Editing Motorola 6800 (section)

=== M6800 family introduction ===
[[File:Motorola M6800 microcomputer ad April 1975.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5 | An early advertisement for the Motorola's M6800 family microcomputer system]]

The March 7, 1974 issue of ''[[Electronics (magazine)|Electronics]]'' had a two-page story on the Motorola MC6800 microprocessor along with the MC6820 Peripheral Interface Adapter, the MC6850 Asynchronous Communications Interface Adapter, the MCM6810 128 byte RAM and the MCM6830 1024 byte ROM.<ref name = "MC6800 March 1974 ROM">{{Cite journal | title = Motorola joins microprocessor race with 8-bit entry | journal = Electronics | volume = 47 | issue = 5 | pages =29–30 | publisher = McGraw-Hill | location = New York | date = March 7, 1974}}The article used MC6830 for 128 byte RAM and MC6816 for the 1024 byte ROM. Motorola memory chips used MCM as a prefix.</ref> This was followed by an eight-page article in the April 18, 1974 issue, written by the Motorola design team.<ref name = "MC6800 April 1974">{{Cite journal | last = Young | first = Link |author2=Tom Bennett |author3=Jeff LaVell  | title = N-channel MOS technology yields new generation of microprocessors | journal = Electronics | volume = 47 | issue = 8 | pages =88–95 | publisher = McGraw-Hill | location = New York | date = April 18, 1974}}</ref> This issue also had an article introducing the Intel 8080.<ref name = "Intel 8080 April 1974">{{Cite journal | last = Shima | first = Masatoshi |author2=Federico Faggin | title = In switch to n-MOS microprocessor gets a 2-μs cycle time | journal = Electronics | volume = 47 | issue = 8 | pages =95–100 | publisher = McGraw-Hill | location = New York | date = April 18, 1974}}</ref>

Both the Intel 8080 and the Motorola MC6800 processors began layout around December 1972.<!--8080 Oral History page 10, 6800 Oral History page 9. --> The first working 8080 chips were produced January 1974<ref name = "Intel 8080 Oral History">{{Cite conference | first = Dave | last = House | title = Oral History Panel on the Development and Promotion of the Intel 8080 Microprocessor | publisher = Computer History Museum | date = April 26, 2007 | location = Mountain View, CA | url = http://www.computerhistory.org/collections/accession/102658123 | access-date = October 21, 2010 | archive-date = October 20, 2010 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20101020215722/http://www.computerhistory.org/collections/accession/102658123 | url-status = live }}</ref> and the first public announcement was in February 1974.<ref name = "ISSCC 1974 8080">{{Cite conference | first = Shima | last = Masatoshi | author-link = Masatoshi Shima |author2=Federico Faggin |author3=Stanley Mazor  | title = An N-Channel 8-Bit Single Chip Microprocessor | book-title = Solid-State Circuits Conference. Digest of Technical Papers. 1974 IEEE International |pages=56, 57, 229 | publisher = IEEE Computer Society Press | date = February 1974 | doi = 10.1109/ISSCC.1974.1155265}} Table 2 on page 229 gives the 8080 chip size as 164 x 191 mils. The 8008 was 124 x 173 mils</ref> The 8080 used same three voltage N-channel MOS process as Intel's existing memory chips allowing full production to begin that April.

