Approaching the minicomputer on a silicon chip
H. Gunther Rudenberg · 1971
Technological progress in semiconductor integrated circuits during the last five years has been truly astounding, and the results of this progress are being aggressively exploited in the designs of new minicomputers. During the 1960s, effort in minicomputer design was concentrated on applying the low price, high speed, and ever-increasing complexity offered by the integrated circuit industries to the original architectures so as to provide greater speed and particularly lower cost. Much of this effort consisted of substituting first MSI and now LSI circuits for the simpler integrated circuits with which previous minicomputers were implemented without greatly changing either architecture or structure and programs. With such substitution, however, tremendous decreases in system cost and some increases in speed were accomplished. Most recently, new structures and architecture are being examined so as to further extend the capabilities as well as economy of minicomputers.