From: david.brown@hesbynett.no   
      
   On 22/12/2025 01:14, Keith Thompson wrote:   
   > David Brown  writes:   
   >> On 21/12/2025 02:55, Keith Thompson wrote:   
   >>> Kaz Kylheku <046-301-5902@kylheku.com> writes:   
   >>>> On 2025-12-18, Keith Thompson  wrote:   
   >>>>> BGB  writes:   
   >>>>> [...]   
   >>>>>> There are no "true" 8 bit systems in this sense, as pretty much every   
   >>>>>> existing 8-bit CPU has had support for 16-bit operations in some way,   
   >>>>>> though often by using register pairs.   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>> I vaguely recall reading about a true 8-bit system, maybe from the 1950s   
   >>>>> or so.   
   >>>>   
   >>>> Any guitar pedal with an electronic bypass toggle is a 1 bit system.   
   >>> But not a 1-bit computer.   
   >>>   
   >>> The system I referred to above was an actual computer with 8 bits of   
   >>> storage.   
   >>   
   >> Do you really mean a total of 8 bits of storage, or do you mean   
   >> storage addressable by 8 bits (thus avoiding the need for any 16-bit   
   >> registers or other registers bigger than 8 bits) ?   
   >   
   > As I wrote in the original followup, in context that was later   
   > snipped, "It had a total of 8 bits of storage."   
   >   
   > I think it used vacuum tubes.   
   >   
   > I can't find a reference.  As you can imagine, web searches for   
   > "8-bit computer" are not productive.   
   >   
   > There could be any number of reasons why it wouldn't qualify as a   
   > programmable computer.  I don't remember, or never knew, the details.   
   >   
      
   Fair enough.   
      
   Certainly "things", though not "computers" as such, were made with such   
   small numbers of bits.   It would surprise me a little if they were ever   
   made using vacuum tubes.  Relays were much cheaper and easier to work   
   with - vacuum tubes were used in early computers for speed, and because   
   they tolerated a lot higher switch count than relays.  But for anything   
   were 8 bits was sufficient, it is likely that you don't need such speed   
   - even with early relays you could exhaust your entire state space in a   
   few seconds.   
      
   It is also possible that what you had heard about was only part of a   
   cpu, such as the ALU (although I don't know how much of a distinction   
   was made of the parts of a processor in those days).   
      
   Still, you have piqued my curiosity here, so if you come across this   
   again, I'd enjoy hearing more about it.  (Though I suspect there will   
   never be a C compiler for the machine...)   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
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