After I lost my job at the company that manufactured stand-alone word processors, I was delighted to get a job where I could use my French. I became the department secretary for a special project at a company that manufactured semiconductors of all kinds. The special project was devoted to a contract to design and equip a semiconductor manufacturing plant in Algeria, for an arm of the Algerian government. Part of the contract required training about 50 Algerian engineers and technicians how to operate the new factory that was being built.
As a result, I learned about many aspects of manufacturing semiconductors, although I wasn't using a computer in my job. During this interval, the first microprocessors were being developed -- a "computer on a chip." This meant that the entire circuitry for a computer was now available on one integrated circuit.
However, that didn't mean that all you needed was one
integrated circuit. Oh, no. It needed to connect to other devices for input, output, and storage. While I was working for the semiconductor company, I went to the "company store" and bought a "computer in a notebook" for Don. It was a literal three-ring notebook, containing pages of information and instructions, and a plastic three-ring zip-lock bag containing a small printed circuit board and various semiconductor devices. Don would have to attach the pieces and somehow attach the "computer" to a keyboard and terminal and so on.
About that time we decided to move from Silicon Valley back to San Diego. Once again, Don got a job that would pay for our move. We didn't want to move the kids in the middle of the school year, so Don moved to San Diego and roomed with a friend, while the kids and I stayed in Sunnyvale until the end of the school year.
As a result, I learned about many aspects of manufacturing semiconductors, although I wasn't using a computer in my job. During this interval, the first microprocessors were being developed -- a "computer on a chip." This meant that the entire circuitry for a computer was now available on one integrated circuit.
However, that didn't mean that all you needed was one
integrated circuit. Oh, no. It needed to connect to other devices for input, output, and storage. While I was working for the semiconductor company, I went to the "company store" and bought a "computer in a notebook" for Don. It was a literal three-ring notebook, containing pages of information and instructions, and a plastic three-ring zip-lock bag containing a small printed circuit board and various semiconductor devices. Don would have to attach the pieces and somehow attach the "computer" to a keyboard and terminal and so on.
About that time we decided to move from Silicon Valley back to San Diego. Once again, Don got a job that would pay for our move. We didn't want to move the kids in the middle of the school year, so Don moved to San Diego and roomed with a friend, while the kids and I stayed in Sunnyvale until the end of the school year.
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