| In 1964, tiny integrated circuits were developed to take the place of transistors. These tiny circuits were even faster and more reliable than transistors. Integrated circuits, or IC's, were very small. They took up very little space. | |
 Digital PDP-8 (1965) |
First- and second-generation computers were large machines. They stood on the floor and occupied a lot of space. But the third generation computers were much smaller. Some could even sit on top of a table. Also, they could operate 100 times faster than second generation computers (1000 times faster than first- generation computers! ) |
| Integrated circuits were mass-produced at a low cost. So, as more computers were built with integrated circuits, the price of computers dropped lower and lower. Third-generation computers were inexpensive enough and small enough to be bought by thousands of companies around the world. | |
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Data General Nova (1969) The Nova was one of the first 16-bit minicomputers and led the way toward word lengths that were multiples of the 8-bit byte. It was first to employ medium-scale integration (MSI) circuits from Fairchild Semiconductor, with subsequent models using large-scale integrated (LSI) circuits. Also notable was that the entire central processor was contained on one15-inch printed circuit board. |