What 'Essentials' Electronics Topic would you like to Learn More About?

what do I do? 1 - 3 have been very product oriented. I propose a deep dive into processor theory. From the start to the forgotten. Including the good, the bad,  and the ugly. In other words, what are they and how they work?

Today all we know is well this is the thing (like an Arduino). There are a few of us that want to know whats in the thing, and how does it work. (no not the physics). My minors were comp/sci and electrical engineering. My employment with Interdata / Perkin Elmer previously gave me great insights into both 16bit and 32bit architectures (both built out of AMD bit slices). Later in life, while I was working at Hughes Aircraft in LA. I worked with satellites that used custom cpu set built from 2901x, and also gave the "Mick & Brick" (how to build a desktop IBM 360) Class, at TRW. 

BTW: The banner pic from BYTE Mag is the aftermath of a cat and his hand-built (wired) computer. The funny thing was that while hanging off the table, it still worked.

~~ Cris H.

ie. some sample questions:

1. What is generally considered to be the first Microprocessor? (ANS "D" 4004)

     A. 8008

     B. 6500

     C. 4005

     D. None of the above.

2. What does RISC stand for: (ANS D.)

     A. Reality Instruction Cumulation.

     B. Reduced Instruction Cashe.

     C. Revised Instruction Set

     D. Reduced Instruction Set.

3. What was the first Microprocessor to have both internal and external 32-bit busses (Ans C)

     A. 80386

     B. SPARC V7

     C. M68020

     D. 88000

     E. 99000

4. Is a Sun Microsystems SPARC  a RISC processor? (Ans A.)

     A. True

     B. False

5. What was the first Microprocessor to have both internal and external 64-bit busses

6. Can a Bit-Slice 'processor' perform floating point math? Ans B

     A. True

     B. False

7. Can a Bit-Slice 'processor' have an arbitrary length?

     A. Tue

     B. False

     A. 8085

     B. SN54LS181

     C. 2901

what do I do? 1 - 3 have been very product oriented. I propose a deep dive into processor theory. From the start to the forgotten. Including the good, the bad,  and the ugly. In other words, what are they and how they work?

Today all we know is well this is the thing (like an Arduino). There are a few of us that want to know whats in the thing, and how does it work. (no not the physics). My minors were comp/sci and electrical engineering. My employment with Interdata / Perkin Elmer previously gave me great insights into both 16bit and 32bit architectures (both built out of AMD bit slices). Later in life, while I was working at Hughes Aircraft in LA. I worked with satellites that used custom cpu set built from 2901x, and also gave the "Mick & Brick" (how to build a desktop IBM 360) Class, at TRW. 

BTW: The banner pic from BYTE Mag is the aftermath of a cat and his hand-built (wired) computer. The funny thing was that while hanging off the table, it still worked.

~~ Cris H.

ie. some sample questions:

1. What is generally considered to be the first Microprocessor? (ANS "D" 4004)

     A. 8008

     B. 6500

     C. 4005

     D. None of the above.

2. What does RISC stand for: (ANS D.)

     A. Reality Instruction Cumulation.

     B. Reduced Instruction Cashe.

     C. Revised Instruction Set

     D. Reduced Instruction Set.

3. What was the first Microprocessor to have both internal and external 32-bit busses (Ans C)

     A. 80386

     B. SPARC V7

     C. M68020

     D. 88000

     E. 99000

4. Is a Sun Microsystems SPARC  a RISC processor? (Ans A.)

     A. True

     B. False

5. What was the first Microprocessor to have both internal and external 64-bit busses

6. Can a Bit-Slice 'processor' perform floating point math? Ans B

     A. True

     B. False

7. Can a Bit-Slice 'processor' have an arbitrary length?

     A. Tue

     B. False

     A. 8085

     B. SN54LS181

     C. 2901