1.
Microcontroller
–
A microcontroller is a small computer on a single integrated circuit. In modern terminology, it is a system on a chip or SoC, a microcontroller contains one or more CPUs along with memory and programmable input/output peripherals. Program memory in the form of Ferroelectric RAM, NOR flash or OTP ROM is also included on chip. Microcontrollers are designed for embedded applications, in contrast to the used in personal computers or other general purpose applications consisting of various discrete chips. Mixed signal microcontrollers are common, integrating analog components needed to control non-digital electronic systems, some microcontrollers may use four-bit words and operate at frequencies as low as 4 kHz, for low power consumption. Other microcontrollers may serve performance-critical roles, where they may need to act more like a signal processor, with higher clock speeds. The first microprocessor was the 4-bit Intel 4004 released in 1971, with the Intel 8008, however, both processors required external chips to implement a working system, raising total system cost, and making it impossible to economically computerize appliances. One book credits TI engineers Gary Boone and Michael Cochran with the creation of the first microcontroller in 1971. The result of their work was the TMS1000, which became available in 1974. It combined read-only memory, read/write memory, processor and clock on one chip and was targeted at embedded systems and it combined RAM and ROM on the same chip. This chip would find its way into one billion PC keyboards. At that time Intels President, Luke J. Valenter, stated that the microcontroller was one of the most successful in the companys history, most microcontrollers at this time had concurrent variants. One had an erasable EPROM program memory, with a transparent quartz window in the lid of the package to allow it to be erased by exposure to ultraviolet light, often used for prototyping. The PROM was of type of memory as the EPROM. The erasable versions required ceramic packages with quartz windows, making them more expensive than the OTP versions. The same year, Atmel introduced the first microcontroller using Flash memory, other companies rapidly followed suit, with both memory types. Cost has plummeted over time, with the cheapest 8-bit microcontrollers being available for under 0.25 USD in quantity in 2009, nowadays microcontrollers are cheap and readily available for hobbyists, with large online communities around certain processors. In the future, MRAM could potentially be used in microcontrollers as it has infinite endurance, in 2002, about 55% of all CPUs sold in the world were 8-bit microcontrollers and microprocessors
Microcontroller
–
The
die from an
Intel 8742, an 8-bit microcontroller that includes a
CPU running at 12 MHz, 128 bytes of
RAM, 2048 bytes of
EPROM, and
I/O in the same chip.
Microcontroller
–
Two ATmega microcontrollers
Microcontroller
–
A
PIC 18F8720 microcontroller in an 80-pin
TQFP package.
Microcontroller
–
Die of a PIC12C508 8-bit, fully static,
EEPROM /
EPROM /
ROM -based
CMOS microcontroller manufactured by
Microchip Technology using a 1200
nanometre process.
2.
Intel
–
Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California that was founded by Gordon Moore and Robert Noyce. It is the worlds largest and highest valued semiconductor chip makers based on revenue, and is the inventor of the x86 series of microprocessors, Intel supplies processors for computer system manufacturers such as Apple, Lenovo, HP, and Dell. Intel Corporation was founded on July 18,1968, by semiconductor pioneers Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore, the companys name was conceived as portmanteau of the words integrated and electronics. The fact that intel is the term for intelligence information made the name appropriate. Intel was a developer of SRAM and DRAM memory chips. Although Intel created the worlds first commercial microprocessor chip in 1971, during the 1990s, Intel invested heavily in new microprocessor designs fostering the rapid growth of the computer industry. The Open Source Technology Center at Intel hosts PowerTOP and LatencyTOP, and supports other projects such as Wayland, Intel Array Building Blocks, and Threading Building Blocks. Client Computing Group – 55% of 2016 revenues – produces hardware components used in desktop, data Center Group – 29% of 2016 revenues – produces hardware components used in server, network, and storage platforms. Internet of Things Group – 5% of 2016 revenues – offers platforms designed for retail, transportation, industrial, buildings, non-Volatile Memory Solutions Group – 4% of 2016 revenues – manufactures NAND flash memory products primarily used in solid-state drives. Intel Security Group – 4% of 2016 revenues – produces software, particularly security, programmable Solutions Group – 3% of 2016 revenues – manufactures programmable semiconductors. In 2016, Dell accounted for 15% of Intels total revenues, Lenovo accounted for 13% of total revenues, in the 1980s, Intel was among the top ten sellers of semiconductors in the world. In 1991, Intel became the biggest chip maker by revenue and has held the position ever since, other top semiconductor companies include TSMC, Advanced Micro Devices, Samsung, Texas Instruments, Toshiba and STMicroelectronics. Competitors in PC chip sets include Advanced Micro Devices, VIA Technologies, Silicon Integrated Systems, however, the cross-licensing agreement is canceled in the event of an AMD bankruptcy or takeover. Some smaller competitors such as VIA Technologies produce low-power x86 processors for small factor computers, however, the advent of such mobile computing devices, in particular, smartphones, has in recent years led to a decline in PC sales. Since over 95% of the worlds smartphones currently use processors designed by ARM Holdings, ARM is also planning to make inroads into the PC and server market. Intel has been involved in disputes regarding violation of antitrust laws. Intel was founded in Mountain View, California in 1968 by Gordon E. Moore, a chemist, and Robert Noyce, arthur Rock helped them find investors, while Max Palevsky was on the board from an early stage. Moore and Noyce had left Fairchild Semiconductor to found Intel, Rock was not an employee, but he was an investor and was chairman of the board
Intel
–
Headquarters in
Santa Clara,
California
Intel
–
The current logo, used since December 2005.
Intel
–
Andy Grove,
Robert Noyce and
Gordon Moore (1978)
Intel
–
Federico Faggin, the designer of Intel 4004.
3.
NMOS logic
–
N-type metal-oxide-semiconductor logic uses n-type field effect transistors to implement logic gates and other digital circuits. These nMOS transistors operate by creating a layer in a p-type transistor body. This inversion layer, called the n-channel, can conduct electrons between n-type source and drain terminals, the n-channel is created by applying voltage to the third terminal, called the gate. Like other MOSFETs, nMOS transistors have four modes of operation, cut-off, triode, saturation, MOS stands for metal-oxide-semiconductor, reflecting the way MOS-transistors were originally constructed, predominantly before the 1970s, with gates of metal, typically aluminium. Since around 1970, however, most MOS circuits have used self aligned gates made of polycrystalline silicon, the MOSFETs are n-type enhancement mode transistors, arranged in a so-called pull-down network between the logic gate output and negative supply voltage. A pull up is placed between the supply voltage and each logic gate output. This causes a drop over the load, and thus a low voltage at the output. As an example, here is a NOR gate implemented in schematic NMOS, if either input A or input B is high, the respective MOS transistor acts as a very low resistance between the output and the negative supply, forcing the output to be low. When both A and B are high, both transistors are conductive, creating a lower resistance path to ground. NMOS circuits are slow to transition from low to high, when transitioning from high to low, the transistors provide low resistance, and the capacitive charge at the output drains away very quickly. But the resistance between the output and the supply rail is much greater, so the low to high transition takes longer. Using a resistor of value will speed up the process. However, a way to make the gates faster is to use depletion-mode transistors instead of enhancement-mode transistors as loads. This is called depletion-load NMOS logic, for many years, NMOS circuits were much faster than comparable PMOS and CMOS circuits, which had to use much slower p-channel transistors. It was also easier to manufacture NMOS than CMOS, as the latter has to implement p-channel transistors in special n-wells on the p-substrate, the major drawback with NMOS is that a DC current must flow through a logic gate even when the output is in a steady state. This means static power dissipation, i. e. power drain even when the circuit is not switching, a similar situation arises in modern high speed, high density CMOS circuits which also has significant static current draw, although this is due to leakage, not bias. However, older and/or slower static CMOS circuits used for ASICs, additionally, just like in DTL, TTL and ECL etc. the asymmetric input logic levels make nMOS and pMOS circuits more susceptible to noise than CMOS. These disadvantages are why the CMOS logic now has supplanted most of these types in most high-speed digital circuits such as microprocessors, PMOS logic Depletion-load NMOS logic (including the processes called HMOS, HMOS-II, HMOS-III, etc
NMOS logic
–
A
4.
