User:Michael Edward Zeidler

Michael Zeidler (born 1942 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA) contributed information about the F8 Microcomputer manufactured by Fairchild Semiconductor in 1975-1978. His background for providing this specific information came during the years 1972-1978 when he worked as a computer consultant in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. He purchased a Fairchild F8 Microcomputer Evaluation System in late 1975 from Fairchild Semiconductor in Mountain View, California. The circuit board was interconnected to a Texas Instruments 733ASR Data Terminal (Teletype compatible) for learning about the F8 microcomputer. The circuit was expanded with static memory ICs and a Shugart floppy diskette drive. An operating system was created. The idea at the time was to move from consulting to manufacturing an 8-bit microcomputers which would compete with time shared computing services used by technical people. While inquiries came in from engineers in a number of countries, there were significant obstacles in being able to put it all together. After realizing the venture was infeasible in 1978, the F8 prototype system was packed up and stored away. The information shared on Wikipedia in the Fairchild F8 article comes from his personal archives, which might be the most complete pool of information available about the Fairchild F8 Microcomputer.Michael Edward Zeidler (talk) 21:34, 22 June 2015 (UTC)