- UNIX
- MicroprocessorÂ
- Video game console
- VHS and VCR
UNIX
Early computers like the ENIAC were difficult to use and expensive and hard to make. Bell Labs and two other companies worked together on a MULTIX operating system, but Bell Labs pulled out. Two men working at Bell Labs for the MULTIX project, Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie, were some of the last to leave. Thompson had created a game for MULTIX before he was pulled out. A few different low-power tiny microcomputers already existed. Thompson wanted to be able to play his game, so, with his partner Ritchie, he began to write a new operating system for a microcomputer. He rewrote his game, and the operating system became UNIX. UNIX is a lot more user-friendly than MULTIX. UNIX can go on many types of computers, and MULTIX is just for one kind. Bell Labs put it on its own machines and licensed it to other groups. UNIX gave way to other operating systems, like Windows.
Microprocessor
Before the microprocessor, each processor for a computer was custom made. Busicom, a company that had been making mechanical calculators in Japan, wanted to start making electrical calculators. Busicom asked the newly formed company Intel to make a processor with their plans. Intel thought the plan was to complicated, so they made a different plan, the 4004 microprocessor. They gave it to Busicom. Microprocessors contain a CPU (central processing unit). That makes microprocessors universal to all computers. It can be used for many jobs on the computer. Many programs. The chip that Intel made is in many computers today.
Video Game Console
Chess has been around for a long time but as inventions progressed with items like the dishwasher and washing machine, people started developing board games. Board games developed into electronic arcade games. Ralph Baer was interested in a home video game console. He invented the Magnavox Odyssey; it was the first home video game console. Later, Atari was the main video game company with the first gen consoles. Atari released a bunch of bad games, and that caused a gaming crash.
Nintendo Timeline
1985 – Nintendo is the first company to reignite the video game industry after the Atari crash with the Nintendo Entertainment System, or NES.
1990 – Nintendo introduces a new console, the Super NES, or SNES. This console contains 16-bit games instead of older 8-bit games
1996 – Nintendo 64 works better with 3D polygons. It also features the first 3D Mario game, Super Mario 64.
2001 – Nintendo GameCube has rumble controllers and more 3D games.
2004 – Nintendo DS (Dual Screen) is a portable system. On the bottom screen, you have controls and a touchpad. The top on is a display.
2006 – The Wii introduces discs as gaming media and a few new controllers. The graphics are better than the DS.
2011 – The 3DS is a newer version of the DS, allowing for better 3D games than the DS.
2012 – The Wii U adds a smaller, mobile console in addition to the normal Wii body. It can also play newer games. Some really popular games today on the Wii U include Super Mario 3D World and Super Mario Maker, the first Mario game where players make their own levels.
2019 – Nintendo Switch is the newest console for many new games. It is portable, and looks a little like the mobile part of Wii U . It can connect to a TV without a larger console, unlike all others before it.
2021 – While doing research for this post, I kept seeing a lot of articles about a new Nintendo Switch that is supposed to come out sometime this year. I am unsure if this is true, but I thought I would mention it anyway.
Today, video games are very common and popular.Â
VHS and VCR
Before VCR’s, you could only watch a TV program once. You couldn’t ever listen to it again unless they did a rerun. JVC and Sony partnered to invent a VCR, but it broke up over the format of the film. JVC wanted to use VHS format, but Sony wanted its Betamax. The format war had begun. VCR’s are tools used to record programs to a cassette (VHS or Betamax) and lets the program be played back later. VHS won the format war because of longer record time than Betamax. VHS’s and VCR’s were in use over 25 years until DVD’s and DVR’s were invented.
Bonus Question!
Q- Do you think learning how to program as time goes on will become more or less important for someone who wants to do well and earn a lot of money? Why or why not?
A-I think it will be. People rely on computers a lot, and the need for computers is only growing. For better computers, you need more programmers. I think it is pretty hard to become a professional programmer, so it would probably be a pretty high paying job.