CMOS
–
Complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor, abbreviated as CMOS /ˈsiːmɒs/, is a technology for constructing integrated circuits. CMOS technology is used in microprocessors, microcontrollers, static RAM, CMOS technology is also used for several analog circuits such as image sensors, data converters, and highly integrated transceivers for many types of communication. In 1963, while working for Fairchild Semiconductor, Frank Wanlass patented CMOS, CMOS is also sometimes referred to as complementary-symmetry metal–oxide–semiconductor. Two important characteristics of CMOS devices are high noise immunity and low power consumption. Since one transistor of the pair is always off, the series combination draws significant power only momentarily during switching between on and off states, CMOS also allows a high density of logic functions on a chip. It was primarily for this reason that CMOS became the most used technology to be implemented in VLSI chips, aluminium was once used but now the material is polysilicon. Other metal gates have made a comeback with the advent of high-k dielectric materials in the CMOS process, as announced by IBM and Intel for the 45 nanometer node and beyond. CMOS refers to both a style of digital circuitry design and the family of processes used to implement that circuitry on integrated circuits. CMOS circuitry dissipates less power than logic families with resistive loads, since this advantage has increased and grown more important, CMOS processes and variants have come to dominate, thus the vast majority of modern integrated circuit manufacturing is on CMOS processes. As of 2010, CPUs with the best performance per watt each year have been CMOS static logic since 1976, CMOS circuits use a combination of p-type and n-type metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor to implement logic gates and other digital circuits. CMOS always uses all enhancement-mode MOSFETs, CMOS circuits are constructed in such a way that all PMOS transistors must have either an input from the voltage source or from another PMOS transistor. Similarly, all NMOS transistors must have either an input from ground or from another NMOS transistor, the composition of a PMOS transistor creates low resistance between its source and drain contacts when a low gate voltage is applied and high resistance when a high gate voltage is applied. On the other hand, the composition of an NMOS transistor creates high resistance between source and drain when a low voltage is applied and low resistance when a high gate voltage is applied. CMOS accomplishes current reduction by complementing every nMOSFET with a pMOSFET, a high voltage on the gates will cause the nMOSFET to conduct and the pMOSFET to not conduct, while a low voltage on the gates causes the reverse. This arrangement greatly reduces power consumption and heat generation, however, during the switching time, both MOSFETs conduct briefly as the gate voltage goes from one state to another. This induces a brief spike in consumption and becomes a serious issue at high frequencies. The image on the right shows what happens when an input is connected to both a PMOS transistor and an NMOS transistor, when the voltage of input A is low, the NMOS transistors channel is in a high resistance state. This limits the current that can flow from Q to ground, the PMOS transistors channel is in a low resistance state and much more current can flow from the supply to the output
CMOS
–
CMOS inverter (
NOT logic gate)
5.
Read-only memory
–
Read-only memory is a type of non-volatile memory used in computers and other electronic devices. Data stored in ROM can only be modified slowly, with difficulty, or not at all, strictly, read-only memory refers to memory that is hard-wired, such as diode matrix and the later mask ROM, which cannot be changed after manufacture. Although discrete circuits can be altered in principle, integrated circuits cannot and that such memory can never be changed is a disadvantage in many applications, as bugs and security issues cannot be fixed, and new features cannot be added. More recently, ROM has come to include memory that is read-only in normal operation, the simplest type of solid-state ROM is as old as the semiconductor technology itself. Combinational logic gates can be joined manually to map n-bit address input onto arbitrary values of m-bit data output, with the invention of the integrated circuit came mask ROM. In mask ROM, the data is encoded in the circuit. This leads to a number of disadvantages, It is only economical to buy mask ROM in large quantities. The turnaround time between completing the design for a mask ROM and receiving the finished product is long, for the same reason, mask ROM is impractical for R&D work since designers frequently need to modify the contents of memory as they refine a design. If a product is shipped with faulty mask ROM, the way to fix it is to recall the product. Subsequent developments have addressed these shortcomings, PROM, invented in 1956, allowed users to program its contents exactly once by physically altering its structure with the application of high-voltage pulses. This addressed problems 1 and 2 above, since a company can order a large batch of fresh PROM chips. The 1971 invention of EPROM essentially solved problem 3, since EPROM can be reset to its unprogrammed state by exposure to strong ultraviolet light. All of these technologies improved the flexibility of ROM, but at a significant cost-per-chip, rewriteable technologies were envisioned as replacements for mask ROM. The most recent development is NAND flash, also invented at Toshiba, as of 2007, NAND has partially achieved this goal by offering throughput comparable to hard disks, higher tolerance of physical shock, extreme miniaturization, and much lower power consumption. Every stored-program computer may use a form of storage to store the initial program that runs when the computer is powered on or otherwise begins execution. Likewise, every non-trivial computer needs some form of memory to record changes in its state as it executes. Forms of read-only memory were employed as non-volatile storage for programs in most early stored-program computers, consequently, ROM could be implemented at a lower cost-per-bit than RAM for many years. Most home computers of the 1980s stored a BASIC interpreter or operating system in ROM as other forms of storage such as magnetic disk drives were too costly
Read-only memory
–
an EPROM
Read-only memory
–
Many game consoles use interchangeable ROM cartridges, allowing for one system to play multiple games.
Read-only memory
–
The first
EPROM, an
Intel 1702, with the
die and
wire bonds clearly visible through the erase window.
Read-only memory
–
Transformer matrix ROM (TROS), from the IBM System 360/20
6.
Random-access memory
–
Random-access memory is a form of computer data storage which stores frequently used program instructions to increase the general speed of a system. A random-access memory device allows data items to be read or written in almost the same amount of time irrespective of the location of data inside the memory. RAM contains multiplexing and demultiplexing circuitry, to connect the lines to the addressed storage for reading or writing the entry. Usually more than one bit of storage is accessed by the same address, in todays technology, random-access memory takes the form of integrated circuits. RAM is normally associated with types of memory, where stored information is lost if power is removed. Other types of non-volatile memories exist that allow access for read operations. These include most types of ROM and a type of memory called NOR-Flash. Integrated-circuit RAM chips came into the market in the early 1970s, with the first commercially available DRAM chip, early computers used relays, mechanical counters or delay lines for main memory functions. Ultrasonic delay lines could only reproduce data in the order it was written, drum memory could be expanded at relatively low cost but efficient retrieval of memory items required knowledge of the physical layout of the drum to optimize speed. Latches built out of vacuum tube triodes, and later, out of transistors, were used for smaller and faster memories such as registers. Such registers were relatively large and too costly to use for large amounts of data, the first practical form of random-access memory was the Williams tube starting in 1947. It stored data as electrically charged spots on the face of a cathode ray tube, since the electron beam of the CRT could read and write the spots on the tube in any order, memory was random access. The capacity of the Williams tube was a few hundred to around a thousand bits, but it was smaller, faster. In fact, rather than the Williams tube memory being designed for the SSEM, magnetic-core memory was invented in 1947 and developed up until the mid-1970s. It became a form of random-access memory, relying on an array of magnetized rings. By changing the sense of each rings magnetization, data could be stored with one bit stored per ring, since every ring had a combination of address wires to select and read or write it, access to any memory location in any sequence was possible. Magnetic core memory was the form of memory system until displaced by solid-state memory in integrated circuits. Data was stored in the capacitance of each transistor, and had to be periodically refreshed every few milliseconds before the charge could leak away
Random-access memory
–
Example of
writable volatile random-access memory: Synchronous
Dynamic RAM modules, primarily used as main memory in
personal computers,
workstations, and
servers.
Random-access memory
–
These IBM
tabulating machines from the 1930s used
mechanical counters to store information
Random-access memory
–
A portion of a
core memory with a modern flash RAM
SD card on top
Random-access memory
–
1 Megabit chip – one of the last models developed by
VEB Carl Zeiss Jena in 1989
7.
Address space
–
In computing, an address space defines a range of discrete addresses, each of which may correspond to a network host, peripheral device, disk sector, a memory cell or other logical or physical entity. For software programs to save and retrieve stored data, each unit of data must have an address where it can be located or else the program will be unable to find. The number of spaces available will depend on the underlying address structure. Address spaces are created by combining enough uniquely identified qualifiers to make an address unambiguous, for a persons physical address, the address space would be a combination of locations, such as a neighborhood, town, city, or country. Some elements of a space may be the same– but if any element in the address is different than addresses in said space will reference different entities. An address space usually provides a partitioning to several regions according to the structure it has. In the case of order, as for memory addresses. Some nested domains hierarchy appears in the case of directed ordered tree as for the Domain Name System or a directory structure, another common feature of address spaces are mappings and translations, often forming numerous layers. This usually means that some higher-level address must be translated to lower-level ones in some way, then, for a disk drive connected via Parallel ATA, each of them must be converted to logical cylinder-head-sector address due to the interface historical shortcomings. It is converted back to LBA by the controller and then, finally, to physical cylinder, head. The Domain Name System maps its names to network-specific addresses, which in turn may be mapped to link layer network addresses via Address Resolution Protocol, also, network address translation may occur on the edge of different IP spaces, such as a local area network and the Internet. An iconic example of virtual-to-physical address translation is virtual memory, where different pages of virtual address space map either to page file or to main memory address space. It is possible that several different virtual addresses all refer to one physical address. It is also possible that a virtual address maps to zero, one. Linear address space Name space Virtualization
Address space
–
Illustration of translation from logical block addressing to physical geometry.
