- Introduced in 1978, the revolutionary Intel 8086 microprocessor led to the x86 processors used in most desktop and server computing today. This chip is built from digital circuits, as you would expect. However, it also has analog circuits: charge pumps that turn the 8086’s 5-volt supply into a negative voltage to improve performance.1 I’ve been reverse-engineering the 8086 from die photos, and in this post I discuss the construction of these charge pumps and how they work.
- The Wizard of Oz (Wikipedia)
The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). An adaptation of L. Frank Baum’s 1900 children’s fantasy novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, it was primarily directed by Victor Fleming, who left production to take over the troubled Gone with the Wind. It stars Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, Jack Haley, Billie Burke and Margaret Hamilton. Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf received credit for the screenplay, while others made uncredited contributions. The music was composed by Harold Arlen and adapted by Herbert Stothart, with lyrics by Edgar “Yip” Harburg.