Except for the manufacturing phase, early microprocessor designs did not require much manpower. At that time, Intel's 4004 was only done by two people, and the later 8008 only used 5 people.

Unlike memory, microprocessors integrate a variety of components as much as possible to achieve a larger capacity, and the yield decreases as much as the line width shrinks.

Unlike microprocessors, the number of transistors placed is fixed as long as the function is realized, so the line width is not a problem, and even the line width needs to be expanded in order to increase the product rate.

After the chip was developed, everything was not all right, and in that era, no company would write software design hardware for a new processor, so these jobs had to be done by the chip companies themselves, and the long term was no exception.

For a long time, they have to design hardware circuit boards, development tools, peripheral interfaces, auxiliary chips, and the ultimate goal is to design a "public board", and there are no overwhelming sponsors in 82 years, so they have to do it themselves.

In the past, the 8-bit 021 processor was developed, but only one plan was designed for a long time, and the other dirty work was all packed by the people of the Lishan Research Institute, so I didn't feel that there was anything wrong with it for a long time.

This time, I found out that the birth of a system was so difficult and cumbersome, and I couldn't help but admire Intel a little. Intel has been able to figure out these from scratch, which can be regarded as the first in the industry.

The microprocessors developed by Intel, they are also racking their brains in order to be able to promote the CPU, thinking about what the user thinks and what the user can reach, in short, everything is ready for the user, you can write the software.

In the 70s, when mainframes and minicomputers were all over the world, no one could write software for low-performance microprocessors, so Intel designed a working machine called a "blue box" to encourage programmers to write programs for microprocessors.

This is what Dr. Yu told for a long time, and sometimes Dr. Yu even suspects that the world's first microcomputer was invented by Intel.

In any case, it has long been understood that Intel has lost the opportunity to dominate the microcomputer market, and IBM specially bought 10% of Intel's shares for the release of the PC, so as to influence Intel's will.

Fortunately, Intel's concept is only to sell chips, and the blue box is only sold to customers for development, and they didn't expect to sell computers at all.

Ironically, Intel didn't make a name for itself with microprocessors throughout the seventies, but the blue box was a hot seller. The engineers were interested in it, they were used to the mainframe that could only be used in line, but the blue box was for personal use.

It's funny that what was supposed to be a blue box as a development tool was instead used as a personal computer by engineers. As a result, Intel hit the market for microprocessors in the 70s, while the sales of blue boxes continued to climb.

Sometimes people at Intel will quip, "We're still the seventh-largest manufacturer of minicomputers, hehe."

In fact, this is just the result of the uncivilized market, and there is a fog ahead, and no one can see the prospect clearly. If Intel can change its thinking, it may really be able to dominate the entire market like Microsoft.

Sometimes I discuss with Dr. Yu whether to develop bipolar technology or MOS technology. Dr. Yu hesitated, because the bipolar technology is more mature, and he is more familiar with it, he was in charge of this at Fairchild, but later found that MOS technology has more development potential at Intel.

One of the advantages of MOS technology is that it can improve the performance of transistors as the line width decreases, that is, faster and faster, while bipolar models do not have this feature.

For a long time, it is clear that MOS technology is king, which is the key to the development of microprocessors in the future, so it strongly supports the development of MOS tubes.

After discussing it, the two have nothing to argue about, and the MOS tube has undoubtedly become the direction of development.

"You seem to have a lot of faith in the MOS tube. Dr. Yu said, "I only learned about the characteristics of MOS tubes at Intel, and you said this in one mouth, and I doubt that you are a software person." ”

Chang Yan Yan: "I just discussed it with them when I was in Lishan, hehe, I just understand it in general." ”

"Don't talk nonsense, how is your design, let's hear it, let me rest assured. ”

Chang smiled: "This time the design is a 32-bit processor, based on the 8-bit expansion, there may be a bit of a performance loss, this is mainly to be compatible with the 8-bit software that already exists in large numbers on the market." Uncle Yu, you also know that users are very lazy, and I can use the latest processors without changing their habits, so that they can pay for it with confidence, so that they have a greater chance to enter the market. ”

Dr. Yu thought for a moment: "How much performance is sacrificed, if it is not cost-effective, then you have to consider." The market has not yet taken shape, after all, performance is everything. ”

He waved his hand for a long time: "It's impossible, compatibility is king at all times, it's a pity not to use such a large free resource." Zilog company is a model, in Z80 how majestic, with 8085 has almost become the market standard, what is the new Z8000 performance is not said, but it is completely a new architecture, no one has ever seen it, let alone what kind of software. It is said that Fagan even took the old book in order to promote this thing, so what?"