8.
Intel MCS-51
–
The Intel MCS-51 is an internally Harvard architecture, complex instruction set computer instruction set, single chip microcontroller series developed by Intel in 1980 for use in embedded systems. Intels original versions were popular in the 1980s and early 1990s and this made them more suitable for battery-powered devices. The family was continued in 1996 with the enhanced 8-bit MCS-151, while Intel no longer manufactures the MCS-51, MCS-151 and MCS-251 family, enhanced binary compatible derivatives made by numerous vendors remain popular today. Some derivatives integrate a digital signal processor, beyond these physical devices, several companies also offer MCS-51 derivatives as IP cores for use in field-programmable gate array or application-specific integrated circuit designs. This feature helped cement the 8051s popularity in industrial control applications because it reduced code size by as much as 30%, another feature is the inclusion of four bank selectable working register sets which greatly reduce the amount of time required to complete an interrupt service routine. With one instruction, the 8051 can switch register banks versus the time consuming task of transferring the critical registers to the stack and these registers also allowed the 8051 to quickly perform a context switch. The main program then performs serial reads and writes simply by reading and writing 8-bit data to stacks, as of 2013, new derivates are still developed by many major chipmakers, and major compiler suppliers such as IAR Systems, Keil and Altium Tasking continuously release updates. External RAM and ROM share the data and address buses, the original 8051 core ran at 12 clock cycles per machine cycle, with most instructions executing in one or two machine cycles. With a 12 MHz clock frequency, the 8051 could thus execute 1 million one-cycle instructions per second or 500,000 two-cycle instructions per second, all Silicon Labs, some Dallas and a few Atmel devices have single cycle cores. Intel manufactured a mask programmed version, 8052AH-BASIC, with a BASIC interpreter in ROM, in some engineering schools the 8051 microcontroller is used in introductory microcontroller courses. 8051 is the name by Intel with 4 KiB ROM and 128 byte RAM. Variants starting with 87 have a user programmable EPROM memory, sometimes UV erasable, variants with a C as the third character are some kind of CMOS. 8031 and 8032 are ROM-less versions, with 128 and 256 bytes RAM, the last digit can indicate memory size, e. g.8052 with 8 KiB ROM, 87C5416 KiB EPROM, and 87C58 with 32 KiB EPROM, all with 256 RAM. The MCS-51 has four types of memory – internal RAM, special function registers, program memory. The 8051 is designed as a strict Harvard architecture, it can execute code fetched from program memory. Most 8051 systems respect this distinction, and so are unable to download, the strict Harvard architecture has the advantage of making such systems immune to most forms of malware, except those that reuse existing program code. Internal RAM has an 8-bit address space, allowed addresses 0 through 0xFF, IRAM from 0x00 to 0x7F can be accessed directly. The 8052 added IRAM from 0x80 to 0xFF, which must be accessed indirectly, the address is loaded into R0 or R1, most 8051 clones also have a full 256 bytes of IRAM
Intel MCS-51
–
Intel P8051 microcontroller.
Intel MCS-51
–
SAB-C515-LN by Infineon is based on the 8051
9.
EPROM
–
An EPROM, or erasable programmable read-only memory, is a type of memory chip that retains its data when its power supply is switched off. Computer memory that can retrieve stored data after a power supply has been turned off and it is an array of floating-gate transistors individually programmed by an electronic device that supplies higher voltages than those normally used in digital circuits. Once programmed, an EPROM can be erased by exposing it to ultraviolet light source. Development of the EPROM memory cell started with investigation of faulty integrated circuits where the connections of transistors had broken. Stored charge on these isolated gates changed their properties, the EPROM was invented by Dov Frohman of Intel in 1971, who was awarded US patent 3660819 in 1972. Each storage location of an EPROM consists of a single field-effect transistor, each field-effect transistor consists of a channel in the semiconductor body of the device. Source and drain contacts are made to regions at the end of the channel, an insulating layer of oxide is grown over the channel, then a conductive gate electrode is deposited, and a further thick layer of oxide is deposited over the gate electrode. The floating gate electrode has no connections to parts of the integrated circuit and is completely insulated by the surrounding layers of oxide. A control gate electrode is deposited and further oxide covers it, to retrieve data from the EPROM, the address represented by the values at the address pins of the EPROM is decoded and used to connect one word of storage to the output buffer amplifiers. Each bit of the word is a 1 or 0, depending on the transistor being switched on or off. The switching state of the transistor is controlled by the voltage on the control gate of the transistor. Presence of a voltage on this gate creates a channel in the transistor. In effect, the charge on the floating gate allows the threshold voltage of the transistor to be programmed. Storing data in the memory requires selecting a given address and applying a voltage to the transistors. This creates an avalanche discharge of electrons, which have enough energy to pass through the oxide layer. When the high voltage is removed, the electrons are trapped on the electrode, because of the high insulation value of the silicon oxide surrounding the gate, the stored charge cannot readily leak away and the data can be retained for decades. The programming process is not electrically reversible, to erase the data stored in the array of transistors, ultraviolet light is directed onto the die. Photons of the UV light cause ionization within the silicon oxide, since the whole memory array is exposed, all the memory is erased at the same time
EPROM
–
An Intel 1702A EPROM, one of the earliest EPROM types, 256 by 8 bit. The small quartz window admits UV light for erasure.
EPROM
–
A 32 KB (256 Kbit) EPROM
EPROM
–
NEC 02716, 16 KBit EPROM
10.
Byte
–
The byte is a unit of digital information that most commonly consists of eight bits. Historically, the byte was the number of used to encode a single character of text in a computer. The size of the byte has historically been hardware dependent and no standards existed that mandated the size. The de-facto standard of eight bits is a convenient power of two permitting the values 0 through 255 for one byte, the international standard IEC 80000-13 codified this common meaning. Many types of applications use information representable in eight or fewer bits, the popularity of major commercial computing architectures has aided in the ubiquitous acceptance of the 8-bit size. The unit symbol for the byte was designated as the upper-case letter B by the IEC and IEEE in contrast to the bit, internationally, the unit octet, symbol o, explicitly denotes a sequence of eight bits, eliminating the ambiguity of the byte. It is a respelling of bite to avoid accidental mutation to bit. Early computers used a variety of four-bit binary coded decimal representations and these representations included alphanumeric characters and special graphical symbols. S. Government and universities during the 1960s, the prominence of the System/360 led to the ubiquitous adoption of the eight-bit storage size, while in detail the EBCDIC and ASCII encoding schemes are different. In the early 1960s, AT&T introduced digital telephony first on long-distance trunk lines and these used the eight-bit µ-law encoding. This large investment promised to reduce costs for eight-bit data. The development of microprocessors in the 1970s popularized this storage size. A four-bit quantity is called a nibble, also nybble. The term octet is used to specify a size of eight bits. It is used extensively in protocol definitions, historically, the term octad or octade was used to denote eight bits as well at least in Western Europe, however, this usage is no longer common. The exact origin of the term is unclear, but it can be found in British, Dutch, and German sources of the 1960s and 1970s, and throughout the documentation of Philips mainframe computers. The unit symbol for the byte is specified in IEC 80000-13, IEEE1541, in the International System of Quantities, B is the symbol of the bel, a unit of logarithmic power ratios named after Alexander Graham Bell, creating a conflict with the IEC specification. However, little danger of confusion exists, because the bel is a used unit
Byte
–
Percentage difference between decimal and binary interpretations of the unit prefixes grows with increasing storage size
11.
