Editing S-100 bus (section)

== IEEE-696 Standard ==

As the {{nowrap|S-100}} bus gained momentum, there was a need to develop a formal specification of the bus to help assure compatibility of products produced by different manufacturers. There was also a need to extend the bus so that it could support processors more capable than the Intel 8080 used in the original Altair Computer. In May 1978, [[George Morrow (computers)|George Morrow]] and [[Parasitic Engineering|Howard Fullmer]] published a "Proposed Standard for the {{nowrap|S-100}} Bus" noting that 150 vendors were already supplying products for the {{nowrap|S-100}} Bus. This proposed standard documented the 8-bit data path and 16-bit address path of the bus and stated that consideration was being given to extending the data path to 16 bits and the address path to 24 bits.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Morrow|first1=George|last2=Fullmer|first2=Howard|title= Proposed Standard for the {{nowrap|S-100}} Bus |journal=Computer|publisher=IEEE Computer Society|quote= Extending the {{nowrap|S-100}} bus to 24 address bits and 16 data bits was recommended by Dave Gustavson. Exactly how this will be done is presently under consideration.
|date=May 1978|volume=11|issue=5|pages=84–90
|url= http://www.computer.org/csdl/mags/co/1978/05/01646965.pdf|doi=10.1109/c-m.1978.218190|s2cid=2023052}}</ref>

In July 1979 Kells Elmquist, Howard Fullmer, David Gustavson, and George Morrow published a "Standard Specification for {{nowrap|S-100}} Bus Interface Devices."<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Elmquist|first1=Kells A.
|last2=Fullmer|first2=Howard
|last3=Gustavson|first3=David B.
|last4=Morrow|first4=George |title= Standard Specification for S-100 Bus Interface Devices
|journal=Computer|publisher=IEEE Computer Society |date=July 1979|volume=12|issue=7|pages=28–52
|url= http://www.computer.org/csdl/mags/co/1979/07/01658813.pdf|doi=10.1109/mc.1979.1658813|s2cid=9797254
}}</ref>
In this specification the data path was extended to 16 bits and the address path was extended to 24 bits. The [[Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers|IEEE]] 696 Working Group, chaired by Mark Garetz, continued to develop the specification which was proposed as an IEEE Standard and approved by the [[IEEE Computer Society]] on June 10, 1982.<ref name="Standard">{{cite book| title=An American National Standard: IEEE 696 Standard Interface Devices
|doi=10.1109/IEEESTD.1983.81971|isbn=978-0-7381-4244-9}}</ref>

The [[American National Standards Institute]] (ANSI) approved the IEEE standard on September 8, 1983. The computer bus structure developed by Ed Roberts for the Altair 8800 computer had been extended, rigorously documented, and now designated as the American National Standard IEEE Std 696–1983.<ref name="Standard" />