The Real Gold Mountain!

Chapter 47 The Real Gold Mountain!

Many people may not have heard of the MOS 6502 CPU.

This is normal, because MOS, the company that produced it, went bankrupt shortly after the advent of the Internet age.

The specific problem can be attributed to financial issues.

However, the demise of MOS Technologies also made the MOS 6502 CPU even more legendary. It was the only CPU in the world to break Moore's Law before it became obsolete! And it was the only product whose own lifespan exceeded that of its parent company!

That's right! Even after MOS went bankrupt, the MOS 6502, or rather its upgraded version, is still being sold! The key to this is that the MOS 6502 was designed to be extremely practical!

When talking about the MOS 6502 CPU, we must mention their design team.

The design team for this CPU largely came from Motorola, with many members even serving as the lead architects for Motorola's legendary MOS 6800 processor. From the outset, their goal in designing the MOS 6502 was to create the world's cheapest CPU.

These engineers left Motorola because of disagreements between their design philosophy and Motorola's strategic planning. They felt that Motorola's plan in the CPU field should not be to compete with Intel, and that Motorola should not produce CPUs with the same performance as Intel, but should instead serve the public and reduce the cost of acquiring computers for more customers.

They even believe that personal computers should not be a symbol of identity and class.

The significance of technological iteration is to make products more accessible.

Motorola rejected their idea, and after failing to reach an agreement, the engineers had no choice but to leave and gather at MOS. And then... they created the MOS 6502.

Then, this CPU changed the world.

The MOS 6502 completely revolutionized the price of personal computers! It brought computers, which were once only available to governments, the military, large corporations, and universities, into the homes of millions of people, officially ushering the world into the computer age!

If that were all, it wouldn't be enough to write its legend.

After the MOS 6502's computing power could no longer support the computer's needs, this CPU was simply modified with a port and its performance was slightly upgraded. Then, it was put into the home consoles of major game companies, the most popular of which was Nintendo's Famicom!

The perfect performance and incredibly cheap price allowed Nintendo to make money off a console that should have lost money!

But that's not what makes the MOS 6502 so amazing.

What's even more impressive about the MOS 6502 is that when Nintendo felt its computing power was insufficient and decided to phase it out, it ended up in Bandai's arms. The globally popular Tamagotchi, also known as the electronic pet egg, was made by modifying it!

Even so, MOS 6502 was still in service when the new century arrived.

As the Eastern market flourished, a modified version of MOS 6502 was used in electronic dictionaries and memory devices.

In his previous life, the old professor who taught Ethan's elective marketing class once said something like that.

"The MOS 6502 is perhaps one of the best products in the world, with recorded sales exceeding one billion units. More importantly, it has been active in the market since its inception, revolutionizing multiple industries."

Ethan even remembered that the old professor had described MOS 6502 in this way—

"If you want to become a company that lasts as long as Coca-Cola, the most important thing to do is to find a way to extract substantial profits from low prices. Although MOS failed, they didn't fail with MOS 6502, but with their supply chain layout."

Turing Award winner Alan Kay once said, "People who're serious about software should make their own hardware."

"MOS produces the best hardware in the world, but they don't make software. They only reap the minimum profit of 6502, while other consumer goods companies make most of the money."

"This is truly a great pity."

In his past life, when Ethan was listening to this lecture, he thought the MOS 6502 was absolutely amazing!

And now, the central microprocessor that Wozniak was talking about is actually this?

"Holy crap! Shouldn't this be used on the Apple 2? How come it's on the Apple 1?"

"Wait a minute! When did this thing come out? This is the real gold mine!"

Ethan's eyes burned with desire.

But in Wozniak's view, it was a desire to witness a miracle.

After demonstrating the MOS 6502, the chubby guy said, "Although you've come to my house, I can't show you the true charm of this central microprocessor right now."

"I need some time because I haven't made the circuit board I designed yet."

These words prompted both of them to express their opinions.

"No problem, I can wait," Jobs said directly. "If you need my help, just say so. I don't care about Atari; Nolan won't bother me now anyway."

"Stephen, I'm fine. You know, with Snake Game around, I can just sit back and collect the money," Ethan Jones said with a smile. "However, if you need my help, you might have to help me with my accommodation. I haven't been staying at home lately; I'm staying in San Francisco, and it's been a hassle to travel back and forth every day."

"Okay, okay," Wozniak laughed. "Brothers, I'm glad you guys joined us!"

"Because my ideas are somewhat complex, it might be slower for one person to do them."

"So, come with me."

While speaking, Wozniak led the two into his garage.

The dazzling array of equipment overwhelmed Ethan, but Wozniak effortlessly picked up a few blueprints and spread them out on the table. "Brothers," he said, "you've all seen Altair. I don't know what you think of that computer, but I want to tell you, that machine is utterly inhuman!"

"All signal transmission relies on the movement of a joystick, which is a very high barrier to entry for the general public who have never been exposed to computers, because they do not understand what binary is."

"Therefore, in my design, my computer will be like the computers in the university, with a keyboard."