Electronic oscillator
–
An electronic oscillator is an electronic circuit that produces a periodic, oscillating electronic signal, often a sine wave or a square wave. Oscillators convert direct current from a supply to an alternating current signal. They are widely used in electronic devices. Oscillators are often characterized by the frequency of their output signal and this term is typically used in the field of audio synthesizers, to distinguish it from an audio frequency oscillator. An audio oscillator produces frequencies in the range, about 16 Hz to 20 kHz. An RF oscillator produces signals in the frequency range of about 100 kHz to 100 GHz. Oscillators designed to produce a high-power AC output from a DC supply are usually called inverters, there are two main types of electronic oscillator, the linear or harmonic oscillator and the nonlinear or relaxation oscillator. The harmonic, or linear, oscillator produces a sinusoidal output, when the power supply to the amplifier is first switched on, electronic noise in the circuit provides a non-zero signal to get oscillations started. The noise travels around the loop and is amplified and filtered until very quickly it converges on a wave at a single frequency. RC oscillators are used to generate lower frequencies, for example in the audio range. Common types of RC oscillator circuits are the phase shift oscillator, in an LC oscillator circuit, the filter is a tuned circuit consisting of an inductor and capacitor connected together. Charge flows back and forth between the plates through the inductor, so the tuned circuit can store electrical energy oscillating at its resonant frequency. There are small losses in the circuit, but the amplifier compensates for those losses and supplies the power for the output signal. Typical LC oscillator circuits are the Hartley, Colpitts and Clapp circuits, in a crystal oscillator circuit the filter is a piezoelectric crystal. The crystal mechanically vibrates as a resonator, and its frequency of vibration determines the oscillation frequency, crystals have very high Q-factor and also better temperature stability than tuned circuits, so crystal oscillators have much better frequency stability than LC or RC oscillators. Crystal oscillators are the most common type of linear oscillator, used to stabilize the frequency of most radio transmitters, crystal oscillators often use the same circuits as LC oscillators, with the crystal replacing the tuned circuit, the Pierce oscillator circuit is also commonly used. Quartz crystals are generally limited to frequencies of 30 MHz or below, other types of resonator, dielectric resonators and surface acoustic wave devices, are used to control higher frequency oscillators, up into the microwave range. For example, SAW oscillators are used to generate the signal in cell phones
Electronic oscillator
–
1 MHz electronic oscillator circuit which uses the resonant properties of an internal quartz crystal to control the frequency. Provides the
clock signal for digital devices such as computers.
Electronic oscillator
–
A popular
op-amp relaxation oscillator.
Electronic oscillator
–
(left) Typical block diagram of a negative resistance oscillator. In some types the negative resistance device is connected in parallel with the resonant circuit. (right) A negative resistance microwave oscillator consisting of a
Gunn diode in a
cavity resonator. The negative resistance of the diode excites microwave oscillations in the cavity, which radiate out the aperture into a
waveguide.
Electronic oscillator
–
A 120 MHz oscillator from 1938 using a parallel rod
transmission line resonator (
Lecher line). Transmission lines are widely used for UHF oscillators.
12.
Megahertz
–
The hertz is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units and is defined as one cycle per second. It is named for Heinrich Rudolf Hertz, the first person to provide proof of the existence of electromagnetic waves. Hertz are commonly expressed in SI multiples kilohertz, megahertz, gigahertz, kilo means thousand, mega meaning million, giga meaning billion and tera for trillion. Some of the units most common uses are in the description of waves and musical tones, particularly those used in radio-. It is also used to describe the speeds at which computers, the hertz is equivalent to cycles per second, i. e. 1/second or s −1. In English, hertz is also used as the plural form, as an SI unit, Hz can be prefixed, commonly used multiples are kHz, MHz, GHz and THz. One hertz simply means one cycle per second,100 Hz means one hundred cycles per second, and so on. The unit may be applied to any periodic event—for example, a clock might be said to tick at 1 Hz, the rate of aperiodic or stochastic events occur is expressed in reciprocal second or inverse second in general or, the specific case of radioactive decay, becquerels. Whereas 1 Hz is 1 cycle per second,1 Bq is 1 aperiodic radionuclide event per second, the conversion between a frequency f measured in hertz and an angular velocity ω measured in radians per second is ω =2 π f and f = ω2 π. This SI unit is named after Heinrich Hertz, as with every International System of Units unit named for a person, the first letter of its symbol is upper case. Note that degree Celsius conforms to this rule because the d is lowercase. — Based on The International System of Units, the hertz is named after the German physicist Heinrich Hertz, who made important scientific contributions to the study of electromagnetism. The name was established by the International Electrotechnical Commission in 1930, the term cycles per second was largely replaced by hertz by the 1970s. One hobby magazine, Electronics Illustrated, declared their intention to stick with the traditional kc. Mc. etc. units, sound is a traveling longitudinal wave which is an oscillation of pressure. Humans perceive frequency of waves as pitch. Each musical note corresponds to a frequency which can be measured in hertz. An infants ear is able to perceive frequencies ranging from 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz, the range of ultrasound, infrasound and other physical vibrations such as molecular and atomic vibrations extends from a few femtoHz into the terahertz range and beyond. Electromagnetic radiation is described by its frequency—the number of oscillations of the perpendicular electric and magnetic fields per second—expressed in hertz. Radio frequency radiation is measured in kilohertz, megahertz, or gigahertz
Megahertz
–
Details of a
heartbeat as an example of a non-
sinusoidal periodic phenomenon that can be described in terms of hertz. Two complete cycles are illustrated.
Megahertz
–
A
sine wave with varying frequency
13.
Instruction set
–
An ISA includes a specification of the set of opcodes, and the native commands implemented by a particular processor. An instruction set architecture is distinguished from a microarchitecture, which is the set of design techniques used, in a particular processor. Processors with different microarchitectures can share a common instruction set, for example, the Intel Pentium and the AMD Athlon implement nearly identical versions of the x86 instruction set, but have radically different internal designs. The concept of an architecture, distinct from the design of a machine, was developed by Fred Brooks at IBM during the design phase of System/360. Prior to NPL, the companys computer designers had been free to honor cost objectives not only by selecting technologies, the SPREAD compatibility objective, in contrast, postulated a single architecture for a series of five processors spanning a wide range of cost and performance. In addition, these virtual machines execute less frequently used code paths by interpretation, transmeta implemented the x86 instruction set atop VLIW processors in this fashion. A complex instruction set computer has many specialized instructions, some of which may only be used in practical programs. Theoretically important types are the instruction set computer and the one instruction set computer. Another variation is the very long instruction word where the processor receives many instructions encoded and retrieved in one instruction word, machine language is built up from discrete statements or instructions. Examples of operations common to many instruction sets include, Set a register to a constant value. Copy data from a location to a register, or vice versa. Used to store the contents of a register, result of a computation, often called load and store operations. Read and write data from hardware devices, add, subtract, multiply, or divide the values of two registers, placing the result in a register, possibly setting one or more condition codes in a status register. Increment, decrement in some ISAs, saving operand fetch in trivial cases, perform bitwise operations, e. g. taking the conjunction and disjunction of corresponding bits in a pair of registers, taking the negation of each bit in a register. Floating-point instructions for arithmetic on floating-point numbers, branch to another location in the program and execute instructions there. Conditionally branch to another if a certain condition holds. Call another block of code, while saving the location of the instruction as a point to return to. Load/store data to and from a coprocessor, or exchanging with CPU registers, processors may include complex instructions in their instruction set
Instruction set
–
One instruction may have several fields, which identify the logical operation, and may also include source and destination addresses and constant values. This is the MIPS "Add Immediate" instruction, which allows selection of source and destination registers and inclusion of a small constant.
14.
IBM PC keyboard
–
The keyboards for IBM PC compatible computers are standardized. However, during the more than 30 years of PC architecture being constantly updated, the PC keyboard changed over the years, often at the launch of new IBM PC versions. The IBM PC layout, particularly the Model M, has been extremely influential and this results in the Emacs pinky problem. The magazine reported in 1982 that it received more letters to its Wish List column asking for the ability to determine the status of the three lock keys than on any other topic. He reported that the layout nearly drove science-fiction editor Jim Baen crazy, and it praised the keyboard as bar none, the best. On any microcomputer and described the unusual Shift key locations as compared to some of the gigantic mistakes made on almost every other microcomputer keyboard. I wasnt thrilled with the placement of keys, either, IBMs Don Estridge stated in 1983 and he defended the layout, however, stating that every place you pick to put them is not a good place for somebody. Theres no consensus, and claimed that if we were to change it now we would be in hot water, the PC keyboard with its various keys has a long history of evolution reaching back to teletypewriters. In addition to the old standard keys, the PC keyboard has accumulated several special keys over the years, ⇧ Shift selects the upper character, or upper case of letters. The Shift key in typewriters was attached to a lever moved the character types so that the uppercase characters could be printed in the paper. Unlike mechanical typewriters, PC keyboards do not capitalize all letters properly when both keys are engaged simultaneously. ⇪ Caps Lock selects upper case, or if shift is pressed, in mechanical typewriters, it worked like the Shift key, but also used a lock to keep the Shift key depressed. The lock was released by pressing the Shift key, enter wraps to the next line or activates the default or selected option. ASCII keyboards were labeled CR or Return, typewriters used a lever that would return the cylinder with the paper to the start of the line. Tab ↹ produces an ASCII tab character, moving to the tab stop. Ctrl shifts the value of letters and numbers from the ASCII graphics range, for example, CTRL-S is XOFF CTRL-Q is XON. Esc produces an ASCII escape character and it may be used to exit menus or modes. ~ is the tilde, an accent backspaced and printed over other letters for non-English languages. The single quote is used for an acute accent. ^ is a circumflex
IBM PC keyboard
–
Introduced August 1984.
