barrel shifter circuit of
- The Intel 386 processor (1985) was a large step from the 286 processor, moving x86 to a 32-bit architecture. The 386 also dramatically improved the performance of shift and rotate operations by adding a “barrel shifter”, a circuit that can shift by multiple bits in one step. The die photo below shows the 386’s barrel shifter, highlighted in the lower left and taking up a substantial part of the die.
- Blaine — Thumbnail History (historylink.org)
Blaine (Whatcom County) is located in extreme Northwestern Washington; the northern edge of its city limit is the Canadian border. The area was originally inhabited by a band of Native Americans known as the Semiahmoo. Caucasian settlers first arrived in 1858 during the Fraser River Gold Rush, when not one, but two communities named Semiahmoo were briefly established. Permanent settlement came in 1870, and eventually the two Semiahmoos became one Blaine. In the early twentieth century, Blaine was known for its canneries, including one of the largest in the country, the Alaska Packers Association, located on Semiahmoo Spit. Today (2009) the four-star Semiahmoo Resort sits on the spit, and on the northern outskirts of Blaine the Peace Arch and Peace Arch Park provide a unique and attractive gateway for those entering or leaving the United States. In 2008, the U.S. Census estimated Blaine’s population at 4,975.