Friday, February 15, 2013
Ed:

Great reading.  You do have a writer’s touch.

I guess I could use a little more backstory – who is MSI data?  Did you build two companies?

The PPS4/1 was a Rockwell 4 bit chip, used in things like pinball games.  I know the 4004 was used in traffic signals, a calculator, and Pro-Log programmers, but I did not know about the heart monitor.  Do you remember the name?  Someone said the 4004 was used in a voltmeter, but I don’t know which one either.  There were only a few companies that made programmers for the 4004 (1702A), so I can guess that you guys were right there at the beginning of it all.  You provided the tools that designers needed – very cool.  You were right about the 4004 revolutionizing engineering.  It might have been good that Intel was short sighted in their assessment of the power of the 4004.  It gave you something to do for a few years.

So two guys start a business with a chip, and buld a business that standardizes industrial integration (STD and STD-32).  Why/how did Motorloa get involved?  Was it a good or bad thing?  Seems to me, if your were doing well (cash and time), why would you sell.  Of course, if the writing was on the wall, and your industry was shrinking, getting out while the going was good make sense.  Are you still living off of the Motorola payout?  (You don’t have to answer that if you don’t care to.  I remember the tale of the designer of the Hayes modem, who got a 7 year payout, right before the company folded at 7.5 years.  He actually lives near Atlanta.  A fellow robot guy.)

Very interesting thus far.  Who owns the name Pro-Log?  The www.prolog.com site goes to GDCA, a supplier of new Pro-Log cards.  It looks like they own the name, but they don’t tell the story of where Pro-Log came from though.

Should I start the Wikipedia page, or is that something you want to do? 

Oh, by the way, I think I found Matt  (Matthias) via email.  I told him I had a collection of programmers and was toying with the idea of repurposing them into clocks or 4004/4040 4-bit trainers.  I haven’t heard back yet, so he may not have any insight.  I haven’t told him that we are conversing either – not sure if that was kosher or not.  I can provide his email if you would like to strike up a conversation – or I can keep it on the down low.  If you guys aren’t friendly, then I will keep the conversations separate.

I also read somewhere you have like 10-20 patents?  Do you still get to collect royalties from them?  That would be sweet…

Anyway, it is getting late here and I have a meeting tomorrow I need to get ready for.  The Vintage Computer Fair is having their first Southeast show in April, and I’m trying to put together a booth.  Maybe I’ll incorporate Pro-Log into the display.  So far, it is a good story to tell.

Flash
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Saturday, February 16

Flash:

It’s going to take many sessions to answer all the questions in your latest email, but keep those questions coming. They’re very helpful.

The name Pro-Log was Matt’s idea. It stood for “programmed logic.” It was meant to distinguish our engineering approach to using microprocessors from the traditional computer software methods. At roughly the same time the ProLog language was developed in England. From time to time, this became a distractive nuisance, but never a serious issue.

Yes, the PPS4 and Rockwell were the chip and company I was referring to. Matt chose the 4004 for the MSI order entry system because its architecture was simpler to use and its instruction set fairly clean and I/O oriented.

The heart monitoring machine became one-of-a kind because we went on to start Pro-Log, and the doctors didn’t have the wherewithal to fund the multi-year approval process for medical equipment. I’ll tell the story of that machine later. I used to tell it often in the early 70s when I lectured around the nation about microprocessors and how to use them. One of my jokes was that for every button on an instrument, one had to add 10 points to the required IQ of the operator, and 25 points for every potentiometer. When the doctors told us that they would operate the heart monitor and not the nurses, we made it a one-button system with no potentiometers. (I then demonstrated how microprocessors could simplify control panels.)

Other pointed jokes I made during the lectures told why hardware engineers were better than software programmers. Engineers always begin counting from 1 and programmers begin with 0; so that engineers are one step ahead of programmers. Engineers used picture languages to develop ideas and to communicate with other humans Continue reading →

Introduction

From: Flash Corliss,  Saturday, February 09, 2013
Subject: Pro-Log

 Ed,

Hello, my name is Flash Corliss, and I just recently became a Pro-Log fanboy.  Over the years, I have been collecting Pro-Log programmers and STD computer cards off of eBay.  Wonderfully built stuff. 