IBM PC keyboard
IBM PC keyboard
IBM PC keyboard
15.
Intel 8255
–
The i8255 was also used with the Intel 8085 and Intel 8086 and their descendants and found wide applicability in digital processing systems. It was later cloned by other manufacturers and it is available in 40-pin DIP and 44-pin PLCC packages. The 82C55 is a higher-speed CMOS version, the i8255 provides 24 parallel input/output lines, but the functionality of the i8255 is now mostly embedded in larger VLSI processing chips as a sub-function. The i8255 is still made and is used to expand micro controller input/output. The i8255 has a function to the MOS Technology 6522. All of these chips were available in a 40-pin DIL package. However, the MOS chips contains other functions besides pin I/O, furthermore, the MOS devices allow the direction of all their I/O pins to be individually programmed. The i8255 I/O pins have only four programmable direction bits, one for all of Port A, one for Port B, one for Port C, the 8255 is widely used in many microcomputer/microcontroller systems and home computers such as the SV-328 and all MSX models. The 8255 is used in the original IBM-PC, PC/XT, PC/jr and clones, the 8255 is also directly compatible with the Z-80, as well as many Intel processors. The i8255 gives a CPU or digital access to programmable parallel I/O. The 8255 has 24 input/output pins and these are divided into three 8-bit ports. Port A and port B can be used as 8-bit input/output ports, Port C can be used as an 8-bit input/output port or as two 4-bit input/output ports or to produce handshake signals for ports A and B. The three ports are further grouped as follows, Group A consisting of port A and upper part of port C, Group B consisting of port B and lower part of port C. Eight data lines are available to read/write data into the ports or control register under the status of the ¬ RD and ¬ WR, which are active-low signals for read and write operations respectively. Address lines A1 and A0 allow to access a data register for each port or a register, as listed below. It is a signal, i. e. when ¬ CS =0. The RESET input is connected to the RESET line of system like 8085,8086, etc. so that when the system is reset and this is done to prevent 8255 and/or any peripheral connected to it from being destroyed due to mismatch of ports. As an example, consider an input device connected to 8255 at port A, the control register is an 8-bit register used to select the modes of operation and input/output designation of the ports
Intel 8255
–
Intel D8255
Intel 8255
–
Pinout of i8255
16.
Hexadecimal
–
In mathematics and computing, hexadecimal is a positional numeral system with a radix, or base, of 16. It uses sixteen distinct symbols, most often the symbols 0–9 to represent values zero to nine, Hexadecimal numerals are widely used by computer system designers and programmers. As each hexadecimal digit represents four binary digits, it allows a more human-friendly representation of binary-coded values, one hexadecimal digit represents a nibble, which is half of an octet or byte. For example, a byte can have values ranging from 00000000 to 11111111 in binary form. In a non-programming context, a subscript is typically used to give the radix, several notations are used to support hexadecimal representation of constants in programming languages, usually involving a prefix or suffix. The prefix 0x is used in C and related languages, where this value might be denoted as 0x2AF3, in contexts where the base is not clear, hexadecimal numbers can be ambiguous and confused with numbers expressed in other bases. There are several conventions for expressing values unambiguously, a numerical subscript can give the base explicitly,15910 is decimal 159,15916 is hexadecimal 159, which is equal to 34510. Some authors prefer a text subscript, such as 159decimal and 159hex, or 159d and 159h. example. com/name%20with%20spaces where %20 is the space character, thus ’, represents the right single quotation mark, Unicode code point number 2019 in hex,8217. In the Unicode standard, a value is represented with U+ followed by the hex value. Color references in HTML, CSS and X Window can be expressed with six hexadecimal digits prefixed with #, white, CSS allows 3-hexdigit abbreviations with one hexdigit per component, #FA3 abbreviates #FFAA33. *nix shells, AT&T assembly language and likewise the C programming language, to output an integer as hexadecimal with the printf function family, the format conversion code %X or %x is used. In Intel-derived assembly languages and Modula-2, hexadecimal is denoted with a suffixed H or h, some assembly languages use the notation HABCD. Ada and VHDL enclose hexadecimal numerals in based numeric quotes, 16#5A3#, for bit vector constants VHDL uses the notation x5A3. Verilog represents hexadecimal constants in the form 8hFF, where 8 is the number of bits in the value, the Smalltalk language uses the prefix 16r, 16r5A3 PostScript and the Bourne shell and its derivatives denote hex with prefix 16#, 16#5A3. For PostScript, binary data can be expressed as unprefixed consecutive hexadecimal pairs, in early systems when a Macintosh crashed, one or two lines of hexadecimal code would be displayed under the Sad Mac to tell the user what went wrong. Common Lisp uses the prefixes #x and #16r, setting the variables *read-base* and *print-base* to 16 can also used to switch the reader and printer of a Common Lisp system to Hexadecimal number representation for reading and printing numbers. Thus Hexadecimal numbers can be represented without the #x or #16r prefix code, MSX BASIC, QuickBASIC, FreeBASIC and Visual Basic prefix hexadecimal numbers with &H, &H5A3 BBC BASIC and Locomotive BASIC use & for hex. TI-89 and 92 series uses a 0h prefix, 0h5A3 ALGOL68 uses the prefix 16r to denote hexadecimal numbers, binary, quaternary and octal numbers can be specified similarly
Hexadecimal
–
Numeral systems
Hexadecimal
–
Bruce Alan Martin's hexadecimal notation proposal
Hexadecimal
–
Hexadecimal finger-counting scheme.
17.
A20 line
–
The A20, or addressing line 20, is one of the electrical lines that make up the system bus of an x86-based computer system. The A20 line in particular is used to transmit the 21st bit on the address bus, a microprocessor typically has a number of addressing lines equal to the base-two logarithm of its physical addressing space. For example, a processor with 4 GB of physical addressing space requires 32 lines, the lines are named after the zero-based number of the bit in the address that they are transmitting. The least significant bit is first and is therefore numbered bit 0, A20 transmits bit 20 and becomes active once addresses reach 1 MB, or 220. The early Intel 8086, Intel 8088, and Intel 80186 processors had 20 address lines, numbered A0 to A19, with these, internal address registers of such processors only had 16 bits. To access a 20-bit address space, a memory reference was made up of a 16-bit Offset address added to a 16-bit Segment number. The resulting address is equal to Segment *16 + Offset, there are many combinations of segment and offset that produce the same 20-bit physical address. Therefore, there were ways to address the same byte in memory. The only way to them was to choose a segment value that when added to 0xFEF0, resulted in a physical address of 0x001000C0. When IBM designed the IBM PC AT machine, it decided to use the new higher-performance Intel 80286 microprocessor, the 80286 could address up to 16 MB of system memory in protected mode. However, the CPU was supposed to emulate an 8086s behavior in real mode, its startup mode, the 80286 had a bug, it failed to force the A20 line to zero in real mode. Therefore, the combination F800,8000 would no longer point to the physical address 0x00000000, as a result, some DOS programs would no longer work. To remain compatible with programs, IBM decided to fix the problem on the motherboard. That was accomplished by inserting a logic gate on the A20 line between the processor and system bus, which got named Gate-A20, Gate-A20 can be enabled or disabled by software to allow or prevent the address bus from receiving a signal from A20. It is set to non-passing for the execution of programs which rely on the wrap-around. At boot time, the BIOS first enables Gate-A20 when it counts and tests all of the systems memory, originally, the logic gate was a gate connected to the Intel 8042 keyboard controller. Controlling it was a slow process. Other methods have since added to allow for more efficient multitasking of programs which require this wrap-around with programs that access all of the systems memory
A20 line
–
The high memory area is available in real mode on 80286 processors if the A20 gate is not disabled
18.
