On 03/09/2016 11:49 AM, Jon Elson wrote:
On 03/09/2016 09:28 AM, william degnan wrote:
Not a lot is said about early use of microprocessors in industrial
microcomputers. Everything you read about is so home computing
oriented,
but I believe actual sales would have been greater in the industrial
space
1974-77.
I compiled a quick thread on my site about the earliest use of
microprocessors in industrial microcomputers on my web site with
links to a
related article from EDN Microprocessor Design Series Volume II and
scans
of Process Computer Systems product brochures. PCS was a pioneer in
industrial micro-computing.
If anyone has info to share / correct please let me know and I will
add to
the thread.
http://vintagecomputer.net/browse_thread.cfm?id=631
Allen-Bradley had a 16-bit mini they called the 7300 Industrial
Processor. They sold a lot of them in their 7320 (and 7340, 7360) CNC
machine tool controls. (I have one here.) See :
http://pico-systems.com/images/S_AB7320D.jpg
The row of red LEDs at the bottom of the pic is the front panel of the
7300 CPU. They had an industrial control bus that allowed you to
connect a wide variety of interface boards, like encoder counters,
DACs, digital inputs and outputs, etc. It used battery-backed DRAM,
and was made around 1978.
Jon
I used to work at a glass plant back in the late 90's like 98-99 and
they used an Apple II to cut out as many peaces and or shapes out of 4X8
piece of glass it was a cool program they would just tell the Apple II,
how many peaces they needed what shapes oval, Square, Rectangle ETC. .
. it would calculate it out and cut as much of the order it could with
each slab of glass and add as many that could mathematically fit in the
8X4 sheet!
