Before looking at the information on CDI though, I should start by linking to a couple magazine articles from back in 1983 that confirm California Devices Inc. as the manufacturer of the HCS10017 used in the Oric:
https://archive.org/stream/popular-comp ... 9/mode/2up
https://archive.org/stream/popular-comp ... 3/mode/2up
When I started searching the net for information on California Devices Inc, I started to discover a number of very interesting things. Firstly, from the Wikipedia entry for "Gate array":
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gate_array
In here we read that a man named Robert Lipp founded California Devices Inc back in 1978. We also read that he was the person that developed CMOS gate arrays, and on the following write up on his achievements, it claims that he was the inventor of the CMOS gate array:
https://www.clusteredsystems.com/management/
and that California Devices Inc was the first world class ASIC company dedicated to CMOS gate arrays. The following document has a page showing their product ranges:
http://archive.computerhistory.org/reso ... 01-acc.pdf
and it also shows when their various products were introduced:
The following document also has some information about California Devices Inc:
http://archive.computerhistory.org/reso ... 01-acc.pdf
and this table from that document is very interesting: And this advert describes it a bit more:The CDI series of metal gate CMOS arrays is a low-cost family of seven gate arrays that range in complexity from 60 to 880 equivalent gates and from 22 to 72 pins. The HC series of silicon gate CMOS arrays is a high-performance family of seven devices that range from 300 to 1782 equivalent gates and from 40 to 92 pins. The HCS series is compatible with the HC series but offers higher performance and density. Seven HCS series devices are available, ranging from 300 to 1782 gates in complexity and from 40 to 92 pins.
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=tjl ... HCS+series
If it's VLSI you want, we offer the fastest single layer metal high-density CMOS gate array available - a 4 micron silicon gate digital array - our HCS Series. Our HCS Series has the best performance record of any single layer semi-custom product available and it leads the competition in VLSI technology.