Editing Jay Miner

{{short description|American electrical engineer}}
{{Infobox person
| name        = Jay Glenn Miner
| image       = JayMiner1990.jpg
| alt         = Jay Miner in 1990
| caption     = Jay Miner in 1990
| birth_date  = {{birth date|1932|05|31}}
| birth_place = [[Prescott, Arizona]], US
| death_date  = {{death date and age|1994|6|20|1932|5|31}}
| death_place = [[Mountain View, California]], US
| alma_mater = [[University of California, Berkeley|UC Berkeley]]
| occupation  = [[Integrated circuit]] designer
| notable_works = [[Amiga]] architecture<br>
[[Television Interface Adaptor|Atari 2600 TIA]] chip<br>[[Atari 8-bit]] graphics chips
| spouse = Caroline Miner (1952&ndash;1994)
| signature = JayMiner Mitch.jpg
| signature_alt = Jay Miner's signature from the top cover of a Commodore Amiga 1000 computer, along with his dog Mitchy's pawprint.
}}

'''Jay Glenn Miner''' (May 31, 1932&nbsp;– June 20, 1994) was an American [[integrated circuit]] designer, known primarily for developing graphics and audio chips for the [[Atari 2600]] and [[Atari 8-bit computers]] and as the "father of the [[Amiga]]".<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.wired.com/wired/archive/4.10/atari_pr.html|title=Spawn of Atari|author=Nick Montfort|date=October 1996|magazine=[[Wired Magazine]]}}</ref>

==Early life==
Jay Miner received his first formal electronics education after joining the [[United States Coast Guard|U.S. Coast Guard]] out of high school. Following his service he became a radio operator for the North Atlantic Weather Patrol who serviced meteorological duties on distant islands for three years. He returned to school to enroll in the [[University of California, Berkeley|University of California at Berkeley]], for which he received a [[Bachelor of Science|BS]] in [[Computer engineering|EECS]] in 1958, focusing on electronics design.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-fo4AQAAMAAJ&pg=RA6-PA79|title=Register - University of California, Band 2|year=1958}}</ref>

==Career==
Miner first became a chip designer when he joined [[General Microelectronics]] in 1964, playing a role in the design of the first calculator to use the MOS ICs, the [[Victor 3900]]. He then worked at the companies Standard MicroSystems and American Micro Systems, at the latter of which he contributed to the design of the [[F-14 CADC|MP944 microprocessor]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Holt |first1=Rod |title=The Garrett AiResearch and American Microsystem MP944 Microprocessor Design Team |url=https://firstmicroprocessor.com/design-team/ |website=firstmicroprocessor.com |access-date=March 9, 2021}}</ref> Subsequently he co-founded [[Synertek]] in 1973, where he served as the company's primary chip designer. One of the company's earliest contracts would be creating [[CMOS]] chips for the [[Bulova|Bulova Watch Company]],<ref>{{cite magazine |magazine=Radiocorriere |date=April 1975 |volume=52 |issue=4 |page=48 |url=https://archive.org/details/Radiocorriere-1975-04 |title=Bulova Watch Company contractual announcement |access-date=March 9, 2021 |language=Italian}}</ref> but they quickly became a second source manufacturer for chips designed by other firms such as Intel,<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Other New OEM Products |magazine=Computerworld |date=March 19, 1975 |volume=9 |issue=12 |page=38 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_computerworld_1975-03-19_9_12/ |access-date=March 9, 2021 |language=English}}</ref> Rockwell,<ref>{{cite journal |title=Rockwell & Synertek Reach Agreement |journal=Microcomputer Digest |date=June 1975 |volume=1 |issue=12 |page=11 |url=https://archive.org/details/bitsavers_microcompuomputerDigestv01n12Jun75_2574044/ |language=English}}</ref> and MOS Technology.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=3rd Generation Microprocessor |magazine=Microcomputer Digest |date=August 1975 |volume=2 |issue=2 |page=2 |url=https://archive.org/details/bitsavers_microcompuomputerDigestv02n02Aug75_2112666/ |access-date=March 9, 2021 |language=English}}</ref>

===Atari===
Due to its manufacturing of the [[MOS Technology 65xx]] series of chips, Synertek was recommended as a partner to [[Atari, Inc.]] after it had been decided to use the MOS 6507 for their upcoming [[Atari 2600|Atari VCS]] home video game console. One of Atari's engineers, [[Harold Lee (electrical engineer)|Harold Lee]], had worked with Miner at Standard MicroSystems and suggested him as the designer for a custom chip which would power Atari's new console. Through an arrangement with Synertek, Atari hired Miner in late 1975 to lead the chip design for the Atari VCS, primarily that of the display hardware, the [[Television Interface Adaptor|TIA]].<ref name="Info"/>

