Intel432 documentation set
Front cover of the introduction, typical of the graphic design used on most of the manuals in the iAPX 432 series.
Intel iAPX 432 was a computer architecture introduced to market in 1981 and discontinued around 1985. It formed part of the iMAX 432 system which was coded in the programming language Ada and intended to support Ada and similar systems and languages that would be familiar to AI practitioners in the 1970s and 1980s.
Most of the documentation (that is available in the bitsavers directory of scans) has covers with the Intel wordmark of the time based on Helvetica, and with the dropped e. Titles are in Helvetica, or some version thereof; note the e with a terminated stroke cut at an angle.
The hero of the covers features the repeating word INTEL432 set tightly and on a diagonal line; the line being locked together and presenting a ragged edge on left. The shapes of the letterforms have been skewed vertically upwards to make a rising diagonal baseline. The font is Aquarius ExtraBold, used in outline except for one instance of INTEL432 which is filled. Aquarius is a classic 1970s design based on a monoline slab serif with geometric taste and memorable for its somewhat experimental philosophy of serifs (example: the capital I has serifs top and bottom, but only on the left-hand side).
While the covers are professionally designed and typeset, only a couple of the manuals are typeset inside; most of them are reproduced from typewriter material, including styles that are largely equivalent to Courier and Letter Gothic. The System Summary: a Manager’s Perspective is an exception, being professionally typeset throughout: in ITC Souvenir Demi for the titles, and Regular for the body (at least, I assume it is the ITC version of Souvenir given the publication dates).
I can’t resist also being diverted into illustrating the use of typewriter graphical effects. The front-matter of many of the manuals has a list of relevant Intel trademarks, some of which feature a dropped e that the typist has emulated by rolling the platen up and down a few clicks. Given the inconsistent and sometimes slightly wonky nature of the this effect, I assume this was done manually.
One of the manuals is a pre-release for internal technical review and is accompanied with a typewritten cover note featuring the Intel wordmark drawn using typewriter word-art.
Cover for Intel432 System Summary: Manager’s Perspective which uses a different cover design to the rest of the documentation series. Black background with the title text reversed out. Reprising the repeating text-on-an-angle theme, but with a different overall design and this time using Aquarius Italic in outline with two alternating colours.
Page 15 of the System Summary: A Manager’s Perspective, the first page of the “Challenge and Innovation” chapter. Souvenir Demi used for titles and Souvenir Regular for the body (!). It is fair to say that the chart demonstrating the innovation level of the Intel 432 architecture would now be regarded as “fantastically optimistic”.
A detail (showing all the text) from the tradmark page of the front matter of Intel432 System Summary: A Manager’s Perspective. This manual is professionally typeset, so I presume that the trademarks are reproduced in a more accurate form than the typewriter examples below. The front matter is typeset in Century Schoolbook (or a version thereof).
A detail from the trademark page of iAPX 432 Object Primer; note on the lower-left the dropped e of “intel”, and on the lower-right, the μ (Greek mu) of μScope which has been made by modifying a u, possibly with a vertical bar glyph.
This showing of the Intel trademarks has a few more dropped e’s, a dropped m in iₘ, a raised 2 in I²ICE, and a smattering of a raised R (for registered trademark).
Detail from the trademark page of the front matter of System 432/600 Hardware Reference Manual. The ® is consistently reproduced here, so presumably this was produced on a typewriter with a Registered Sign glyph. Rolling the platen up and down to get the dropped e and m and raised 2 has given a wobbly baseline effect.
Detail from the cover page of an internal memo (calling for technical review of iAPX 432 Component User’s Guide). The Intel wordmark derived from Helvetica and featuring the dropped e has been reproduced in typewriter art. Each letter of “intel” has been drawn large (with an x-height of six lines) using repeated copies of the letter itself. The notch of n where the arch springs from the left-hand stem features a single n that is dropped by a half-line in order to create the right amount of space.