Intel 80286
–
The Intel 80286 is a 16-bit microprocessor that was introduced on 1 February 1982. It was the first 8086 based CPU with separate, non-multiplexed, address and data buses and also the first with memory management, the 80286 was employed for the IBM PC/AT, introduced in 1984, and then widely used in most PC/AT compatible computers until the early 1990s. Although now long since obsolete for use in computers,80286 based processors are still widely used in embedded microcontroller applications. Intels first 80286 chips were specified for a maximum clockrate of 4,6 or 8 MHz, AMD and Harris later produced 16 MHz,20 MHz and 25 MHz parts, respectively. Intersil and Fujitsu also designed fully static CMOS versions of Intels original depletion-load nMOS implementation, the 6 MHz,10 MHz and 12 MHz models were reportedly measured to operate at 0.9 MIPS,1.5 MIPS and 2.66 MIPS respectively. The later E-stepping level of the 80286 was free of the several significant errata that caused problems for programmers, the 80286 was designed for multi-user systems with multitasking applications, including communications and real-time process control. It had 134,000 transistors and consisted of four independent units, address unit, bus unit, instruction unit, the significantly increased performance over the 8086 was primarily due to the non-multiplexed address and data buses, more address calculation hardware and a faster multiplier. It was produced in a 68-pin package including PLCC, LCC, the performance increase of the 80286 over the 8086 could be more than 100% per clock cycle in many programs. This was an increase, fully comparable to the speed improvements around a decade later when the i486 or the original Pentium were introduced. This was partly due to the address and data buses. They were performed by a unit in the 80286 while the older 8086 had to do effective address computation using its general ALU. Also, the 80286 was more efficient in the prefetch of instructions, buffering, execution of jumps, together with contemporary 80186,286 added new instructions, ENTER, LEAVE, BOUND, INS, OUTS, PUSHA, POPA, PUSH immediate, IMUL immediate, multi-bit shifts. The intel 80286 had a 24-bit address bus and was able to address up to 16 MB of RAM, however cost and initial rarity of software using the memory above 1 MB meant that 80286 computers were rarely shipped with more than one megabyte of RAM. Additionally, there was a performance penalty involved in accessing extended memory from real mode, the 286 was the first of the x86 CPU family to support protected mode. In addition, it was the first commercially available microprocessor with on-chip MMU capabilities and this would allow IBM compatibles to have advanced multitasking OSes for the first time and compete in the Unix-dominated server/workstation market. Several additional instructions were introduced in protected mode of 80286, which are helpful for multitasking operating systems, another important feature of 80286 is Prevention of Unauthorized Access. This is achieved by, Forming different segments for data, code, and stack, segment with lower privilege level cannot access the segment with higher privilege level. By design, the 286 could not revert from protected mode to the basic 8086-compatible real mode without a hardware-initiated reset, though it worked correctly, the method imposed a huge performance penalty
Intel 80286
–
An 8MHz Intel 80286 Microprocessor
Intel 80286
–
AMD 80286 (16 MHz version)
Intel 80286
–
Intel 80286 die shot
Intel 80286
–
Siemens 80286 (10 MHz version)
19.
Intel 80386
–
The Intel 80386, also known as i386 or just 386, is a 32-bit microprocessor introduced in 1985. The first versions had 275,000 transistors and were the CPU of many workstations, the 32-bit 80386 can correctly execute most code intended for the earlier 16-bit processors such as 8088 and 80286 that were ubiquitous in early PCs. Over the years, successively newer implementations of the architecture have become several hundreds of times faster than the original 80386. A33 MHz 80386 was reportedly measured to operate at about 11.4 MIPS, the 80386 was introduced in October 1985, while manufacturing of the chips in significant quantities commenced in June 1986. Mainboards for 80386-based computer systems were cumbersome and expensive at first, in May 2006, Intel announced that 80386 production would stop at the end of September 2007. Although it had long been obsolete as a personal computer CPU, Intel, such systems using an 80386 or one of many derivatives are common in aerospace technology and electronic musical instruments, among others. Some mobile phones used the 80386 processor, such as BlackBerry 950. The processor was a significant evolution in the x86 architecture, the predecessor of the 80386 was the Intel 80286, a 16-bit processor with a segment-based memory management and protection system. The 80386 added a 32-bit architecture and a translation unit. It also offered support for register debugging, the 80386 featured three operating modes, real mode, protected mode and virtual mode. The protected mode which debuted in the 286 was extended to allow the 386 to address up to 4 GB of memory, the all new virtual 8086 mode made it possible to run one or more real mode programs in a protected environment, although some programs were not compatible. Several new instructions have been added to 386, BSF, BSR, BT, BTS, BTR, BTC, CDQ, CWDE, LFS, LGS, LSS, MOVSX, MOVZX, SETcc, SHLD, SHRD. Two new segment registers have been added for general purpose programs, debug registers DR0-DR7 were added for hardware breakpoints. New forms of MOV instruction are used to access them, chief architect in the development of the 80386 was John H. Crawford. He was responsible for extending the 80286 architecture and instruction set to 32-bit, the 80486 and P5 Pentium line of processors were descendants of the 80386 design. The following data types are supported and thus implemented by one or more 80386 machine instructions. Bit, bit field and bit string, 8-bit integer, either signed or unsigned. 16-bit integer, either signed or unsigned, 32-bit integer, either signed or unsigned
Intel 80386
–
Intel 80386 DX rated at 16 MHz
Intel 80386
–
Intel A80386DX-20 CPU Die Image
Intel 80386
–
CPU Intel A80386DX-20 from 1988 year Sigma-Sigma no S-Spec no white logo
Intel 80386
–
A surface-mount version of Intel 80386SX processor in a
Compaq Deskpro computer. It is non-upgradable.
20.
Protected mode
–
In computing, protected mode, also called protected virtual address mode, is an operational mode of x86-compatible central processing units. It allows system software to use such as virtual memory, paging. When a processor that supports x86 protected mode is powered on, it begins executing instructions in real mode, protected mode may only be entered after the system software sets up several descriptor tables and enables the Protection Enable bit in the control register 0. Protected mode was first added to the x86 architecture in 1982, with the release of Intels 80286 processor, the Intel 8086, the predecessor to the 286, was originally designed with a 20-bit address bus for its memory. This allowed the processor to access 220 bytes of memory, equivalent to 1 megabyte, as the cost of memory decreased and memory use increased, the 1 MB limitation became a significant problem. Intel intended to solve this limitation along with others with the release of the 286, the initial protected mode, released with the 286, was not widely used, for example, it was used by Microsoft Xenix, Coherent and Minix. Several shortcomings such as the inability to access the BIOS or DOS calls due to inability to back to real mode without resetting the processor prevented widespread usage. The 286 maintained backwards compatibility with its precursor the 8086 by initially entering real mode on power up, real mode functioned virtually identically to the 8086, allowing the vast majority of existing 8086 software to run unmodified on the newer 286. Real mode also served as a more basic mode in which protected mode could be set up and this enabled 24 bit addressing which allowed the processor to access 224 bytes of memory, equivalent to 16 megabytes. With the release of the 386 in 1985, many of the issues preventing widespread adoption of the protected mode were addressed. The 386 was released with an address bus size of 32 bits, the segment sizes were also increased to 32 bits, meaning that the full address space of 4 gigabytes could be accessed without the need to switch between multiple segments. In addition to the size of the address bus and segment registers. Protected mode is now used in all modern operating systems which run on the x86 architecture, such as Microsoft Windows, Linux. Hardware support required for virtualizing the protected mode itself, however, had to wait for another 20 years. IBM devised a workaround which involved resetting the CPU via the controller and saving the system registers, stack pointer. This allowed the BIOS to restore the CPU to a similar state, later, a triple fault was used to reset the 286 CPU, which was a lot faster and cleaner than the keyboard controller method. To enter protected mode, the Global Descriptor Table must first be created with a minimum of three entries, a descriptor, a code segment descriptor and data segment descriptor. In an IBM-compatible machine, the A20 line also must be enabled to allow the use of all the lines so that the CPU can access beyond 1 megabyte of memory
Protected mode
–
An Intel 80386 microprocessor
21.
