Newsletter Archives

• Something we forgot to mention

  Posted on January 2, 2025 at 03:00 CST by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums
  

  Intel 8080

  2024 marked the 50th anniversary of the introduction of the Intel 8080 processor. It is an important event in the history of IBM-compatible personal computers because it is the immediate predecessor of the Intel 8086 and its brother with the 8-bit bus, the 8088. For many of us, personal computing began with the IBM PC and the x86 architecture, but the true birth of the PC industry was powered seven years earlier by the 8080 in iconic and important products such as the Altair 8800.

  If you’re near Silicon Valley, you can visit the Intel Museum through March to see its exhibit about the 8080. Those not close can visit the virtual museum.

  Intel took a risk with the 8080 because it was not 100% compatible with the previous 8008. It was close enough that code could be quickly ported (Intel supplied source code converters for the purpose), and the 8080 flourished. It’s safe to say that without the success of the 8080, Intel might have had problems making what would become the big step to x86.

  Intel History, Intel, Personal Computers, Technology

• Dickens was right (for the wrong reason)

  Posted on September 6, 2021 at 02:42 CDT by Max Stul Oppenheimer • Comment in the Forums

  LEGAL BRIEF

  

  By Max Stul Oppenheimer, Esq.

  In Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens wrote, “The law is a ass …”

  He went on to say the law is also an idiot, but there we part company. The law is, in fact, an ass in the sense that it is slow to change and easily spooked by sudden moves.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.34.0 (2021-09-06).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Legal Law, Legal Brief, Legislation, Technology