In 1980, Intel released the 8087 floating-point chip, making math much faster. I'm reverse-engineering this chip, 46 years later. Most of its instructions are implemented in microcode, but some are implemented in hardware. Let's look at the circuitry that decodes instructions and decides what to do...
Ken Shirriff
@kenshirriff@oldbytes.space
Computer history. Reverse-engineering old chips. Restored Apollo Guidance Computer, Xerox Alto. Ex-Google, Sun, Msft. So-called boffin.
oldbytes.space
Ken Shirriff
@kenshirriff@oldbytes.space
Computer history. Reverse-engineering old chips. Restored Apollo Guidance Computer, Xerox Alto. Ex-Google, Sun, Msft. So-called boffin.
oldbytes.space
@kenshirriff@oldbytes.space
·
Feb 14, 2026
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