Super I/O
–
Super I/O is a class of I/O controller integrated circuits that began to be used on personal computer motherboards in the late 1980s, originally as add-in cards, later embedded on the motherboards. A super I/O chip combines interfaces for a variety of low-bandwidth devices, the original super I/O chips communicated with the central processing unit via the Industry Standard Architecture bus. Modern super I/O chips use the Low Pin Count bus instead of ISA for communication with the Central processing unit and this normally occurs through an LPC interface on the southbridge chip of the motherboard. Companies that make super I/O controllers include Nuvoton, ITE, Fintek, national Semiconductor used to make super I/O controllers but sold that business to Winbond, which already had a competing super I/O controller business. Winbond then spun off its logic businesses to a wholly owned subsidiary, SMSC made Super I/O chips and then got acquired by Microchip Technology. Archived from the original on 2008-05-18, superiotool is a Linux user-space tool to detect which Super I/O is used on a mainboard, and it can provide detailed information about its register contents. Lm-sensors contains a tool named sensors-detect that can detect which Super I/O is used on a mainboard
Super I/O
–
ITE Super I/O chip (IT8712F)
Super I/O
–
Diagram of a motherboard, which supports many on-board peripheral functions as well as several expansion slots.
Super I/O
–
SMSC (now Microchip) Super I/O chip (FDC37M813) on
IBM motherboard
22.
Video game console
–
A video game console is an electronic, digital or computer device that outputs a video signal or visual image to display a video game that one or more people can play. The term video game console is used to distinguish a console machine primarily designed for consumers to use for playing video games. An arcade machine consists of a video game computer, display, game controller, a home computer is a personal computer designed for home use for a variety of purposes, such as bookkeeping, accessing the Internet and playing video games. There are various types of game consoles, including home video game consoles, handheld game consoles, microconsoles. Although Ralph Baer had built working game consoles by 1966, it was nearly a decade before the Pong game made them commonplace in regular peoples living rooms. Through evolution over the 1990s and 2000s, game consoles have expanded to additional functions such as CD players, DVD players, Blu-ray disc players, web browsers, set-top boxes. The first video appeared in the 1960s. They were played on massive computers connected to vector displays, not analog televisions, Ralph H. Baer conceived the idea of a home video game in 1951. In the late 1960s, while working for Sanders Associates, Baer created a series of game console designs. In 1972, Magnavox released the Magnavox Odyssey, the first home game console which could be connected to a TV set. Magnavox replaced the switch design with separate cartridges for each game, by autumn 1975, Magnavox, bowing to the popularity of Pong, cancelled the Odyssey and released a scaled-down version that played only Pong and hockey, the Odyssey 100. A second, higher end console, the Odyssey 200, was released with the 100 and added on-screen scoring, up to four players, almost simultaneously released with Ataris own home Pong console through Sears, these consoles jump-started the consumer market. All three of the new consoles used simpler designs than the original Odyssey did with no board game pieces or extra cartridges, in the years that followed, the market saw many companies rushing similar consoles to market. Most of the consoles from this era were dedicated consoles playing only the games came with the console. These video game consoles were often just called video games, because there was reason to distinguish the two yet. While a few companies like Atari, Magnavox, and newcomer Coleco pushed the envelope, Fairchild released the Fairchild Video Entertainment System in 1976. The VES, however, contained a programmable microprocessor so its cartridges only needed a single ROM chip to store microprocessor instructions, RCA and Atari soon released their own cartridge-based consoles, the RCA Studio II and the Atari 2600, respectively. The first handheld console with interchangeable cartridges was the Microvision designed by Smith Engineering
Video game console
–
The
Magnavox Odyssey was the first video game console, released in 1972.
Video game console
–
The
Atari 2600 became the most popular game console of the second generation.
Video game console
–
The
NES made home console video games popular again in America after the 1983 crash.
23.
Korg Poly-61
–
The KORG Poly-61 is a programmable polyphonic synthesizer released by Korg in 1982, as a successor to the Polysix. It was notable for being Korgs first knobless synthesizer - featuring a push-button interface for programming, dispensing from the Polysixs knobs, the Poly-61 also moved to a hybrid tone-generation system, using digitally controlled analog oscillators or DCOs, in place of the Polysix more retrograde VCOs. In 1984 a MIDI version, the Poly-61M was released featuring basic MIDI implementation, the Poly-61 offers two DCOs per voice. DCO1 provides sawtooth, pulse, and PWM waveforms, dCO2 has only sawtooth and square. The filter has the controls for cutoff, resonance, keyboard tracking. Some of these are limited by the poor parameter resolution. Keyboard tracking is simply on or off for example, and resonance, the final component in the audio path is a VCA. It can be driven by the generator or a CV/Gate pulse. NEC D8049C -8 bits,11 MHz,40 pins, Supply Voltage = 5V There are 2 of them on the CPU board, one is a Programmer, the 8049 has 2 kB of masked ROM as well as 128 bytes of RAM and 27 I/O ports. The µCs oscillator block divides the incoming clock into 15 internal phases, thus with its 11 MHz max. crystal, some 70% of instructions are single byte/cycle, but 30% need two cycles and/or two bytes, so raw performance is closer to 0.5 MIPS. The minimum instruction length is 8 bits and the maximum length is 16 bits. The envelope is an ADSR type, all parameters can only be set to one of 16 values. There are 6 SSM-2056 analog envelope generator chips used in the Poly 61 and this means there are only 16 possible settings for each of the ADSR parameters. The LFO is a triangle wave that can be routed to the DCOs or VCF. It has a delay before it is triggered. Ray Parker Jr. FM Static The Faint Com Truise Heizraum Studios Kanjo Twenty Four Hours Homeshake
Korg Poly-61
–
Poly-61
24.
Roland Jupiter-4
–
The Roland Jupiter-4 was an analog synthesizer manufactured by the Roland Corporation between 1978 and 1981. Priced at US$2,895, it was cheaper than polyphonic machines from its competitors, however, it did not sell well in comparison. The Jupiter-4s basic architecture consisted of four identical cards, each with a VCO, resonant low pass VCF. The filter ADSR could be inverted, allowing for upside down modulation, the final VCA level setting could be memorized in user presets, and was prior to the overall master stereo output volume. The LFO, routable to oscillator pitch, pulse width, filter cutoff and amplifier, was notable for being able to reach audio frequencies, allowing for crude FM, the VCOs can garner unstable tuning if aging or low-quality electrolytic capacitors are used. Synthesizer repair shops can replace these tuning capacitors with stable polystyrene capacitors for an instant perfect tune, the arpeggiator can be prominently heard in Duran Durans 1982 hit single Rio. A hold button on the front panel allows users to latch or set a constantly running arpeggiator pattern. Otherwise the arpeggiation only responds when keys, individual or chords, are pressed and this allows for a more fluid and less rigid timing in live situations when playing with others. Left-hand modulation from the keyboard is unusual, the polyphonic portamento or glide feature can be used very effectively with in conjunction with the arpeggiator and any preset. An octave down switch by the wheel is also available independent of memorized settings. Unlike Moog or Sequential, the Roland modulation wheel goes left to right, a short spike on top of the spring-loaded modulation wheel allows for an unusual rapid fanning, but risks damage to this out of production part. Knobs allow depth of pitch bend or LFO modulation, in addition to the amounts assigned and memorized, toggle switches select bend or LFO to the wheel and onto any combination of VCO/VCF/VCA in an unusual selection pattern, all controlled by a single wheel motion. This effect can be heard on such as Seconds by The Human League. The final signal path also included a simple filter and a lush stereo chorus effect based on two, now rare, MN3004 ICs. The chorus circuit board is located underneath the wheel, and has one control. It is lush and wide, supplying a pseudo stereo effect when both outputs are used and this filter, as well as other parts of the machine, also use the BA662 VCA chips, which are also rare. Despite evidence against its alleged sonic magic, the BA662 remains sought by many x0xb0x builders, numerous such chips are used in the early JP-4 circuits and the Roland TB-303. The Jupiter 4 had ten preset sounds and also featured eight memory locations for user-created patches, saving to those locations requires two widely separated write record buttons to be held, to protect against accidental writing
Roland Jupiter-4
–
Roland Jupiter-4 Compuphonic
Roland Jupiter-4
–
The four voice cards
Roland Jupiter-4
–
The CPU replacement for the Jupiter-4 by Covariance
Roland Jupiter-4
–
Covariance's assigner board add-on
25.
