- The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The Czech Republic has a hilly landscape that covers an area of 78,871 square kilometers (30,452 sq mi) with a mostly temperate continental and oceanic climate. The capital and largest city is Prague; other major cities and urban areas include Brno, Ostrava, Plzeň and Liberec.
- How the bootstrap load made the historic Intel 8008 processor possible (righto.com)
Near the end of 1972, Intel introduced their first 8-bit microprocessor, the 8008. Decades later, this processor still influences computing; you probably use an x86 processor that is a descendent of the 8008. One unusual feature of the 8008 processor is its use of a “bootstrap load” or “bootstrap capacitor”, a special capacitor circuit to improve performance. Federico Faggin, who led the development of the 8008, is the main character in this story; he invented a new way to fabricate bootstrap capacitors for the Intel 4004 and 8008 processors and says it “proved essential to the microprocessor realization” and “without [the bootstrap load], there was no microprocessor.”