Dr. Yu was dumbfounded, this is indeed the case, Fagan is also his colleague, and the current situation is indeed a bit bleak, and even the investment company behind it is in a hurry and threatens to withdraw its investment.

"It seems that this is true, technology is not the most important thing. Dr. Yu sighed.

"Technology is important, but the most important purpose of technology is to make it easier for people. Chang Chang said: "Technology will definitely not work for the sake of technology." ”

"I hope so. Dr. Yu carefully looked at the long-term design plan, "You have made the bus independent, which is very similar to the 8088 plan." "The bus is the connection channel between the processor and the outside, and the 8-bit bus can transmit one byte of data at a time.

Long nodded: "Yes, 8088 does have something to learn from, it is a 16-bit core, but it uses an 8-bit independent bus, so that the connecting feet on the package can be reduced, the cost can be naturally reduced, and it can also cooperate with the 8-bit equipment at that time." With so many benefits, why wouldn't I do it, but now that most of the devices are 16-bit, I use the 16-bit bus in the same way. ”

"You're really good at learning and selling!" Dr. Yu said with a smile, "but it's good, it's best to save costs." ”

Dr. Yu continued to look at it and couldn't help but be moved: "You really have a lot of integrated functions, this ......"

Cao Changjiu explained: "Integration is the trend, and the previous products were all microcontroller structures, and some functions could not be provided at all, resulting in a narrow range of applications. Now that I've taken it into account, I've added all those memory management and protection modes, and although this will take up transistor space, it can still be controlled below 50,000 overall. ”

Dr. Yu said, "Are there any difficulties?"

"There will be difficulties, but no one will take them seriously. Chang Shi Shiran smiled, "Although there are no big-name technicians in our group, everyone is eager to learn and drill, and what one person can do, several of us can do together." Anyway, we broke through all the way, and accumulated a lot of various development experience, and finally there was no delay, and in five months, it only took us six months to enter the stage of layout, and there were very few mistakes. ”

"Rare, rare. Dr. Yu praised, "I don't know if you have heard that Intel has released a new product." ”

Chang Yi raised his eyebrows: "What's the release, it won't be 286 in 16 bits." ”

Dr. Yu nodded: "You also know, I took a look, absolutely powerful processor, the clock frequency has reached 6MHz, integrated 150,000 transistors, this is unprecedented, its performance is nearly 3 or 4 times higher than 8086, this is our powerful opponent." ”

Chang laughed and said, "It's nothing, I can guarantee that my processor is faster than it." ”

"Don't take it lightly, Intel also said that the 286 has virtual memory capabilities. ”

"I have it too, my chip supports it, even the operating system. ”

The 286 also has special hardware mechanisms that allow the processor to quickly switch back and forth between various tasks, allowing it to run multiple tasks at the same time. ”

"Hehe, the RISC architecture is the best at multitasking, how can it compare with mine. ”

"Your processor is still on the drawings, and someone else's is already out. ”

“......”

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"There is news from the American side. Zhang Yi reported to Chang Chang, "IBM's Ethridge asked us to develop a better spreadsheet software than videoform, the key is to have a PC exclusive, what do you ......mean?"

"Ignore him, if you want to monopolize it, you have to give money, and if you don't give money, you have to refuse. He said as he took a long bite of bread.

"How much does that cost?" Zhang Yi asked.

"You have an idea, the key is to negotiate the money. "I took a long sip of milk and swallowed the food.

In fact, I have been writing alternatives to videoform for a long time since the release of the PC, and in order to achieve the highest performance, the hardware structure of the PC has been optimized.

～～～～～

I had a cold today and was dizzy.