15 Questions
What technology facilitated the building of smaller and more reliable electronic devices, leading to improved CPU design complexity?
Transistors
Before the advent of transistors, what were CPUs built out of?
Vacuum tubes and relays
Which company introduced the IBM System/360 computer architecture in 1964?
IBM
What concept, still widely used in modern CPUs, did IBM use in the System/360 architecture to facilitate compatibility and performance improvements?
Microprogram (microcode)
Which company introduced a computer aimed at the scientific and research markets called the PDP-8?
DEC
What did the IBM System/360 architecture dominate for decades in the computer market?
Mainframe computers
What is one advantage of transistor-based computers over their predecessors?
Increased reliability and lower power consumption
What type of processors began to appear during the period of heavy usage of discrete transistor and IC CPUs?
Single instruction, multiple data (SIMD) vector processors
What is the term used for CPUs based on 'building block' ICs containing a few dozen transistors?
Small-scale integration (SSI) devices
Which technology was required to build LSI chips, which are chips with a hundred or more gates?
Metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) semiconductor manufacturing process
What was the main advantage of SSI ICs over earlier discrete transistor designs?
Consumed much less space and power
Who published influential articles in 1967 that described how to build the equivalent of a 32-bit mainframe computer from large-scale integration circuits?
Lee Boysel
Which company's follow-on to the System/360 used SSI ICs rather than Solid Logic Technology discrete-transistor modules?
IBM
'Building block' ICs were generally referred to as what type of devices?
Small-scale integration (SSI) devices
What was developed during this period that allowed many interconnected transistors to be manufactured on a single semiconductor-based die, or 'chip'?
Integrated circuit (IC)
Test your knowledge on the evolution of transistorized CPUs, from the advent of transistors to the design complexity of CPUs in the 1950s and 1960s. Explore the impact of smaller and more reliable electronic devices on CPU design.
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