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Nov. 25Th MOS Technology [Sept 9], Where Nov supportive, so he, Bill Mensch [Feb 9], and five others, left for EPICAC Nov. 25th MOS Technology [Sept 9], where Nov. 25, 1950 Peddle headed a team working on the 650x family of “EPICAC” is a short story by Kurt Philipp Matthäus processors. The most famous Vonnegut which was published member of that family was the on this day in Collier’s Weekly. Hahn 6502, released in 1976, which could be purchased for roughly EPICAC is the largest, smartest Born: Nov. 25, 1739; 15% of the price of an Intel 8080 computer on Earth, and is given Scharnhausen, Germany [April 18]. Not surprisingly, it the part-time job of writing poetry for the story's narrator Died: May 2, 1790 soon found use in a multitude of products, including the Apple II (and EPICAC operator) to give to Hahn was a priest and also a [June 5], VIC-20 [May 00], NES Pat, his girlfriend. An renowned clockmaker and [Oct 18], Atari 8-bit computers unintended side-effect is that inventor. He designed the first [Nov 00], many arcade games, EPICAC learns to love Pat, but popular mechanical calculator and the BBC Micro [Dec 1]. also realizes that she cannot based on Leibniz’s Stepped reciprocate that love for a mere Reckoner [July 1], which he first machine. EPICAC short- got working in 1773, although circuiting himself to end the he spent a few more years misery. making the tens-carry mechanism reliable, partly by The story was published four reshaping the rectangular years after ENIAC was unveiled machine to be circular. Hahn’s [Feb 15], but the EPICAC name primary inspiration was to apply may also refer to “Syrup of his ideas to simplifying the Ipecac”, once used as a cough construction of a large syrup and to induce vomiting. astronomical clock, called the The story was adapted by Rod “Ludwigsburger Weltmaschine”. Serling and Bernard Schoenfeld Hahn explained his design in the for a 1964 episode of “The magazine Der Teutschen Merkur Twilight Zone,” entitled “From (The German Mercury, 1779, Agnes – with Love”, and again in No. 2), which probably Chuck Peddle (2013). Photo 1974 in “Rex Harrison Presents influenced a similar but by Jason Scott. CC BY 2.0. Stories of Love”, a pilot for an improved calculator design by anthology TV series. Commodore’s founder, Jack Johann Helfrich von Müller [Jan EPICAC also turned up in Tramiel [Dec 13], was a tough 16]. In fact, Hahn subsequently Vonnegut’s novel “Player Piano” man to work for, and Peddle accused Müller of stealing his (1952). work, but Müller denied it. briefly quit twice in the late 1970’s. The first time (1978), he One of his patrons, Herzog Carl went to work for Steve Jobs [Feb Eugen von Württemberg, called 24] at Apple, as the Lead Hironobu Hahn “the watchmaker God”. Development Engineer for the Lisa [Jan 19]. After a few months Sakaguchi he returned to Commodore. Born: Nov. 25, 1962; In 1982, BYTE magazine said, Charles (Chuck) Hitachi, Ibaraki, Japan “More than any other person Ingerham Peddle Chuck Peddle deserves to be Sakaguchi sketched out the called the founder of the initial concepts for the "Final Born: Nov. 25, 1937; personal computer industry”. Fantasy" series, and produced Bangor, Maine several entries in the franchise. Died: Dec. 15, 2019 Peddle’s original family name was “Piddle”, derived from the He had wanted to make a role- Peddle was the main designer of River Piddle in the UK. After playing game for some time, the MOS 6502 chip [Sept 16], moving to Canada, his inspired by Ultima [Sept 2]; and used it to develop the KIM- grandfather discovered that [Aug 24] and Wizardry [Sept 1 [April 00], and its better “piddle” was slang for urination, 00], but his employer Square known successor, the so changed their name. only agreed after the Commodore PET [April 15]. commercial success of "Dragon In the early 1970's, Peddle had Quest" [May 27]. worked on Motorola's expensive Sakaguchi brought on board ($300) 6800 processor [March fellow game designers Koichi 7], and afterwards wanted to Ishii and Akitoshi Kawazu. design a cheaper alternative. Kawazu was mainly responsible Management was less than 1 for the battle system, while Ishii computers talks of being in added the notion of four negotiation with King to buy the crystals, governing earth, air, machine. However, a real-world fire, and water. collector would be out of luck. King shipped his Wang to Sakaguchi made his debut as a California in the late 1990's for film director with “Final data retrieval, and never got it Fantasy: The Spirits Within” back. (2001). It was both the first photorealistic computer- The machine described in “The animated feature, and the most Word Processor” story is built expensive video game-inspired from assorted spare parts of no movie at the time. Despite some particular brand, which might positive reviews, the film did explain its magical capabilities. poorly at the box-office. During the 2015 Game Developers Conference , a mock video presentation explained how the success of "Final Fantasy" had prevented Sakaguchi from pursuing his life- long dream of becoming a hip- hop artist. Word Processor of the Gods Nov. 25, 1984 The short story, “The Word Processor”, by Stephen King [March 14], was published in the Jan. 1983 issue of Playboy magazine [May 20], probably making it the earliest fictional treatment of word processing. The story was later retitled “Word Processor of the Gods” and appeared in King’s 1985 collection “Skeleton Crew”. It was also adapted into an episode of the “Tales from the Darkside” TV series, first broadcast on this day. A 1980's picture of King in his office gives an indication of his word processing setup at the time – behind him, on a large desk, is probably a Wang OIS (Office Information System) 125A [Feb 7], and its accompanying 5536 terminal. The OIS supported numerous peripherals, including printers, and disk and tape drives, and could be programmed using Wang BASIC, Z80 assembler, or PL/M-80 [May 19]. King’s large Wang also featured in the novel, “Pattern Recognition” (2003) by William Gibson [Sept 3]. A dealer in old 2 .
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