Ex. 15. Read and translate TEXT A

THE PC REVOLUTION

Part I

Two technical innovations in the field of microelectronics – the integrated circuit (1959) and the microprocessor (1971) – resulted in creating microcomputers. The IC permitted the miniaturization of computer memory circuits, and the microprocessor reduced the size of a computer's CPU to the size of a single silicon chip.

The first desktop computer designed specially for personal use was called the Altair 8800. (See Figure 1)It was developed by a small firm named Micro Instrumentation Telemetry Systems in 1975. The Altair was a blue, box-shaped machine that measured approximately 43 cm by 46 cm by 18 cm. There was no keyboard, video terminal, paper-tape reader, or printer. The Altair used an 8-bit Intel 8080 microprocessor, had 256 bytes of RAM. Commands, or programs, were input by flipping the switches on the front panel of the machine. A pattern of flashing lights on this panel showed the results of a program.

Though the Altair was popular among computer hobbyists, its commercial application was limited, since buyers had to assemble the machine from a computer kit¹. The kit contained all of the components necessary to build an Altair computer: a box, a CPU board with 256 bytes of memory, and a front panel. It was sold for $397, barely more than the cost of the Intel 8080 microprocessor that it used. It took an electronics expert many hours to assemble the computer.

Figure 1