Ken Shirriff's Blog

• Die shrink: How Intel scaled down the 8086 processor

  2 weeks ago Crypto Technology Ken Shirriff's Blog 352

  .hilite {cursor:zoom-in} The revolutionary Intel 8086 microprocessor was introduced 42 years ago this month 7 so I've been studying its...

• Reverse-engineering and comparing two Game Boy audio amplifier chips

  3 weeks ago Crypto Technology Ken Shirriff's Blog 252

  .hilite {cursor:zoom-in} The Nintendo Game Boy contains an audio amplifier chip for sound through a speaker or headphones. In this post, I...

• A look at the die of the 8086 processor

  3 weeks ago Crypto Technology Ken Shirriff's Blog 216

  .hilite {cursor:zoom-in} The Intel 8086 microprocessor was introduced 42 years ago this month, 1 so I made some high-res die photos of...

• Die analysis of the 8087 math coprocessor's fast bit shifter

  30-5-2020 Crypto Technology Ken Shirriff's Blog 356

  .hilite {cursor:zoom-in} Floating-point numbers are very useful for scientific programming, but early microprocessors only supported...

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• Extracting ROM constants from the 8087 math coprocessor's die

  16-5-2020 Crypto Technology Ken Shirriff's Blog 479

  .hilite {cursor:zoom-in} Intel introduced the 8087 chip in 1980 to improve floating-point performance on the 8086 and 8088 processors, and...

• Tiny transformer inside: Decapping an isolated power transfer chip

  9-5-2020 Crypto Technology Ken Shirriff's Blog 247

  .hilite {cursor:zoom-in} I saw an ad for a tiny chip 1 that provides 5 volts 2 of isolated power: You feed 5 volts in one side, and...

• Reverse-engineering the audio chip in the Nintendo Game Boy Color

  2-5-2020 Crypto Technology Ken Shirriff's Blog 323

  .hilite {cursor:zoom-in} The Nintendo Game Boy Color is a handheld game console that was released in 1998. It uses an audio amplifier chip...

• Inside the Am2901: AMD's 1970s bit-slice processor

  18-4-2020 Crypto Technology Ken Shirriff's Blog 247

  .hilite {cursor:zoom-in} You're probably familiar with modern processors made by Advanced Micro Devices. But AMD's processors go back to...

• A circuit board from the Saturn V rocket, reverse-engineered and explained

  8-4-2020 Crypto Technology Ken Shirriff's Blog 210

  .hilite {cursor:zoom-in} In the Apollo Moon missions, the Saturn V rocket was guided by an advanced onboard computer system built by IBM....

• Repairing a vintage 40-kilovolt xenon lamp igniter

  28-3-2020 Crypto Technology Ken Shirriff's Blog 223

  .hilite {cursor:zoom-in} What do xenon lamps and the invention of radio have in common? The box below is a 1960s German high voltage unit...

• Inside a Titan missile guidance computer

  21-3-2020 Crypto Technology Ken Shirriff's Blog 213

  .hilite {cursor:zoom-in} I've been studying the guidance computer from a Titan II nuclear missile. This compact computer was used in the...

• The Delco Magic line of aerospace computers

  20-3-2020 Crypto Technology Ken Shirriff's Blog 199

  This post is a summary of the Magic line of computers, produced by Delco / General Motors from 1962 to the 1980s. These computers were developed...

• Looking inside a vintage Soviet TTL logic integrated circuit

  16-3-2020 Crypto Technology Ken Shirriff's Blog 190

  This blog post examines a 1980s chip used in a Soyuz space clock. The microscope photo below shows the tiny silicon die inside the package, with a...

• The core memory inside a Saturn V rocket's computer

  4-3-2020 Crypto Technology Ken Shirriff's Blog 218

  The Launch Vehicle Digital Computer (LVDC) had a key role in the Apollo Moon mission, guiding and controlling the Saturn V rocket. Like most...

• Inside the digital clock from a Soyuz spacecraft

  17-1-2020 Crypto Technology Ken Shirriff's Blog 206

  We recently obtained a clock that flew on a Soyuz space mission. 1 The clock, manufactured in 1984, contains over 100 integrated circuits on...