Collaborate Disseminate
When the Grumman F-14 Tomcat first flew in 1970, it was a marvel. With its variable-sweep wing, twin tail, and sleek lines, it quickly became one of the most iconic …read more Continue reading The World’s First Microprocessor: F-14 Central Air Data Computer
As simple as a processor’s instruction set may seem, especially in a 1978-era one like the Intel 8086, there is quite a bit going on to go from something like …read more Continue reading Reverse-Engineering the Conditional Jump Circuitry in the 8086 Processor
When it was recently announced that the Linux kernel might drop support for the Intel 486 line of chips, we took a look at the state of the 486 world. …read more Continue reading Ask Hackaday: When It Comes To Processors, How Far Back Can You Go?
In the very early days of the PC revolution the only way to have a computer was to build one, sometimes from a kit but often from scratch. For the young, impoverished hobbyist, leafing through the pages of Popular Electronics was difficult, knowing that the revolution was passing you by. …read more
Continue reading Riding The Nostalgia Train With A 6502 From The Ground Up
Researchers demonstrate a new side-channel attack that bypass mitigations against Spectre and Meltdown. Continue reading New SWAPGS Side-Channel Attack Bypasses Spectre and Meltdown Defenses
[Kenneth Wilke] is undertaking a noble quest – to build a homebrew microcomputer, based around the venerable 6502. As a prelude to this, he set out to interface the hallowed CPU to an FPGA, and shared the process involved.
[Kenneth] is using an Arty A7 FPGA development board which is a great fit for purpose, having plenty of I/O pins and being relatively easy to work with for the home tinkerer. This is an important consideration, as many industrial strength FPGAs require software licences to use which can easily stretch into the tens of thousands of dollars.
The 6502 is …read more
Continue reading A Symbiotic Partnership Between FPGA And 6502
As speculated by the researcher who disclosed Meltdown and Spectre flaws in Intel processors, some of the Intel processors will not receive patches for the Spectre (variant 2) side-channel analysis attack
In a recent microcode revision guidance (PDF),… Continue reading Intel Admits It Won’t Be Possible to Fix Spectre (V2) Flaw in Some Processors
We recently looked at the origins of the integrated circuit (IC) and the calculator, which was the IC’s first killer app, but a surprise twist is that the calculator played a big part in the invention of the next world-changing marvel, the microprocessor.
There is some dispute as to which company invented the microprocessor, and we’ll talk about that further down. But who invented the first commercially available microprocessor? That honor goes to Intel for the 4004.
We pick up the tale with Robert Noyce, who had co-invented the IC while at Fairchild Semiconductor. In July …read more
Continue reading Inventing The Microprocessor: The Intel 4004
Modern microprocessors are a marvel of technological progress and engineering. At less than a dollar per unit, even the cheapest microprocessors on the market are orders of magnitude more powerful than their ancestors. The first commercially available single-chip processor, the Intel 4004, cost roughly $25 (in today’s dollars) when it was introduced in 1971.
The 4-bit 4004 clocked in at 740 kHz — paltry by today’s standards, but quite impressive at the time. However, what was remarkable about the 4004 was the way it shifted computer design architecture practically overnight. Previously, multiple chips were used for processing and were selected …read more
Continue reading Bespoke Processors Might Soon Power Your Artisanal Devices
The Intel 8085 microprocessor was introduced 40 years back, and along with its contemporaries — the Z80 and the 6502 — is pretty much a dinosaur in terms of microprocessor history. But that doesn’t stop it from still being included in the syllabus for computer engineering students in many parts of the world. The reason why a 40 year old microprocessor is still covered in computer architecture text books instead of computer history is a bit convoluted. But there’s a whole industry that thrives on the requirements of college laboratories and students requiring “8085 Microprocessor Training Kits”. [TisteAndii] just finished …read more
