424:—the Micro 440 sold poorly, although it became somewhat popular at universities. Crenshaw surmised that the company had miscalculated customers' needs: "We thought that the public wanted lower cost ... In reality, our customers wanted a horsepower race: The more RAM, longer words, and faster clock speed, the better. The hobbyists saw our ads, yawned and moved on." Comp-Sultants eventually sold the kit Micro 440 for as low as $ 90 ($ 75 in quantities greater than 10). It was able to lower production costs of the kit units by skipping the process of plating the through-hole
40:
363:-based satellite-tracking antenna; an outside client commissioned Comp-Sultants for the firmware after Bloom had won them as a client. The firmware was delivered on time to positive reception from the client. However, further contracts that Bloom had expected to arise from earning this client never materialized. Crenshaw guessed that this was because his firmware was "a little too good." In late 1975, the company finally released its Micro 440 computer, available as a
168:
446:
described Comp-Sultants as "one of the first casualties" of the microcomputer revolution. The Micro 440 eventually became a collector's item, and technologist
Michael Nadeau found that many purchasers of the kit version had reused many of its parts in other homebrew computer projects.
328:. Eventually Crenshaw was hired as Comp-Sultants' general manager and software developer. The company employed nine people in 1975: Brian Nelson, the Blooms, Crenshaw, one other programmer and four technicians. Crenshaw described the company's laboratory as threadbare:
151:
magazine's estimation, the first third-party computer based on that chip. It sold poorly, and the company folded after less than two years, although the Micro 440 found some popularity after its demise among hobbyists as a bare-bones chassis.
343:. But we had no EPROM eraser. Instead, we just put the EPROMs outside, on the hood of someone's car, and let the Sun do the job. Sometimes, the software acted strangely. Do you think maybe a cloud passed over the Sun?
324:, the first commercially produced microprocessor ever made. It was at this trade show that Paul Bloom met Jack W. Crenshaw, a software engineer from Montgomery, Alabama who worked as a professor at the
282:
by Paul and Joanne Bloom and Brian Nelson in 1973. Paul Bloom was the company's president and spent the first few years at Comp-Sultants designing early microprocessor-based
420:
magazine wrote that it was the first third-party computer based on Intel's 4040 microprocessor. Although its initial price was only $ 275—or $ 100 less than the
312:
In early-to-mid 1975, Comp-Sultants previewed the prototype for its Micro 440 at a
Huntsville electronics trade show. The Micro 440 was a microcomputer based on
340:
325:
765:
731:
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board. Optional components included a chassis in which place the boards, memory expansion boards and preprogrammed software on
691:
809:
857:
438:
286:
392:
792:
39:
332:'s "development system" consisted of a 4004-based single-board computer, a primitive ROM-based assembler, and a
852:
826:
108:
336:. ... Our test equipment consisted of an equally primitive bus monitor, a multimeter, and an oscilloscope.
775:
302:
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machine. Although the company was incorporated in 1973, according to a classified ad in a 1969 issue of
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760:. Schiffer Book for Collectors (Illustrated ed.). Schiffer Publishing.
351:
8 Mod 80 development system, allowing him to develop software for the newer
464:
404:
388:
356:
348:
803:(9). Microcomputer Associates: 1, 3–4 – via the Internet Archive.
347:
Shortly after
Crenshaw joined Comp-Sultants, the company invested in a
820:(7). Microcomputer Associates: 3 – via the Internet Archive.
467:, the first microcomputer based on their 4040 chip, in early 1975.
313:
723:
A Collector's Guide to
Personal Computers and Pocket Calculators
786:(5). Press-Tech: 36. May 1969 – via the Internet Archive.
504:
502:
500:
498:
749:(4). Byte Publications: 89 – via the Internet Archive.
485:
483:
387:
acting as a hardware monitor, ports for I/O peripherals and
686:(11). Ziff-Davis: 30–45 – via the Internet Archive.
375:
The final design of the Micro 440 featured 256 bytes of
715:(4). United Business Media: 25–30 – via ProQuest.
546:
544:
301:, the company had been active for four years, offering
589:
587:
837:(5). Cahners Publishing: 6 – via Google Books.
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436:By the end of 1977, Comp-Sultants had folded.
703:Crenshaw, Jack W.; Colin Holland (May 2012).
629:
578:
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463:Intel had earlier released the prefabricated
8:
605:
160:
32:
741:Helmers, Carl T. Jr., ed. (December 1975).
