Ken Shirriff's Blog
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Reverse-engineering a vintage comparator chip
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Logic chip teardown from a vintage IBM mainframe
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Two dies in one package: Teardown of a vintage ROM with double the storage
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Reverse-engineering the standard-cell logic inside a vintage IBM chip
.hilite {cursor:zoom-in} a:link img.hilite, a:visited img.hilite { color: #fff;} Integrated circuits are often built from standard-cell...
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Germanium transistors: logic circuits in the IBM 1401 computer
.hilite {cursor:zoom-in} a:link img.hilite, a:visited img.hilite { color: #fff;} How did computers implement logic gates in the 1950s?...
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Strange chip: Teardown of a vintage IBM token ring controller
.hilite {cursor:zoom-in} a:link img.hilite, a:visited img.hilite { color: #fff;} IBM used some unusual techniques in its integrated...
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Booting the IBM 1401: How a 1959 punch-card computer loads a program
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Teardown of a quartz crystal oscillator and the tiny IC inside
.hilite {cursor:zoom-in} a:link img.hilite, a:visited img.hilite { color: #fff;} The quartz oscillator is an important electronic...
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A one-bit processor explained: reverse-engineering the vintage MC14500B
.hilite {cursor:zoom-in} a:link img.hilite, a:visited img.hilite { color: #fff;} The Motorola MC14500B 1 is a 1-bit processor...
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IBM paperweight teardown: Reverse-engineering 1970s memory chips
.hilite {cursor:zoom-in} a:link img.hilite, a:visited img.hilite { color: #fff;} I recently received a vintage IBM paperweight from the...
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Examining a technology sample kit: IBM components from 1948 to 1986
.hilite {cursor:zoom-in} a:link img.hilite, a:visited img.hilite { color: #fff;} I recently received a vintage display box used by IBM to...
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Reverse-engineering a low-power LED flasher chip
.hilite {cursor:zoom-in} a:link img.hilite, a:visited img.hilite { color: #fff;} How do you make an LED blink? A vintage way is the...
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Reverse-engineering an early calculator chip with four-phase logic
.hilite {cursor:zoom-in} a:link img.hilite, a:visited img.hilite { color: #fff;} In 1969, high-density MOS integrated circuits were...
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Reverse-engineering the clock chip in the first MOS calculator
.hilite {cursor:zoom-in} a:link img.hilite, a:visited img.hilite { color: #fff;} In 1969, Sharp introduced the first calculator built from...
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Reverse engineering RAM storage in early Texas Instruments calculator chips
.hilite {cursor:zoom-in} a:link img.hilite, a:visited img.hilite { color: #fff;} Texas Instruments introduced the first commercial...