website/content/museum/r2e-micral-n.md

title, categories, types, origins, years, cpus, params

title	categories	types	origins	years	cpus	params
R2E MICRAL-N	Computers	Home Computer	France	1973	Intel 8008	name image company company_name specs tabs forum_thread photos oc_id source MICRAL-N /media/museum/photos/r2e_micraln_system_2.jpg /companies/r2e R2E label value NAME MICRAL-N label value MANUFACTURER R2E label value TYPE Home Computer label value ORIGIN France label value YEAR 1973 label value BUILT IN LANGUAGE None label value CPU Intel 8008 label value SPEED 500 KHz label value RAM Unknown label value ROM Unknown label value TEXT MODES Depends on the connected video terminal label value GRAPHIC MODES None label value COLORS None label value I/O PORTS Parallel, Serial label value POWER SUPPLY Built-in power supply unit label value PRICE 8,500 French Francs (about $1300) photos 356 title subtitle text image FIRST VERSION? /media/museum/photos/r2e_micraln_system_1.jpg title subtitle text image AN OTHER PHOTO OF THE R2E MICRAL. It doesn't look to the first model, perhaps it is an enhanced model. /media/museum/photos/mic2.jpg 352 url date https://web.archive.org/web/20230616135647/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=352 2023-06-16

The Micral-N, introduced in 1973 and powered by Intel's 8008 chip, was the first commercial non-kit computer based on a microprocessor. It was conceived in France by François Gernelle and commercialised by a company called R2E in 1973. The term "microcomputer" first appeared in print in reference to the Micral-N.

The Micral-N was initially developed for the I.N.R.A. (French National Institute for Agronomic Research) which didn't had sufficient budget to buy the lowest "mini" at the time (Digital Equipment PDP-8).

The development began in July 1972, in a hut in Chatenay-Malabry (Paris suburbs), with F. Gernelle and 3 of his collaborators: Mr. Benchetrit (soft ingineer), Alain Lacombe (electrical technician) and Jean-Claude Beckmann (in charge of the mechanical). The first prototype was delivered January, 15th 1973!
Mr. Tuong-Tong-Ti arrived later to manage the company, but never influenced anything in the design (not enough knowledge).

The 8008 that powered the Micral was essentially an 8-bit 4004. It was originally intended to be a custom chip for Computer Terminals Corp. of Texas (later known as Datapoint). CTC rejected the 8008 because it was too slow and required too many supporting chips, but when Intel offered it to the open market, it was quite successful.

The Micral-N was working at 500 KHz, running approximately 50,000 instructions per second. It was set on a bus, did have a MOS memory, parallel and serial I/O cards, a real-time system. In one word, it had all the characteristics of nowadays computers. First systems were manufactured and sold at the amazing price (at the time) of 8,500 French Francs (about $1300)

Supposedly it was the first personal computer programmed by Philippe Kahn, founder of Borland.

R2E, which got under way the Micral-N, developed a whole series of computers based on the most powerful processors of the time: 8080, Z80, 8088, constantly adding improvements like monitor-keyboard in 1974, hard disk in 1975, etc. Every machine was managed by the SYSMIC monitor, which became PROLOGUE in 1978, a multitask system created in France too. The last of this system was the Micral 20. After that, Bull, who had became the owner of R2E, joined MSDOS standard...

Picture and text parts, courtesy of Federation des Equipes Bull (Federation of Bull teams)