Ian Moote wrote to GEORGE WHITE on 12-05-1999

IM> Well... a little rhetorical that question was. [:) IIRC the first 
IM> digital IC was put into production around 1974, for the U.S. space
IM>  program I think. We don't re-invent digital circuits any more than
IM> we  re-invent code to perform binary multiplication. When someone
IM> coughed up  a decent digital RTC, that circuit was licenced and
IM> re-used in a myriad  applications. Remember that things were
IM> changing very quickly in those  days. IC's meant ease of
IM> implementation, and the closer your product  could emulate another
IM> the more it would be used. The RTC in question  tracked a
IM> single-byte year, but nobody believed that we'd still be using  it
IM> in 1999. 

I used a prototype LORAN set in 1963 where Collins Radio used early TI
techniques to reduce the beast to the size of a pack of cigarettes -
but could find room for all the knobs.  The 7400 series IC's were
commercially available by at least 1969 - I paid an arm and a leg for
some of them to use in a research project.  You history is a bit skewed
- and the industry is slower in some areas than even you believed.

Will Honea 
--- Maximus/2 2.02