Which got me thinking; “Where did Pro-Log come from?”  I know the story of Microsoft, Intel, Apple, IBM, and HP, but not of Pro-Log.  I know it was bought out by Motorola, and then they killed it a few years later, but the beginning is a bit of a mystery. 

I have some brochures and owner’s manuals that paint a very capable engineering company – but nary a word of backstory. 

Using Google, I was to find you and Matt Biewer (I don’t have his email yet).  From what I can gather, you and he founded Pro-Log in 1972 (friends?).  What was your first product?  How did you meet Matt?  Did you always want to run a company (CEO)?  Did you and Matt get along and remain friends before/during/after the sale to Motorola?  Why did Motorola discontinue the Pro-Log brand? 

Anyway, tons of questions.  You may not have the time to tell me your story – so is there a history book somewhere?  I know Matt wrote a PLS-400 Designer’s Guide (would love to get a copy).  Did you write anything at Pro-Log?  Did he write anything else besides the Designer’s Guide?  I have his name on some of the schematics I have in my collection, did you design anything?  Is there a repository of all things Pro-Log (i.e. do you have any Pro-Log paraphernalia lost in your garage – I could give them a new home)? 

I think at the very least a Wikipedia page should be written, and I don’t mind doing it if you don’t have the time.  Also, who would have the latest firmware (like for the PM9080 plugin module for the M-980 programmer)?  These programmers are still used for the Vintage Computer crowd…  I was toying with the idea of fabricating a USB interface for them so that they could be used with today’s newer computers.  I hate seeing these programmers tossed in the trash heap because people think they can’t be used anymore. 

Thanks for your time reading my ramblings.  I hope we can start up a conversation and take a trip down memory lane.  Invite Matt, it will be fun. 

Flash

_____________________________________

From: Edwin Lee  Sunday, February 10, 2013 2:22 PM

Flash,

Thanks for your email. You ask a host of great questions, most of which I will answer in due time. Am winding up a vacation in Hawaii today, flying back to Oregon tomorrow, so just this short email to let you know I got yours and will reply later.  I wrote many things while at Pro-Log, and continue to write now. For several years, in the early 80’s we published a monthly newsletter to our customers in which I wrote a management column.  Some of the essays are on my web page at www.elew.com. That also contains some info on my background and on Pro-Log.  I don’t know why Motorola dropped the Pro-Log brand, but it might interest you to know that back in the 70’s when Motorola developed the VME bus, their engineers used documentation and standardization ideas we had pioneered. More on that later. 

I have no idea what Matt is doing these days. I haven’t seen him or been in contact with him since 1997. Your questions about our relationship cannot be answered well in just a few words…. It is a long and complex history that goes back to Burroughs ElectroData in Pasadena. 

What got you interested in our products and in Pro-Log? I’ve saved some of the early documents. Have extra copies you might be interested in. 

From: Flash Corliss  Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Ed,

I hope the vacation was festive and that you don’t have much jet lag.

I was 5 when Intel announced the 4004, and didn’t have a clue about the early 4 and 8 bit computers.  Our South Texas town didn’t get much in computer news.  At 13, I bought (with my own lawn boy money) a TRS-80 Color Computer.  My dad thought it was a toy, but it was a tool for this young future computer guy.  Over the years I acquired several other TRS-80′s, and in college, I got my first IBM PC clone.  I had had the assumption that the IBM PC was the first PC.  It wasn’t until a few years ago that I got my education straightened out.

The Internet is awesome for doing research, and the more I looked, the more I found.  I decided I’d start my journey at the first microprocessor, instead of going back in computer time to the Mini’s, the Main’s, or the EDVAC’s.  Those are great eras in the computer timeline, but the Intel 4004 seemed like the best place to start to become an expert in all things 4 bits and up.  I already grew up with DOS, BASIC, and assembly, so how much more would I need to learn from the 4004 to the 8086?

Apparently a lot.  There is the whole S-100, CP/M era that I knew nothing about!

