Looking for an old image of designing a CPU with plan laid out / being edited on a literal floor

Question

There is an image that I remember seeing, but that I have never been able to find. It shows 2-3 people on their hands and knees, crawling around a blueprint of a chip that had been rolled out over the floor of a room. Presumably this was from before computers had enough memory / processor power to supersede working with physical artifacts representing the design.

I'm probably mismembering the fine details (e.g. was it a CPU? how many people were there? did it actually cover the whole floor?).

Does anyone know the image I'm referring to, or have a link to it?

Are you perhaps referring to the photo in this question? What are these engineers doing sitting on a large format drawing of B-47s aircraft? — Greg Hewgill, May 29 '19 at 01:14
Rubylith in 1970 was about 4 mm, I think. Anyway, you can check out the first image on this page: rubylith layout. — jonk, May 29 '19 at 01:39
@jonk The wikipedia article on rubylith says "The physical layouts of the first generations of Intel microprocessors (the Intel 4004[2] and the Intel 8008 (nee 1201)) were first hand drawn on graph paper. A technician would then use a coordinatograph to precisely cut the rubylith and a knife". I think I'm looking for a picture of a super-sized graph paper instead of the rubylith. — Craig Gidney, May 29 '19 at 02:04
@GregHewgill No, that's not the image. But the aesthetic is certainly very similar. — Craig Gidney, May 29 '19 at 02:05
There is a picture matching the description, Figure 12.13 on page 851 in The Art of Electronics, 2nd edition. Check it out if you can find a copy of the book. — Justme, May 29 '19 at 06:27
@Justme https://archive.org/details/TheArtOfElectronics-2ndEdition/page/n853 — snips-n-snails, May 29 '19 at 10:11
@Justme With snip-n-snails help, make that an answer please... — , May 29 '19 at 11:42

score 23 · Answer 1 · edited May 30 '19 at 19:33

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Maury Markowitz's answer was correct, it was actually a scene and not a picture. I was able to find it in "The Day the Universe Changed" Episode 1 "The Way We Are: It Started with the Greeks". It's around 34 to 35 minutes in (well... it might depend on the version you're watching).

You can find the episode on the internet archive. It's in two pieces (two "reels"); the relevant moment is 12:38 to 13:03 of reel 2.
Found also in Daily Motion: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6cr0hv after about 36:00 starting with (what looks like) Bell Labs' Holmdel building.

edited May 30 '19 at 19:33

uhoh

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answered May 29 '19 at 13:51

Craig Gidney

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For anyone who has not watched this series, you don't know what you're missing. – Maury Markowitz May 29 '19 at 18:42
@MauryMarkowitz absolutely! – uhoh May 30 '19 at 15:16

Maury Markowitz · Accepted Answer · 2019-05-31T18:34:18.010

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I suspect you may be thinking of a short scene from either The Day the Universe Changed (unlikely) or Connections (more likely). James Burke visited Bell Labs and there is a scene where you see several engineers working on a chip design on the floor exactly as you describe. I'm sure it's not the only example, but it is a well-viewed one.

edited May 31 '19 at 18:34

answered May 29 '19 at 03:55

Maury Markowitz

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Do you have a link for that second reference? IMDB has several mentions for that title. Also, who's he? – May 29 '19 at 11:44
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I have watched Connections. You don't happen to know which episode this scene is in? – Craig Gidney May 29 '19 at 13:03
@JanDoggen "He" means the host of The Day The Universe Changed and Connections: James Burke. – Todd Wilcox May 30 '19 at 14:37

Looking for an old image of designing a CPU with plan laid out / being edited on a literal floor

2 Answers2