Miner was also the designer on the follow-up technology intended for a successor console to the Atari VCS. The [[ANTIC]] and [[CTIA and GTIA|CTIA]]<ref>{{cite patent |country=US |number=4296476  |status=patent |title=Data processing system with programmable graphics generator |gdate=1981-10-20 |fdate=1979-01-08 |inventor=Mayer, Steven T.; Miner, Jay G.; Neubauer, Douglas G.; Decuir, Joseph C. | assign1=Atari, Inc.}}</ref> were created with enhanced capabilities compared to the TIA but the project was altered from a video game console into what would become the [[Atari 8-bit computers]]. Due to clashes with management over this and other decisions, Miner left Atari before the release of the computers and found his way into the medical world. He worked for a company called [[Appian Technology|Zymos Corporation]] and received two patents<ref>{{ cite patent|country=US|number=4390022|status=patent|title=Implantable device with microprocessor control|gdate=1983-06-28|fdate=1981-05-18|invent1=Richard V. Calfee|invent2=Jay Miner|assign1=Intermedics, Inc.}}</ref><ref>{{cite patent|country=US|number=4404972|status=patent|title=Implantable device with microprocessor control|gdate=1983-06-28|fdate=1981-09-20|invent1=Pat L. Gordon|invent2=Richard V. Calfee|invent3=Jay Miner|assign1=Intermedics, Inc.}}</ref> for a microprocessor-driven [[Cardiac pacemaker|pacemaker]] made into a product by the company Intermedics Inc. called Cosmos.

===Amiga===
[[File:Amiga 1000DP.jpg|thumb|The original Amiga (1982)]]
In 1979, Miner was approached by [[Dave_Morse_(executive)|David Morse]], vice president from Tonka Toys, about starting a new company to create video game hardware without the oversight of a large corporation. Jay Miner agreed to take control of engineering on two conditions: that the design be a computer, and that it be a 16/32-bit system built around the Motorola 68000 CPU. They would become two of the co-founders of the company Hi-Toro.  In 1979 the soon-to-be-called Amiga was called the Lorraine.  In 1980 with the hardware in hand suddenly became the sole focus of Hi-Toro which was eventually renamed [[Amiga Corporation]].  Soon, the company suffered financial difficulties which led it first into a temporary deal with Atari, Inc. and then acquisition by [[Commodore International]].<ref name="Info"/> 
 
Miner continued to work for Amiga Corporation as a subsidiary of Commodore. Jay still owned Amiga, because of the patents/IP, but once again grew frustrated with the management style of the company. His frustrations largely revolved around what he said was Commodore marketing executives' failure to penetrate the Amiga into the low-cost computer market.<ref name="Info">{{cite magazine |last1=Skelton |first1=Mindy |title=INFO Interviews Jay Miner |magazine=Info |date=July 1988 |issue=21 |page=25 |url=https://archive.org/details/Info_Issue_21_1988-07_Info_Publications_US/ |access-date=March 10, 2021 |language=English}}</ref>  He still owned the majority of Amiga.

Miner's last electronics job was at the company Ventritex, operating medical instrumentation and designing chips which controlled a cardiac defibrillator.<ref>{{cite magazine |magazine=Byte |title=The Byte Stadium ― Power Plays |date=September 1990 |volume=15 |issue=9 |page=296 |url=https://archive.org/details/byte-magazine-1990-09/ |access-date=March 11, 2021}}</ref><ref name="San Jose">{{cite news |last1=Lundstrom |first1=Mack |title=Obituary from the San Jose Mercury News |newspaper=[[San Jose Mercury News]] |date=July 22, 1994 |url=http://elwoodb.free.fr/Amiga/JMS/jay-miner.html |access-date=March 10, 2021}}</ref>

==Personal life==

Miner married his wife Carolina (née Poplowski) in 1951 while attending an electronics school in Groton, Connecticut.<ref>{{cite news |title=Around the City |work=The News and Observer |date=January 1, 1952 |page=20 |language=English}}</ref><ref name="San Jose"/> His dog Mitchy, a [[cockapoo]], accompanied him everywhere. While he worked at Atari, Mitchy even had her own employee ID badge with number 000, and an embossing of her paw print is inside the Amiga 1000 top cover, alongside staff signatures.

Miner's personal hobbies included cultivating [[bonsai]] trees, square dancing, and camping.<ref name="San Jose"/> He was a particular fan of flight simulators on computers, having been significantly inspired to design Amiga as an excellent flight simulator. He said at one time his favorite Amiga program was the game ''[[F/A-18 Interceptor]]'' published by Electronic Arts in 1988.<ref name="Info"/>

He endured [[kidney]] problems for most of his life, according to his wife, and relied on [[Kidney dialysis|dialysis]]. His sister, Joyce Beers, donated a kidney to him in 1990. He died due to complications from kidney failure at the age of 62.<ref name="San Jose"/>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{wikiquote|Jay Miner}}
* [http://elwoodb.free.fr/Amiga/JMS/ Jay Miner Society]


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{{Amiga people}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Miner, Jay}}
[[Category:1932 births]]
[[Category:1994 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American engineers]]
[[Category:American computer businesspeople]]
[[Category:American electrical engineers]]
[[Category:Amiga people]]
[[Category:Deaths from kidney failure in California]]
[[Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni]]