Re:Microprocessor Design (2017)
by kens on Thursday January 04, 2018 @03:16PM
(#16073678)
> 4004 -> 8008 -> 8080 -> x86
The progression is more interesting than that: it's Datapoint 2200 -> 8008 -> 8080 -> x86. The Datapoint 2200 was a "programmable terminal" (really a desktop computer) that had a CPU made from TTL chips. They got Intel to make a MOS version of the processor, which was the 8008. (TI made a MOS processor for them too, beating Intel with the forgotten TMC 1795.) Because the Datapoint 2200 used serial shift-register memory, it needed to be little endian, and that's why the x86 is little endian.
Also, the marketing names make 8008 sound like an 8-bit version of the 4004, but they are really unrelated. The 4004, for instance, wasn't even von Neumann.
The progression is more interesting than that: it's Datapoint 2200 -> 8008 -> 8080 -> x86. The Datapoint 2200 was a "programmable terminal" (really a desktop computer) that had a CPU made from TTL chips. They got Intel to make a MOS version of the processor, which was the 8008. (TI made a MOS processor for them too, beating Intel with the forgotten TMC 1795.) Because the Datapoint 2200 used serial shift-register memory, it needed to be little endian, and that's why the x86 is little endian.
Also, the marketing names make 8008 sound like an 8-bit version of the 4004, but they are really unrelated. The 4004, for instance, wasn't even von Neumann.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datapoint_2200