So for Christmas a few years back, my wife bought me an Altair clone from a guy in Alaska.  It was a wonderful kit, but its EPROMS were 1702A’s, and there is no modern programmer that can program them.  More research revealed the Pro-Log programmer, and I ordered one on eBay.

Super nice device.  However, it had corroded batteries, and its memory boards were shot, but I did get it functioning.  In fact, the Pro-Log programmers were more fun to play with than the Altair (which I haven’t finished yet).  Then I found out that the M980 that I had used an Intel 4040 4 bit processor, and the M900 used the Intel 4004.  Sweet!

Long story short, there isn’t much about Pro-Log available online.  Herb Johnson has a collection of Pro-Log documents, but he wants 20 cents a page, which gets pricey after a while.  So, I have been on a quest to find Pro-Log paper copies elsewhere.  That search led me to you.

I have ten or so M980′s, nine M900′s, three 1702A plugins, 20+ STD cards, 4 cages and power supplies, and one PLS-411 card (pre-STD) – and most of this collection has been refurbished and is 100% functional (with the latest firmware).  I don’t have an M810 – that would be awesome.  I also have an 8085 diagnostic kit, but was beat out on eBay for the 4004 version of the diagnostic kit.

I am not sure if you remember, but which came first: the PLS-400 series, or the 810 Programmer?  The 810 looks like it has PLS cards in it, so did you build the 810 and decide the sells its cards on the side.  Or did you create the PLS-400 line, and then build a programmer around it.  As best as I can tell, in the 70′s for programming the 1702A EPROM, your choices were either the DATA I/O or the Pro-Log.

For me, the Pro-Log was preferred.  Thank you for building such a wonderful device.

It is my intent to rewrite the EPROMS in these programmers to give them a new purpose (maybe a clock or something).  I have noticed that there are many 8 bit trainers (SYM, KIM, AIM, MARK-8), but there aren’t any 4 bit ones.  Wouldn’t it be cool to use a Pro-Log M900 or M980 as a 4040 or 4004 trainer?

I do.

Flash

________________________________

From: Edwin Lee,  Thursday, February 14, 2013

 Flash:

As I ponder how to answer your questions, I realize it will take many days, most of them fun and a few of them painful.  I’ll answer some of your questions in any case, but I’d like to propose a condition for going through the whole enchilada and for sending you some old documents at no cost to you. That is, that you will permit me to post your emails and my replies on my blog for others to read.  You can go offline with specific questions or comments at any time. Furthermore, I’d like you to review, a month or so down the road, some essays I’m writing about autonomous systems. 

The back story of Pro-Log is probably unique in hi-tech. Matt and I started the company so that we could raise our families (he had 6 kids, I had 5) in a healthy place. We lived in Southern California in the Pomona area, choking in smog. Six months after starting the company we began a process of deciding where to move, and 3 months later moved to Monterey! That move nearly broke up the company. For one thing, Matt wanted to go to Santa Cruz instead of Monterey. 

The initial funding for the company was roughly $100k provided almost entirely by Matt, me, and our families. Two other people, who we brought into the executive team shortly after incorporation, provided a few thousand dollars. We excluded outside capital so that we could balance our personal lives and professional activities. For the first 16 years, we grew the company entirely out of retained earnings, an additional $50 k loan I made to Pro-Log during its 2^nd year, and a line of bank credit on our accounts receivable!  My own commitment to self-funding the company came from previous experience in MSI Data, where outside capital dictated much of what we did, subordinated our personal lives to corporate objectives, and nearly cost me my family. 

To answer one of your specific questions: we developed and built the first “gang” programmer, controlled by the first single-board microcomputer using the 4004 during the period  from November 1972 to February of 1973. The unit programmed eight 1702A PROMs at a time using an adaptive algorithm I developed and got Intel to bless. (The algorithm cut the average programming time by over 80% from the method advocated by Intel.) We delivered it in February of 1973 to RCA in Van Nuys.  We were able to move quickly because Matt had, in early 1972, gutted a hardwired production unit of an MSI Data order entry system, and replaced its control logic with a 4004 based network and 1702 PROMs. Continue reading →