The first working MC6800 chips were produced in February 1974 and engineering samples were given to select customers. Hewlett-Packard in [[Loveland, Colorado]] wanted the MC6800 for a new desktop calculator and had a prototype system working by June.<ref>Motorola 6800 Oral History (2008) pp. 9, 15</ref><ref name = "MD Oct 1975 HP 9815">{{Cite journal | title = HP designs custom 16-bit uC chip | journal = Microcomputer Digest | volume = 2 | issue = 4 | page = 8 | publisher = Microcomputer Associates | location = Cupertino CA | date = October 1975 | url = http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/microcomputerAssociates/Microcomputer_Digest_v02n04_Oct75.pdf | access-date = 2010-10-21 | archive-date = 2019-09-23 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190923120937/http://bitsavers.org/pdf/microcomputerAssociates/Microcomputer_Digest_v02n04_Oct75.pdf | url-status = live }} "The instrument is a companion to the firm's new 9815A calculator which uses a Motorola M6800 microcomputer and is priced at $2900."</ref> The MC6800 used a new single-voltage N-channel MOS process that proved to be very difficult to implement. The M6800 microcomputer system was finally in production by November 1974. Motorola matched Intel's price for single microprocessor, $360.<ref name = "MC6850 1975">{{Cite journal | title = Motorola microprocessor set is 1 MHz n-MOS | journal = Control Engineering | volume = 21 | issue = 11 | page =11 | date = November 1974}} MC6800 microprocessor price was $360. The MC6850 asynchronous communications interface adaptor (ACIA) was slated for first quarter 1975 introduction.</ref><ref name = "Intel $360">{{cite book | editor = Glynnis Thompson Kaye | title = A Revolution in Progress – A History to Date of Intel | publisher = Intel Corporation | year = 1984 | page = 14 | url = http://www.intel.com/museum/archives/brochures/brochures.htm | id = Order number:231295 | access-date = 2010-10-21 | archive-date = 2010-06-20 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100620212113/http://www.intel.com/museum/archives/brochures/brochures.htm | url-status = live }} "Shima implemented the 8080 in about a year and the new device was introduced in April 1974 for $360."</ref> (The [[IBM System/360]] was a well-known computer at this time.) In April 1975 the MEK6800D1 microcomputer design kit was offered for $300. The kit included all six chips in the M6800 family plus application and programming manuals.<ref name = "Electronics April 17, 1975">{{Cite journal | title = Motorola mounts M6800 drive | journal = Electronics | volume = 48 | issue = 8 | page =25 | publisher = McGraw-Hill | location = New York | date = April 17, 1975}} "Distributors are being stocked with the M6800 family, and the division is also offering an introductory kit that includes the family's six initial parts, plus applications and programming manuals, for $300."</ref> The price of a single MC6800 microprocessor was $175.

Link Young was the product marketer that developed the total system approach for the M6800 family release. In addition to releasing a full set of support chips with the 6800 microprocessor, Motorola offered a software and hardware development system. The software development tools were available on remote [[time-sharing]] computers or the source code was available so the customer could use an in-house computer system. The software that would run on a microprocessor system was typically written in assembly language. The development system consisted of a text editor, assembler and a simulator.<ref name = "6800 programming manual">{{Cite book | title = M6800 Microprocessor Programming Manual | publisher = Motorola Semiconductor Products | year = 1975 | location = Phoenix AZ}} This book was the instruction manual for the development software. Some of the software listing examples have dates from 1973 and 1974.</ref> This allowed the developer to test the software before the target system was complete. The hardware development was a desktop computer built with M6800 family CPU and peripherals known as the EXORcisor.<ref name = "MC6800 April 1974"/> Motorola offered a three- to five-day microprocessor design course for the 6800 hardware and software.<ref name = "M6800 Design Course">{{Cite journal | title = It's Easy and Inexpensive. | journal = Electronics | volume = 49 | issue = 8 | page = 27 | publisher = McGraw-Hill | location = New York | date = April 15, 1976 | url = http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Motorola_M6800_Training_ad_April_1976.jpg | access-date = October 21, 2010 | archive-date = November 10, 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121110011828/http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Motorola_M6800_Training_ad_April_1976.jpg | url-status = live }} The three-day design course cost $375 and included a copy of all the training materials. A company could schedule a course for 20 engineers at their own facility for $4000.</ref> This systems-oriented approach became the standard way new microprocessor were introduced.<ref name = "Noyce 1980">{{Cite journal | last = Noyce | first = Robert N. | author-link = Robert Noyce |author2=Marcian E. Hoff Jr | title = A History of Microprocessor Development at Intel | journal = IEEE Micro | volume = 1 | issue = 1 | pages =8–21 | publisher = IEEE Computer Society Press | date = February 1981 | doi = 10.1109/MM.1981.290812| s2cid = 37399846 }} "Motorola also introduced a development system and four peripheral chips mated to the 6800. Motorola's systems-oriented approach influenced the industry; henceforth CPUs would be introduced with full support available rather than on a trailing schedule."</ref>