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Eniac equivalent computers available for $25 in 1980. Do tell me more.
by djmips 8y ago
Eniac equivalent computers available for $25 in 1980. Do tell me more.
- B1FF_PSUVM 8y agoWell, I think 8086s were going for more than that, but Z80s or 6502s would probably fit the bill on MIPS if not IO.
- Retric 8y agoEniac was only 500 flops and after an upgrade only had 100 words of ram. So a 6502 released in 1975 was a ~1,000x faster 8 bit cpu for 25$, granted very different architecture but easily much faster even if you where emulating an eniac. For reference a ‘speak and spell’ sold for 50$ back then and had IO but was not programmable.
- coldtea 8y agoGiven that ENIAC didn't have a monitor (or keyboard for that matter) you just needed a very slow CPU and some means of input and some lights for output (a little soldering could solve that). The 6502 (available even earlier than 1980) cost $25 -- and was used (e.g. in C64 well into the mid-80s and even today). ENIAC 0.00289 MIPS Commodore 64 0.02 MIPS
- dannypgh 8y agoAnd the motherboard? RAM? The pi is a whole computer built around a SoC. The 6502 is a CPU only. This $25 claim seems questionable.