Questions tagged [microprocessor]
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4
questions
89
votes
6answers
9k views
Were there 8086 coprocessors other than the 8087?
The 8087 math coprocessor for the 8086 (and descendants) nominally added floating point and transcendental (trigonometric and logarithmic) instructions to the 8086. Contrary to naive expectations, the ...
42
votes
5answers
16k views
Why did CPU designers in the 70s prioritize reducing pin count?
A lot of 70s era microprocessors were packaged in DIP packages with 40 pins. This was a reasonably good fit for 8-bit processors: 16 address lines, 8 data lines, 2 power and clock are all absolutely ...
3
votes
2answers
757 views
How does Game Boy / Sharp LR35902 HRAM work?
The Nintendo Game Boy has RAM called "HRAM" (meaning "high ram")
decoded at locations $ff80 through $fffe. (All other decoded
locations in the $ffxx page appear to be I/O device and system
control ...
6
votes
1answer
338 views
Tannenbaum paper on constants in ISAs?
I see many references to a paper by Andrew Tanenbaum that demonstrated the vast majority of constants would fit into 13-bits, and I seem to recall it being in my university text on CPU design. However,...
