- Analyzing the vintage 8008 processor from die photos: its unusual counters (righto.com)
The revolutionary Intel 8008 microprocessor is 45 years old today (March 13, 2017), so I figured it’s time for a blog post on reverse-engineering its internal circuits. One of the interesting things about old computers is how they implemented things in unexpected ways, and the 8008 is no exception. Compared to modern architectures, one unusual feature of the 8008 is it had an on-chip stack for subroutine calls, rather than storing the stack in RAM. And instead of using normal binary counters for the stack, the 8008 saved a few gates by using shift-register counters that generated pseudo-random values. In this article, I reverse-engineer these circuits from die photos and explain how they work.
- Pratt Mountain (summitpost.org)
Nestled in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness of Washington State, near I-90 & Snoqualmie Pass, Pratt Mountain is no stranger to visitors. However, with no clear “trail” to the mountaintop, and with definitive trails going to surrounding lakes and mountains, few people actually attempt to summit Pratt Mountain. To most easily reach the summit of Pratt Mountain, the route changes from a gentle-sloped woodland path to a Class 2 boulder-scramble. The hike is approximately 11-13 miles, roundtrip.
Washington Trails Association
- Pratt Mountain (wta.org)
[None - this page does not have a writeup but there are various trip reports with useful information]