A few technical men were very happy, but Wang Shufen said worriedly: "Boss, we have already spent 30,000 Hong Kong dollars." After speaking, he carefully observed Zhang Heng's expression.

"This money is considered a basic investment, and the purchase is also the company's property, it is worth it!" Zhang Heng said.

Zhang Zhefeng came up with a smile: "Boss, can we apply to buy a computer." ”

"Computer?" Zhang Heng looked at him meaningfully, "More specific?"

The popular word "computer" in Greater China has been verified in the past, and it was first written by Mr. Fan Guangling in 1965 "Computer and You", which was the first computer-related book written by a Chinese.

In this book, Mr. Fan pioneered the retranslation of the English word "Electronic Computer" as "computer".

"LSI-11 from DEC in the United States. Zhang Zhefeng was embarrassed, and his voice became softer and softer, "There are agents in Xiangjiang, 60,000 Hong Kong dollars." ”

"More than $10,000!?" Wang Shufen exclaimed, Lu Yun took her hand, she shook it off, and glared at it angrily.

Zhang Heng was puzzled: "This is a small machine/bar, I remember that DEC produces a PDP series." ”

Zhang Zhefeng explained with a smile: "LSI-11 is a new and improved version of PDP-11 this year, and the core has been replaced by four sets of CPUs (central processing units) provided by Western Digital, which is smaller in size and has higher computing speed. ”

Lin Wencan chimed in: "We want to use it to simulate running an arcade system. ”

"Isn't it the most straightforward to use the arcade system built directly?" Zhang Heng wondered.

"Boss, I came up with this plan. Lu Yun still shook off his wife's pull and joined in.

"If we make an arcade board, it's easy to build the circuit and then debug it, but if we want to replace the CPU, or replace the memory and other components in the future, it is necessary to build a general analog platform on the minicomputer first.

With this platform, in the future, we can even get the detailed technical parameters of the new device without having to purchase the relevant components first, and then get the data of the new arcade board through the platform simulation. ”

Zhang Heng looked at him in shock, isn't this the prototype of EDA (Electronic Design Automation)!

At this time, there were no commercial EDA products, and the founder of Synopsys, the earliest of the three major EDAs in the future, should have just been admitted to college.

Large IC companies and electronic and electrical companies in Europe and the United States all use their own proprietary simulation systems, which are extremely resource-intensive to develop, but once successfully developed, it is of great significance to the company.

The biggest benefit is to save redevelopment time and reduce the investment of manpower and material resources for redevelopment.

A 67-year-old junior in the mainland, after several years of self-study in Xiangjiang, has such a forward-looking vision, which really makes Zhang Hengda overjoyed, but the question arises, does he really have this strength?

"Are you sure you can develop such a platform?" Zhang Heng frowned.

Lu Yun pondered for a while and said frankly: "I should have no problem with hardware, but I also need a top programmer who can program on a small computer according to my requirements." ”

"I can go up to the top of the small computer assembly programming. Zhang Heng thought to himself, but he also thought that if he joined, it would be a long period of time, and he would need to invest all his energy, and he should not be able to meet this requirement.

Anyway, he decided to listen to their opinions, "Do you have any suggestions on how to recruit such programmers?"

Lin Wencan said: "I have consulted a few friends in the industry, and they said that at present, only the IBM office in Hong Kong has such technical talents. ”

Zhang Zhefeng thought for a while and said: "I once heard a customer mention that Ampex (Ampex Panduit) Xiangjiang factory has PDP-8, maybe they also have relevant programmers. ”

Ampere Panduit is an American company specializing in the manufacture of tape and other storage equipment, and invested in the establishment of a foundry in Xiangjiang in 68 years, using the world's latest assembly line production mode at that time, and it is indeed likely that there will be a small machine to control the assembly line.

"I will find such talent through headhunters as soon as possible, and I will also contact DEC to purchase an LSI-11. Zhang Heng quickly made a decision, and the next step was to check the progress of their project at this stage.

Lin Wencan took out a copper clad laminate from an open box, which was full of various components, the most conspicuous was undoubtedly the 8008, he put the copper clad laminate on a box and nodded to Lu Yun.

Lu Yun smiled at him innocently, pushed his glasses, pointed to the copper clad laminate and talked eloquently:

"With 8008 as the core, we initially built the main control unit of the arcade, which is 8008, which is RAM and ROM, this is the register, and this part is the bus. In the future, we're going to build the I/O part, and I don't think it will take much time. ”

"However, boss, you need to give us control peripherals and game settings as soon as possible so that we can set up the hardware accordingly. ”

"I see what you mean. Zhang Heng nodded, took out a pen and paper and a large poster from his bag, and quickly drew the picture of the game on it, "You see, this is Atari just launched an arcade game this year, Ping Pong ......"

The three engineers didn't have time to think about where Zhang Heng got this information, they were attracted by his description, watched, and listened.

Zhang Heng also drew the external control platform of Atari's first arcade machine in his impression, pointed to the knob on it and said: "They use a knob-type handle to control the up and down movement of the racket in the game screen, I want to ask you a question, what if you need to move left and right at the same time in the game?"

Zhang Zhefeng blurted out: "Set two knobs." ”

"It's a solution, but is there a better design?" Zhang Heng said with a smile, Zhang Zhefeng's solution is exactly the design on the original home game console of the Odyssey, which fully reflects the Yankees' inertia and disregard for details.

The three of them pondered for a long time, but they didn't get anything for a long time.

At this time, Lin Liang walked into the factory, and Zhang Heng clapped his hands, "Everyone, there is something for everyone." ”

Lin Liang took out a stack of documents from his bag and handed them to everyone, "There are three contracts, please read them carefully, and sign them if there is no problem." ”

Lin Wencan should have signed a similar contract in the original factory, the first two were slightly flipped through, and the last one took a long time, and then he still took the pen and paper and prepared to sign, and the others barely looked at it carefully, and they also had to sign it.

Zhang Heng said solemnly: "The purpose of Daheng Technology is to create a precedent in the electronics industry, and there will be a lot of new patents and new ideas involved in the future, please be sure to take a good look at the contract, keep in mind your rights and obligations, I don't want to have colleagues in the future be punished for violating the company's compliance." ”

After listening to his words, everyone realized the seriousness of the matter, and studied the contract one by one.