The Mark-8 is a microcomputer design from 1974, based on the Intel 8008 CPU (which was the world's first 8-bit microprocessor). The Mark-8 was designed by Jonathan Titus, a Virginia Tech graduate student in chemistry. After building the machine, Titus decided to share its design with the community and reached out to Radio-Electronics and Popular Electronics. He was turned down by Popular Electronics, but Radio-Electronics was interested and announced the Mark-8 as a 'loose kit' in the July 1974 issue of Radio-Electronics magazine.[1][2]
Project kit
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The Mark-8 was introduced as a 'build it yourself' project in Radio-Electronics's July 1974 cover article, offering a US$5 (equivalent to $30 in 2023) booklet containing circuit board layouts and DIY construction project descriptions, with Titus himself arranging for US$50 (equivalent to $300 in 2023) circuit board sets to be made by a New Jersey company for delivery to hobbyists. Prospective Mark-8 builders had to gather the various electronics parts themselves from various sources.[3] A couple of thousand booklets and some one hundred circuit board sets were eventually sold.[citation needed]
The Mark-8 was introduced in R-E as "Your Personal Minicomputer" as the word 'microcomputer' was still far from being commonly used for microprocessor-based computers. In their announcement of their computer kit, the editors placed the Mark-8 in the same category as the era's other 'minisize' computers. As quoted by an Intel official publication: "The Mark-8 is known as one of the first computers for the home."[4]
Influences
editAlthough not very commercially successful, the Mark-8 prompted the editors of Popular Electronics magazine to consider publishing a similar but more easily accessible microcomputer project, and just six months later, in January 1975, they went through with their plans announcing the Altair 8800.[5]
According to a 1998 Virginia Tech University article, Titus' Mark-8 microcomputer now resides in the Smithsonian Institution's "Information Age" display [6]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b Titus, Jonathan (July 1974). "Build the Mark 8 Computer". Radio Electronics. 45 (7): 29–33.
- ^ a b Radio-Electronics; July 1974 issue.
- ^ "Mark-8 Minicomputer". Bryan's Old Computers. Retrieved 2009-02-11.
- ^ "Intel Microprocessor Timeline" (PDF).
- ^ Helms, Harry L. "About Forrest M. Mims III". Retrieved 2009-02-24.
- ^ Clauson-Wicker, Su (1998). "Pioneers in microprocessor technology". Virginia Tech. Magazine.
External links
edit- Mark-8 Minicomputer – an original Mark-8, restored to working condition
- A Mark-8 Experience – Terry Ritter's detailed memoir of building and running a Mark-8 in 1974.
- Collection of old analog and digital computers at www.oldcomputermuseum.com
- Jonathan A. Titus, Microcomputer Pioneer
- A look at 5 very different MARK-8 computers
- Titus and the Mark-8, Bit-by-Bit, a Haverford College Publication