> The improved reliablity of LSI logic over discrete and SSI, and the creation > of ROM chips of reasonable capacity (to hold the bootstrap or a monitor), > would bring about the demise of the blinkenlight front panel. > Note that only a couple of the first microcomputers had blinkenlight front > panels, and they were pretty much gone from minis and mainframes by the > late-70s.
The demise was really about money. All those lights, switches, wiring, metalwork, etc. for a full panel was EXPENSIVE. -- Will