"Therefore, its production will be more complicated. I'm in charge of the circuit board, and you two, could you help me make the casing, keycaps, and joysticks? As you know, the keyboards on the machines in schools are larger, but mine is only the size of a briefcase, so standard keycaps won't fit."

"No problem," Jobs said, shaking his head.

"It's my honor," Ethan said with a smile.

"Okay, let's begin."

The chubby boy nodded and prepared to assign tasks.

However, he paused again a second later, looked up and said, "No, I have a question."

"Ethan, can you cook?"

"I know a little, what's wrong?"

"Okay, we won't." The chubby boy clapped his hands and said, "It's not that we won't, it's just that Steve's cooking is too awful. He only likes to eat vegetables now, but I can't stand it. I want to eat meat."

Jobs was displeased upon hearing this.

"Oh, Stephen! I told you, you just need to meditate with me! This step is easy to take!"

"No, no, no!"

The chubby boy shook his head like a rattle drum.

"This body of mine is a gift from my mother. If I lose weight, she will be very sad."

"You're clearly just making excuses for your own indulgence!"

"Then next time you see my mother, tell her yourself!"

Amidst their noise, the production gradually got down to business.

Over the next few days, Ethan witnessed firsthand just how skilled the top geeks of this era truly were.

Oh wait, Woz can't really be considered a geek.

Because he used the minimalist wisdom developed in the military industry.

While Altair, the most popular computer on the market at the time, required six circuit boards to function properly, Steve Wozniak's computer had only one circuit board.

This circuit board was like a honeycomb, densely packed with data.

On his circuit diagram, there are four rows of transistors that need to be soldered.

On the bottom right are eight serially linked random access memory units, totaling eight thousand bytes in size.

Right next to the random access memory is where the MOS 6502 is housed.

On the far left is the keyboard interface.

Ethan could understand up to this point, but he couldn't understand the other three rows of circuit diagrams as he went up.

Aside from the video interface marked in the upper left corner, the only other thing he recognized was the three batteries in the upper right corner.

Yes, Wozniak's computer even had a battery!

That wasn't even an AA battery; it was a large battery, 1.5 inches in diameter, 2.4 inches in height, and with a voltage of 4.5 volts!

When Ethan saw the battery connector, he was completely stunned!

Because this thing looks way too damn fantastical!

The world's first Apple computer actually had a battery? What the hell is the difference between this and future laptops?

When Ethan asked Wozniak why the computer motherboard still had a battery, the chubby guy's face immediately lit up with pride, "It's my special design, I call it a fully adjustable power supply."

"Ethan, you should know that there are many countries on this earth, and the voltage standards of different countries are different. For example, our country uses 120 volts, but Liben uses 100 volts or 200 volts. In this case, electrical appliances from different countries need to be used in foreign countries, and converters are needed. My fully adjustable power supply is a converter. It can make computers work in any voltage range between 100 volts and 240 volts."

"I told you, Altair is garbage!"

"They never considered how ordinary people feel when using computers!"

"Holy crap! So that's how it is?" Ethan was somewhat surprised.

He hadn't expected that Woz would even have considered something like this.

At this moment, he even thought that the fat man was a time traveler!

Because if it's just for personal use, he doesn't need to get a voltage converter at all, right?

Only those who believe from the very beginning that their design will become a global sensation will make this thing!

After five days of intensive work, on June 29, 1975, a computer in a brown wooden box was finally born. When Wozniak typed on the keyboard, characters appeared on the black screen...

The chubby boy's face immediately lit up with joy.

"Damn! I knew I was a genius!"

Jobs was also very excited.

"Ohhhhhh! This is our own computer!"

"Congratulations, Steve! You did it!"

Ethan was also cheering.

But at the same time, he also confirmed one thing.

His memory was spot on; MOS 6502, that's Kingsoft!

And it's a gold mine that, to date, only Steve Wozniak has ever touched!

Note: ① The MOS 6502 is a legendary chip inducted into the chip hall of fame. Products based on it include the Apple I and II, Atari home consoles 2600, 5200, 7800, and 800, Nintendo Famicom, Commodore PET, and a host of other best-selling electronic products at the time. Of course, some of these products used upgraded and modified versions of the 6502. ② Nintendo's NFC also uses the 6502 chip. The WDC 65C816 is based on the 6502, and the person who modified it is the patent holder of the 6502. ③ Regarding the exodus of Motorola engineers, in November 1975, Motorola's then CEO, Robert Galvin, stated in a media interview that the R&D personnel had come up with a very good idea, but Motorola failed to capitalize on it. This was his fault; he may have caused Motorola to miss the opportunity to embrace the world. In today's view, Motorola indeed missed an opportunity to surpass IBM, and even dominate the world. If the 6502 had been in Motorola's hands, or if Motorola had embraced the concept of consumer electronics, the trillion-dollar market for games and electronic devices might still exist today, but initially, Motorola would undoubtedly have been the leader. Whether x86 could have turned the tide is anyone's guess, because that's another story. Robert, who messed all of this up, became Motorola's chairman in the 1990s, because his father was the founder of Motorola, which was originally called Galvin Manufacturing Company.

(End of this chapter)