Editing Datapoint 2200 (section)

==Processor==
The original design called for a single-chip [[8-bit]] [[microprocessor]] for the [[central processing unit|CPU]], rather than a processor built from discrete [[transistor-transistor logic|TTL]] modules as was conventional at the time. In 1969, CTC contracted two companies, [[Intel]] and [[Texas Instruments]] (TI), to make the chip. TI was unable to make a reliable part and dropped out. Intel was unable to make CTC's deadline. Intel and CTC renegotiated their contract, ending up with CTC keeping its money and Intel keeping the eventually completed processor.<ref name="wood"/>

CTC released the Datapoint 2200 using about 100 [[Transistor–transistor logic|TTL]] components ([[Integrated circuit#SSI|SSI/MSI]] chips) instead of a microprocessor, while Intel's single-chip design, eventually designated the [[Intel 8008]], was finally released in April 1972.<ref>{{cite book| last=Thompson Kaye|first=Glynnis |title=A Revolution in Progress - A History to Date of Intel |publisher=Intel Corporation |year=1984 |pages=13 |url=https://www.intel.com/Assets/PDF/General/15yrs.pdf}} "The 8-bit 8008 microprocessor had been developed in tandem with the 4004 and was introduced in April 1972. It was originally intended to be a custom chip for Computer Terminals Corp. of Texas, later to be known as Datapoint." "As it developed, CTC rejected the 8008 because it was too slow for the company's purpose and required too many supporting chips."</ref>

Possibly because of their speed advantages compared to MOS circuits, Datapoint continued to build processors out of TTL chips until the early 1980s.<ref name="shirriff">{{cite web|first=Ken|last=Shirriff|url=https://www.righto.com/2015/05/the-texas-instruments-tmx-1795-first.html|title=The Texas Instruments TMX 1795: the first, forgotten microprocessor}}</ref>

Nonetheless, the 8008 was to have a seminal importance. It was the basis of Intel's line of 8-bit CPUs, which was followed by their assembly language compatible 16-bit CPUs — the first members of the [[x86]] family, as the instruction set was later to be known. Already successful and widely used, the x86 architecture's further rise after the success in 1981 of the original IBM Personal Computer with an [[Intel 8088]] CPU means that most desktop, laptop, and server computers in use {{As of|2013|alt=today}} have a CPU instruction set directly based on the work of CTC's engineers. The instruction set of the highly successful [[Zilog Z80]] microprocessor can also be traced back to the Datapoint 2200 as the Z80 was backwards-compatible with the [[Intel 8080]]. More immediately, the Intel 8008 was adopted by very early [[microcomputer]]s including the [[SCELBI]], [[Mark-8]], [[MCM/70]] and [[Micral N]].