engineering feat, because it allowed data to be sent (however slowly) across the world, and no human contact was necessary.  It also opened the door to designing and create The Internet.

	The 80186 Central Processing Unit (CPU), built in 1981 by Intel, was the first 16 bit processor, making it twice as fast as the 8 bit, and required with one-forth of the power.  Despite the vast improvements, it never sold well, until its older brother, the 286, came along.  The 16 bit 80286, sold very well when it came out in 1982, partly because it could support up to 16 megabytes or RAM, and could use virtual memory, which is RAM on a hard disk.  This processor had 134,000 transistors, and could run at 20 Mhz.  The next in the x86 series was the 386, which had many more improvements.  The 80386 was the first 32 bit processor (Windows 3.1 to XP use a 32 bit).  It, consequently, was twice as fast as the 286's 16 bit central processing unit.  The 386 and all its successors were sold between 1985-1990.  It had 275,000 transistors and used pipelining, which allowed for multitasking.  This technology utilized dedicated circuits designed to allow faster data flow between the motherboard and the CPU.  To compensate for this new technology, Windows (commonly called Windoze by Windows haters [me]) became popular by selling Windows 3.1, which utilized this new multi-tasking technology.  This was one of the most significant inventions in computers, allowing users to be doing two things at once (for example: listening to music while typing a report).  The 386 CPU (Central Processing Unit) also could work with up to 4GB (4,000,000 bytes) of Random Access Memory, and an astounding 64 Terabytes (64,000,000,000,000 bytes) of virtual memory.  Today, even most high end computers only have a .2 Terabyte hard disk drive.  Obviously this permitted a lot of room for upgrades and improvements.  One year after, when the 386SX processor came out, it used 16 bit CPU, which was perfect for laptops because it did not use as much power as the normal version.  Some people referred to this as the "low-fat" 386.  

	In 1989, the 486DX hit the shelves, so to speak.  It had 1.2 million transistors, and ISA support, which enabled it to "talk" with its cards (for example: modem, etc.).  It also had 8 kilobytes of on-die cache.  This allowed it to predict the computers next "move", and transferred it to the cache, so it was ready to process.  It sold in 3 and 5 volt versions, for laptops and the latter for desktops.  1992 saw the remake of the 486DX, called the 486DX/2.  It was the same processor, except twice the speed.  When the DX was 33 Mhz, the DX/2 was 66 Mhz, which is quite an improvement.  

	In 1994, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) made a name for itself when it comes out with its revamped 486DX equivalent, but it was 70 Mhz.  This made it a feasible to upgrade to the AM486DX instead of buying a new system board and a Intel Pentium I, which was not much better early on.  

	The Pentium I was a very big improvement from the 486 series.  80586 could not be trademarked so they named it Pentium.  It was released in 1993 and was only 60 Mhz, but it was only the first in a series of many.  Containing 3.21 million transistors, the fastest in the family was clocked at 200 Mhz, which was a definite improvement over the 486.  This was also the first set of chips that allowed dual processors working together.  Intel, however, was not the only company with 200+ Mhz CPU's.

	In 1997, AMD introduced their AMD K6, which was the processor that really worried Intel, because it operated at 300 Mhz.  As the megahertz war raged on, Intel led a surprise attack with a blazing fast new model.

	Later into 1997, Intel released their AMD K6 equivalent, which was their Pentium II.  They ran between 233 and 450 Mhz.  This blew the K6 out of the water.  Intel, as good as they seemed, were not perfect though.  The bubonic plague of the computer world was called a Celeron (sometimes no-so-lovingly called "Celery").  They stripped down the Pentium II, which saved them costs, but absolutely murdered performance.  Before realizing their folly, hundreds had already been shipped.  They put their engineers on it right away, and started production on a new, improved Celeron 300A.  This was very popular with techies and nerds because it very easily overclocked (pumping extra voltage through the processor to make it run faster, but it ran hotter without proper cooling).  These new chips still did not sell well solely because of their name.
	1999 saw the introduction of the Pentium III, which ran between 450 and 1,000 Mhz.  Even with this burst of speed and being the first to break the 1 Ghz (1000 Mhz) barrier, AMD caught up, and some people would go so far as to say that AMD surpassed Intel and have not lost their lead to this day.  

	AMD released their "Thunderbird" in June of 2000, which, at the time, was the speediest chip on the market.  Many sources say that they surpass the speed rating given my AMD.  This CPU was also overclocker's heaven because of its heat efficiency.  AMD also hit the mobile market with their low voltage chips dubbed "Athlon 4" for laptops.  This was actually a mistake, but it worked out for the better.  Because their Athlon 4 was not finished in the desktop version, AMD decided to release their already completed mobile chip. 

	When AMD started shipping their "Athlon 4" desktop chip, they officially name it the Palimo, but renamed it to Athlon XP.  They then pulled ahead of their equivalent, the Pentium 4.  This was and is their best selling processor and operated between 1,400 and 3,200 Mhz.

	Even before the Palimo came out, the Intel Pentium 4 was introduced, and it ranged from 1,900 to 2,530 Mhz.  However, Intel very stupidly removed a large percentage of the cache, but not quite as much so as the Celeron.  This error, however, allowed AMD to grab the torch and stay ahead of the market.
	
	AMD will surely hold the torch for years to come because of their upcoming new processor, the 64 bit Clawhammer.  This may promise twice the processor speed, just as it has happened in the past.

	Through the years, computers have gone from simple word processing machines to 3-D gaming and Entertainment centers.  We now incorporate them into our movies, while in 1979, word processing was a somewhat difficult task to accomplish.  As we travel into the future, computers only get faster, smarter, and cheaper.