Microdata
Encyclopedia
Microdata Corporation was an Irvine, California
based computer company, developing hardware and operating systems to run its REALITY environment. It later was taken over by its International distributor CMC Leasings, which in turn was taken over in 1983 by McDonnell Douglas
Corporation.
The REALITY name was given to Microdata's computer system and the operating system - a version of the Pick operating system
. At the time, Microdata owned rights to the Pick operating system in parallel with Dick Pick - who developed it with Microdata in the early 1970s. As at 2009, REALITY was still owned by the same lineage of companies - from Microdata, McDonnell Douglas Information Systems, MDIS to the current Northgate Information Solutions
.
The original machine was a Microdata 800 microcomputer first made in 1969. This computer was licensed to the French company Intertechnique who sold it in Europe under the name Multi-8. It was in particular in use in nuclear power stations, research applications (such as crystallography
and biology
) and process control. Later this evolved into the Microdata 1600, an updated version of the 800 processor (commercialized under the name Multi-4 by Intertechnique). The original development of Reality was done on Microdata 800. The first REALITY system was based on the 1600 and was sold commercially in 1973. The unique feature of the early Microdata processors was that the microcode
was accessible to the user and allowed the creation of custom assembler level instructions. The Reality system design made extensive use of this capability.
The Microdata 3200 was developed in 1974, and was a 16 bit microprogrammed system designed to implement a high level language similar to IBM
's PL/I
language. It was designed to a more specific purpose, but still retained a great deal of flexibility in the firmware to allow for very complex microprogrammed architectures to be supported.
for more than thirty seconds while white clouds are mirrored on its glass exterior.
Irvine, California
Irvine is a suburban incorporated city in Orange County, California, United States. It is a planned city, mainly developed by the Irvine Company since the 1960s. Formally incorporated on December 28, 1971, the city has a population of 212,375 as of the 2010 census. However, the California...
based computer company, developing hardware and operating systems to run its REALITY environment. It later was taken over by its International distributor CMC Leasings, which in turn was taken over in 1983 by McDonnell Douglas
McDonnell Douglas
McDonnell Douglas was a major American aerospace manufacturer and defense contractor, producing a number of famous commercial and military aircraft. It formed from a merger of McDonnell Aircraft and Douglas Aircraft in 1967. McDonnell Douglas was based at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport...
Corporation.
The REALITY name was given to Microdata's computer system and the operating system - a version of the Pick operating system
Pick operating system
The Pick operating system is a demand-paged, multiuser, virtual memory, time-sharing operating system based around a unique "multivalued" database. Pick is used primarily for business data processing...
. At the time, Microdata owned rights to the Pick operating system in parallel with Dick Pick - who developed it with Microdata in the early 1970s. As at 2009, REALITY was still owned by the same lineage of companies - from Microdata, McDonnell Douglas Information Systems, MDIS to the current Northgate Information Solutions
Northgate Information Solutions
-Early years:The company was founded as CMC, or Computer Machinery Company, in 1969. They were originally distributors and subsequently manufacturers of Key to Disk computer systems made by the US-based Computer Machinery Corporation. The CMC Key to Disk systems were used by major companies and...
.
The original machine was a Microdata 800 microcomputer first made in 1969. This computer was licensed to the French company Intertechnique who sold it in Europe under the name Multi-8. It was in particular in use in nuclear power stations, research applications (such as crystallography
Crystallography
Crystallography is the experimental science of the arrangement of atoms in solids. The word "crystallography" derives from the Greek words crystallon = cold drop / frozen drop, with its meaning extending to all solids with some degree of transparency, and grapho = write.Before the development of...
and biology
Biology
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
) and process control. Later this evolved into the Microdata 1600, an updated version of the 800 processor (commercialized under the name Multi-4 by Intertechnique). The original development of Reality was done on Microdata 800. The first REALITY system was based on the 1600 and was sold commercially in 1973. The unique feature of the early Microdata processors was that the microcode
Microcode
Microcode is a layer of hardware-level instructions and/or data structures involved in the implementation of higher level machine code instructions in many computers and other processors; it resides in special high-speed memory and translates machine instructions into sequences of detailed...
was accessible to the user and allowed the creation of custom assembler level instructions. The Reality system design made extensive use of this capability.
The Microdata 3200 was developed in 1974, and was a 16 bit microprogrammed system designed to implement a high level language similar to IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
's PL/I
PL/I
PL/I is a procedural, imperative computer programming language designed for scientific, engineering, business and systems programming applications...
language. It was designed to a more specific purpose, but still retained a great deal of flexibility in the firmware to allow for very complex microprogrammed architectures to be supported.
Microdata in popular culture
Microdata's corporate building, with its logo clearly visible, is featured in the 1982 film KoyaanisqatsiKoyaanisqatsi
Koyaanisqatsi also known as Koyaanisqatsi: Life Out of Balance, is a 1982 film directed by Godfrey Reggio with music composed by Philip Glass and cinematography by Ron Fricke....
for more than thirty seconds while white clouds are mirrored on its glass exterior.
Further reading
- Reiter, Reinhold ; Sladkovic, Rudolf ; Carnuth, Walter Atmospheric Aerosols between 700 and 3000 m above Sea Level. Part V. A Study of the Effects of Atmospheric Fine Structure Characteristics on the Vertical Distribution of Aerosols a technical report of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft on atmospheric physics where a Multi-8 was used for performing computations (July 1971)
Manuals
- Some manuals of the Microdata 800
- Some manuals of the Microdata 1600
- Some manuals of the Microdata 3200