- A circuit board from the Saturn V rocket, reverse-engineered and explained (righto.com)
In the Apollo Moon missions, the Saturn V rocket was guided by an advanced onboard computer system built by IBM. This system was built from hybrid modules, similar to integrated circuits but containing individual components. I reverse-engineered a circuit board from this system and determined its function: Inside the computer’s I/O unit, the board selected different data sources for the computer.
- Examining the silicon dies of the Intel 386 processor (righto.com)
You might think of the Intel 386 processor (1985) as just an early processor in the x86 line, but the 386 was a critical turning point for modern computing in several ways.1 First, the 386 moved the x86 architecture to 32 bits, defining the dominant computing architecture for the rest of the 20th century. The 386 also established the overwhelming importance of x86, not just for Intel, but for the entire computer industry. Finally, the 386 ended IBM’s control over the PC market, turning Compaq into the architectural leader.