- Oklahoma is a state in the Great Plains region of the United States of America. Oklahoma has a rich Native American past. There are all kinds of activities available from hunting, fishing, hiking, to gambling in one of the hundred or so casinos and bingo parlors, and metro activities in Tulsa and Oklahoma City
- Great Plains (en.wikivoyage.org)
The Great Plains of the United States of America consist primarily of wide open grasslands between the Rocky Mountains and the forests of the Midwest. While most of the land consists of farms and pastures, the Great Plains are also home to the Badlands and Black Hills, with the iconic Mount Rushmore. Once at the heart of the Old West, today the region has a relatively small population and is outside the average tourist’s itinerary, but not justifiably so, as between the agricultural regions are picturesque canyons and mountain ranges.
- Here be dragons: Preventing static damage, latchup, and metastability in the 386 (righto.com)
I’ve been reverse-engineering the Intel 386 processor (from 1985), and I’ve come across some interesting circuits for the chip’s input/output (I/O) pins. Since these pins communicate with the outside world, they face special dangers: static electricity and latchup can destroy the chip, while metastability can cause serious malfunctions. These I/O circuits are completely different from the logic circuits in the 386, and I’ve come across a previously-undescribed flip-flop circuit, so I’m venturing into uncharted territory. In this article, I take a close look at how the I/O circuitry protects the 386 from the “dragons” that can destroy it.