278:Comp-Sultants was formally incorporated in
705:"How I got embedded: a special connection"
339:To hold our software, we used UV-erasable
166:
159:
38:
31:
355:. His first project for the 8080 was the
676:"The First Decade of Personal Computing"
653:
562:
550:
479:
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657:
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694:. OpenCorporates. n.d. Archived from
7:
379:, upgradable to 8 KB, a row of
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535:
326:University of Alabama in Huntsville
44:Advertisement for the Micro 440 in
25:
414:On the release of the Micro 440,
825:Staff writer (March 20, 1976b).
520:
674:Ahl, David H. (November 1984).
428:on the printed circuit boards.
810:"$ 90 4-Bit Microcomputer Kit"
808:Staff writer (January 1976a).
383:for inputting data, a bank of
287:programmable logic controllers
123:256 bytes –8 KB
1:
411:as optional software on ROM.
320:, the first successor to the
793:"Intel Introduces 4/Mod 40"
791:Staff writer (March 1975).
720:Haddock, Thomas F. (1993).
618:Crenshaw & Holland 2012
509:Crenshaw & Holland 2012
399:. Comp-Sultants provided a
305:for software to run on the
293:machine and another for an
238:; 47 years ago
196:; 55 years ago
145:microprocessor, it was, by
95:; 47 years ago
69:; 49 years ago
874:
757:Collectible Microcomputers
156:Background and development
770:– via Google Books.
736:– via Google Books.
165:
37:
27:American computer company
754:Nadeau, Michael (2002).
309:of mainframe computers.
776:"Professional Services"
709:Embedded Systems Design
345:
289:, including one for a
330:
858:Early microcomputers
814:Microcomputer Digest
797:Microcomputer Digest
698:on January 17, 2023.
692:"Comp-Sultants, Inc"
367:or fully assembled.
303:translation services
726:. Books Americana.
322:4004 microprocessor
318:4040 microprocessor
280:Huntsville, Alabama
268:Number of employees
207:Huntsville, Alabama
162:
161:Comp-Sultants, Inc.
139:Comp-Sultants, Inc.
34:
680:Creative Computing
630:Staff writer 1976a
608:, pp. 1, 3–4.
579:Staff writer 1976b
567:Staff writer 1976b
490:OpenCorporates n.d
439:Creative Computing
409:source-code editor
606:Staff writer 1975
465:Intellec 4 Mod 40
295:injection-molding
276:
275:
127:
126:
16:(Redirected from
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401:software monitor
391:and an included
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141:. Powered by an
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75:
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42:
35:
21:
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853:4-bit computers
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371:Specifications
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361:Kalman filter
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307:GE-200 series
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135:microcomputer
133:was an early
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59:Microcomputer
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18:Comp-Sultants
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780:Software Age
779:
756:
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696:the original
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654:Haddock 1993
649:
637:
632:, p. 3.
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581:, p. 6.
574:
569:, p. 6.
563:Haddock 1993
558:
551:Helmers 1975
531:
522:Software Age
521:
516:
459:
444:David H. Ahl
437:
435:
415:
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374:
346:
338:
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299:Software Age
298:
277:
225:Brian Nelson
222:Joanne Bloom
175:Company type
146:
138:
137:released by
130:
128:
90:Discontinued
64:Release date
45:
29:
743:"Micro-440"
658:Nadeau 2002
594:Nadeau 2002
422:Altair 8800
254:Dissolution
847:Categories
827:"4-bit µc"
667:References
407:and basic
353:Intel 8080
291:cold-forge
219:Paul Bloom
143:Intel 4040
114:Intel 4040
475:Citations
389:teletypes
284:real-time
262:Micro 440
131:Micro 440
85:1975–1977
33:Micro 440
642:Ahl 1984
536:Ahl 1984
526:, p. 36.
442:founder
405:debugger
357:firmware
349:Intellec
272:9 (1975)
259:Products
213:Founders
186:Computer
183:Industry
82:Lifespan
50:magazine
316:'s new
241: (
233:Defunct
199: (
191:Founded
178:Private
98: (
72: (
764:
730:
432:Legacy
359:for a
341:EPROMs
120:Memory
451:Notes
314:Intel
762:ISBN
747:Byte
728:ISBN
524:1969
426:vias
417:Byte
385:LEDs
251:Fate
243:1977
236:1977
201:1969
194:1969
148:Byte
129:The
100:1977
93:1977
74:1975
67:1975
56:Type
47:Byte
831:EDN
397:ROM
393:PSU
377:RAM
365:kit
205:in
109:CPU
849::
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799:.
795:.
782:.
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745:.
713:25
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684:10
682:.
678:.
586:^
543:^
497:^
482:^
403:,
818:2
801:1
784:3
492:.
245:)
203:)
102:)
76:)
20:)
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
