Jay Miner

Jay miner was born in Prescott, Arizona on May 31st 1932, at the height of The Great Depression. In 1950 he attended San Diego University in southern California and then joined the Korean War effort, training for six months to become an electronics technician at The Navys Groton training school in Connecticut, where he met his future wife Caroline. He spent three years in the Coast Guard sailing in the North Atlantic Weather Patrol; repairing the radar, ship radios, and even the Captains Hi Fi. He then moved his new family to Northern California; where he completed a Degree in Electrical Engineering at The University of California otherwise known as Berkeley in 1958, majoring in the design of Generators and Servo Motors. During the 1960's, Jay would work for lots of small electronics start-up companies; which were very open and relaxed places, with very few rules.

His first job required him to design a computer console with a video display for science and lab-work project, and this lead to intensive research into circuit and logic design. Another break came in 1964 when he landed a job at General Microelectronics (GMe); a newly founded Silicon Valley Peninsula semiconductor company; set up by ex-Fairchild Semiconductor International employees; who wanted to create new computers using MOS chips. During this time at GMe, Jay became an expert in MOS technology, reading manuals and all the books he could find on the subject, until he knew the subject completely. Here he began to design the worlds first MOS digital calculator, and the first MOS digital wristwatch. GMe was also making small-scale integrated chips for NASA satellites at that time.

Jay moved around several companies for a few years after GMe was sold in 1966, including a spell Standard Microsystems, and then in 1973 he helped found Synertek with Bob Schreiner from Fairchild, which produced MOS chips.

March 1976 - Synertek engineer Jay G. Miner is hired by Atari VP Research Al Alcorn, to design the custom graphics chip and lead the further development of the Programmable Video Games Machine, now known as Stella - which would go on to become known as the Atari VCS.

Jay went on to design the Atari 400/800, and The Amiga.