I began my computer programming at the tender age of 14 in 1982. My first computer was a Timex Sinclair 1000 (Yes the watch maker got in the PC business for a minute by re-branding a British computer). An interesting note here is that this is when part of the great divide between the Apple and PC started. You see the two competing low cost CPUs back then were the Zilog Z80 (what was in my Timex computer) and the MOS Tech 6502. The Z80 found it's way into the more notable Radio Shack TRS-80 and other more business type computers due to the fact that the Z80 was a clone of the Intel 8080 chip (the mother of all PC CPU architecture to this very day). The MOS Tech chips found themselves into all of the "fun" computers. Commodores, Ataris, and yes, the Apple. Interestingly the MOS Tech chip was designed to be a low cost version of the Motorola 6800. Until Apple went to Intel processors around 2005 (it was outright heresy to the hardcore Apple people), all Apple computers were based on Motorola chip architecture and all PCs were based on Intel chips. The very different CPU architecture greatly influenced how the two different computer platforms evolved.
on Thu, 12/20/2012 - 12:53 chriskind
