Back in 1978, I was admitted to Northwestern Polytechnical University.

Chapter 131 Professor Ni, the Institute of Computing Technology has no future, come to our Northwestern Polytechnical University!
In this era, those who truly need computers don't care whether they can display Chinese characters. After all, everyone needs to write programs, and no one is foolish enough to think that programs written in Chinese characters can promote national pride and self-confidence. Why bother with programming if you don't know English?

However... if we want to further enrich computer use and increase the overall computer literacy of the nation, displaying Chinese characters is essential!
Writing a report or paper, sending an email... we're all from East Asia, do we really have to communicate in English?
In later generations, computer operating systems had built-in character libraries, allowing users to select the corresponding language upon first use. However, in this era, the hardware level of microcomputers was too low. To achieve Chinese character input, it was not possible to directly write a program; a special card called a Chinese character card had to be installed!
In order to display Chinese characters on a mainframe computer, the Sixth Research Laboratory of the Institute of Computing Technology established a display group. In 1968, they successfully displayed Chinese characters on a monitor. Later, they developed a light pen monitor, which allowed people to write on the screen with a light pen. After all, input was a big problem at the time. They even developed a special Chinese character keyboard, which often had hundreds of keys.

In the 4s, after Mr. Ni returned from Canada, he brought back a lot of chips. In April 1984, using the LX-80 chip he brought back, he created the LX-80 Chinese character graphics microcomputer, which used hardware Chinese character memory and had much higher performance than IBM's CCDOS at that time.

So when L wanted to start his business, he saw that he didn't have any projects to show for it, so he took the initiative to visit Mr. Ni and asked to use his Lenovo Chinese character card.

There are many stories about the invention of the Chinese character card. Some people claim that the Great Wall 014 Chinese character card, which was launched in 1985, was the first Chinese character card in the country. Who invented it is no longer important. Now, we have developed the 8086 microcomputer! And Engineer Ni came over and suggested that the computer should be able to display Chinese characters!
What else is there to say!
"Mr. Ni, enabling computers to display Chinese characters is indeed of great significance. Do you have any thoughts on this?"

"We can port the experimental results from our mainframes to microcomputers. I think we can develop a special board that can be plugged into the computer..."

Qin Liang nodded: "Professor Ni, your idea is very good. Would you be willing to stay at Northwestern Polytechnical University and work with our students to develop this product?"

Old Ni was stunned, while the others were excited.

The computer science major in the mathematics department has already put in a tremendous amount of effort to develop microcomputers. Next, they will need to develop various application software. They simply don't have the energy or the knowledge to develop a Chinese character card. This technology is not available abroad either.

Having Professor Ni lead the research and development is the best choice!

But... Old Ni was clearly not too willing!

"Qin Liang, our Institute of Computing Technology is the strongest. Wouldn't it be better to put this project in our institute?" Professor Ni asked.

Does the Institute of Computing Technology... have funding?

Mr. Ni's expression was complicated.

Right now, it's already quite good that the country can support the Institute of Computing Technology in developing 4K memory. As the country wants to develop its economy, the approval process for research and development funding for various projects can be incredibly long. If you were to conduct research and development at the Institute of Computing Technology, it might take one or two years for the funding to be approved!

That really makes things difficult!
“If you come to Northwestern Polytechnical University, then the funding will be provided by Northwestern Polytechnical University. We have already started producing and selling 8086 microcomputers, so money is not a problem for us!” Qin Liang said. “Professor Ni, I think it would be better to place the research and development at Northwestern Polytechnical University!” Professor Ni was still a little hesitant.

"The Institute of Computing Technology is just a research institution without a supporting manufacturing plant, so it has no profit-making ability. It's different for Northwestern Polytechnical University. After we develop it, the university-run factory will be responsible for production, and we can get a steady stream of profits. With this money, we will do more research and development, such as... chips. Right now, we can only use Intel processors, and at most we can copy their processors. But this is just the beginning. In the future, we must develop our own Chinese processors!"

"You're going to make chips too?"

“Yes, this is our long-term goal,” Qin Liang said. “Professor Ni, on behalf of Northwestern Polytechnical University, I formally invite you to join us! Of course, if you don’t want to resign from your job at the Institute of Computing Technology, you can also be seconded…”

Qin Liang was just an ordinary freshman at Northwestern Polytechnical University, but his influence had already permeated all the departments of the university. The university also valued him highly. Professor Ni was an expert from the Institute of Computing Technology, and the university was more than happy to have him work at Northwestern Polytechnical University!

"That's right, Engineer Ni, welcome to our Mathematics Department!" Director Meng quickly extended the invitation. There are only a handful of teachers in the Computer Science department, and we need to strengthen our faculty. With experts from the Institute of Computing Technology coming, the teaching staff of Northwestern Polytechnical University's Computer Science department will be greatly enhanced.

As for the Chinese character card project... if Qin Liang thinks it's necessary, then it must have a market!
As for Qin Liang... of course he knew how important the Chinese character card was. Back then, L thought he made his first fortune and developed the industry by relying on the Chinese character card. It's just a pity that those guys only wanted to make money and didn't want to develop the chip industry. Capitalists, after all, value profit the most.

Now, the factory run by Northwestern Polytechnical University will gradually become a computer company. We will never shout slogans like "it's better to buy than to make" or "technology has no borders" and become a computer assembly plant. We want to develop the computer industry of our motherland and stand at the upstream of the industrial chain!
Mr. Ni is the key soul and core figure. As long as Mr. Ni comes, he will be the head of the computer company and will not be ostracized by the capitalists!
Old Ni took a deep breath: "Okay, I'm willing to stay! I'll take a long leave from the Institute of Computing Technology. Once the Chinese character card is developed, I'll have to go back..."

Professor Ni had a deep affection for the Institute of Computing Technology. Even after making so much money in Canada, he still resolutely returned to his motherland.

As for now, as long as he stays at Northwestern Polytechnical University, he'll have a steady stream of projects coming his way! Want to leave? Not so easy!
"Great, fantastic! Engineer Ni, with your addition, there's hope for our nation's computers! Professor Zhu, next, we need to develop a word processing software to broaden the applications of computers! This word processing software needs to be divided into three types..."

The reason why computer users in later generations cannot live without Microsoft is because they have become accustomed to the Office suite, and even PowerPoint is said to be the most powerful development tool, while C++ and Java have to take a backseat.

Windows hasn't even appeared yet. Under DOS, the most powerful word processing software was CCED, which was released in 1988. Now, our Northwestern Polytechnical University has built a computer, and we need to enrich various software programs, cultivate user habits, and not give Microsoft any opportunity to take advantage of us!
　PS: The illustration shows the design of a large Chinese character keyboard.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)