Analog synthesizer
–
An analog synthesizer is a synthesizer that uses analog circuits and analog signals to generate sound electronically. The earliest analog synthesizers in the 1920s and 1930s, such as the Trautonium, were built with a variety of vacuum-tube, after the 1960s, analog synthesizers were built using operational amplifier integrated circuits, and used potentiometers to adjust the sound parameters. Analog synthesizers also use low-pass filters and high-pass filters to modify the sound, the earliest synthesizers used a variety of thermionic-valve and electro-mechanical technologies. Another notable early instrument is the Hammond Novachord, first produced in 1938, early analog synthesizers used technology from electronic analog computers and laboratory test equipment. Synthesizer modules in early synthesizers included voltage-controlled oscillators, voltage-controlled filters. Additionally, they used envelope generators, low-frequency oscillators, and ring modulators, some synthesizers also had effects devices, such as reverb units, or tools such as sequencers or sound mixers. Because many of these modules took input sound signals and processed them, famous modular synthesizer manufacturers included Buchla & Associates, Moog Music, ARP Instruments, Inc. and Electronic Music Studios. Moog established standards recognized worldwide for control interfacing on analog synthesizers, using a logarithmic 1-volt-per-octave pitch control and these control signals were routed using the same types of connectors and cables that were used for routing the synthesized sound signals. A specialized form of analog synthesizer is the analog vocoder, based on equipment developed for speech synthesis, vocoders are often used to make a sound that resembles a musical instrument talking or singing. Patch cords were expensive, could be damaged by use, and made complex patches difficult, thus, later analog synthesizers used the same building blocks, but integrated them into single units, eliminating patch cords in favour of integrated signal routing systems. The most popular of these was the Minimoog, though less flexible than a modular design, normalization made the instrument more portable and easier to use. This first pre-patched synthesizer, the Minimoog, became highly popular, the Minimoog also influenced the design of nearly all subsequent synthesizers, with integrated keyboard, pitch wheel and modulation wheel, and a VCO->VCF->VCA signal flow. In the 1970s, miniaturized solid-state components let manufacturers produce self-contained, portable instruments, Electronic synthesizers quickly become a standard part of the popular-music repertoire. The first movie to use music made with a synthesizer was the James Bond film On Her Majestys Secret Service in 1969, after the release of the film, composers produced a large number of movie soundtracks that featured synthesizers. Notable makers of analog synthesizers included Moog, ARP, Roland, Korg. Because of the complexity of generating even a single note using analog synthesis, polyphonic analog synthesizers featured limited polyphony, typically supporting four voices. Oberheim was a manufacturer of analog polyphonic synthesizers. The Polymoog was an attempt to create a polyphonic analog synthesizer
Analog synthesizer
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Trautonium, 1928
Analog synthesizer
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The Buchla Music Easel included a number of fader-style controls, switches, patch cord-connected modules, and a keyboard.
Analog synthesizer
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The
ARP 2500.
Analog synthesizer
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The
Minimoog was one of the most popular synthesizers ever built
26.
NXP Semiconductors
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NXP Semiconductors N. V. is a Dutch global semiconductor manufacturer headquartered in Eindhoven, Netherlands. The company employs approximately 45,000 people in more than 35 countries, NXP reported revenue of $6.1 billion in 2015, including one month of revenue contribution from recently merged Freescale Semiconductor. On October 27,2016, it was announced that Qualcomm would buy NXP, NXP said it was the fifth-largest non-memory semiconductor supplier in 2016, and the leading semiconductor supplier for the secure identification, automotive and digital networking industries. The company was founded in 1953 as part of the electronics firm Philips, with manufacturing and development in Nijmegen, known then as Philips Semiconductors, the company was sold to a consortium of private equity investors in 2006, at which point the companys name was changed to NXP. On August 6,2010, NXP completed its Initial public offering, on December 23,2013, NXP Semiconductors was added to the NASDAQ100. Finally, on March 2,2015, it was announced that NXP Semiconductors would merge with chip designer and manufacturer Freescale Semiconductor in a $40 billion US-dollar deal, the merger was closed on December 7,2015. NXP Semiconductors provides mixed signal and standard based on its security, identification, automotive, networking, radio frequency, analog signal. For example, in order to protect against potential hackers, NXP offers gateways to automotive manufacturers that prevent communication with every network within a car independently. NXP is the co-inventor of near field communication technology along with Sony and supplies NFC chip sets that enable mobile phones to be used to pay for goods, in addition, NXP manufactures automotive chips for in-vehicle networking, passive keyless entry and immobilization, and car radios. NXP invented the I²C interface over 30 years ago and supplier of products using it, NXP is also a volume supplier of standard logic devices, and celebrated its 50 years in logic in March 2012. NXP owns over 9,000 issued or pending patents, silicon Valley-based Signetics, the first company in the world established expressly to make and sell integrated circuits and inventor of the 555 timer IC, was acquired by Philips in 1975. At the time, it was claimed that with the Signetics acquisition, in 1987, Philips-Signetics, a unit of Philips, was ranked Europes largest semiconductor maker, with sales of $1.36 billion in 1986. Philips acquired VLSI Technology in June 1999, at the time, the acquisition made Philips the worlds sixth largest semiconductor company. In December 2005, Philips announced its intention to separate its semiconductor division, Philips Semiconductors. The new company name NXP was announced on August 31,2006, the newly independent NXP was ranked as one of the worlds top 10 semiconductor companies. At the time, CEO Frans van Houten emphasized the importance of NXP in enabling vibrant media technologies in mobile phones, digital TVs, portable music players and other consumer electronics devices. Similarly, in April 2008, NXP announced it would acquire the box business of Conexant to complement its existing Home business unit. In October 2009, NXP announced that it would sell its Home business unit to Trident Microsystems
NXP Semiconductors
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NXP Headquarters in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, July 2011
NXP Semiconductors
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NXP Semiconductors N.V.
NXP Semiconductors
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NXP LPC 1114 in 33-pin
HVQFN package and LPC1343 in 48-pin
LQFP package, both
ARM Cortex-M microcontrollers
NXP Semiconductors
–
Divisions and subsidiaries
27.
Philips
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Koninklijke Philips N. V. is a Dutch technology company headquartered in Amsterdam with primary divisions focused in the areas of electronics, healthcare and lighting. It was founded in Eindhoven in 1891, by Gerard Philips and it is one of the largest electronics companies in the world and employs around 105,000 people across more than 60 countries. Philips is organized into three divisions, Philips Consumer Lifestyle, Philips Healthcare and Philips Lighting. As of 2012, Philips was the largest manufacturer of lighting in the world measured by applicable revenues, Philips said it would seek damages for breach of contract in the US$200-million sale. In April 2016, the International Court of Arbitration ruled in favour of Philips, Philips has a primary listing on the Euronext Amsterdam stock exchange and is a component of the Euro Stoxx 50 stock market index. It has a listing on the New York Stock Exchange. The Philips Company was founded in 1891, by Gerard Philips and this first factory has been adapted and is used as a museum. In 1895, after a difficult first few years and near bankruptcy, though he had earned a degree in engineering, Anton started work as a sales representative, soon, however, he began to contribute many important business ideas. After Gerard and Anton Philips changed their business by founding the Philips corporation. In the 1920s, the company started to other products. In 1939, they introduced their electric razor, the Philishave, the Chapel is a radio with built-in loudspeaker, which was designed during the early 1930s. On 11 March 1927, Philips went on the air with shortwave radio station PCJJ which was joined in 1929 by sister station PHOHI, PHOHI broadcast in Dutch to the Dutch East Indies while PCJJ broadcast in English, Spanish and German to the rest of the world. The international program on Sundays commenced in 1928, with host Eddie Startz hosting the Happy Station show, broadcasts from the Netherlands were interrupted by the German invasion in May 1940. The Germans commandeered the transmitters in Huizen to use for pro-Nazi broadcasts, some originating from Germany, Philips Radio was absorbed shortly after liberation when its two shortwave stations were nationalised in 1947 and renamed Radio Netherlands Worldwide, the Dutch International Service. Some PCJ programs, such as Happy Station, continued on the new station, by the late 1940s, the Type 10 was ready to be handed over to Philips subsidiary Johan de Witt in Dordrecht to be produced and incorporated into a generator set as originally planned. The result, rated at 180/200 W electrical output from a bore, approximately 150 of these sets were eventually produced. However, they filed a number of patents and amassed a wealth of information. The first Philips shaver was introduced in the 1930s, and was simply called “The Philishave”, in the USA, it was called the “Norelco”, which remains a part of their product line today
Philips
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World headquarters in
Amsterdam,
Netherlands
Philips
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Gerard Philips
Philips
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Philips chapel radio model 930A, 1931
Philips
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The Philips Light Tower in Eindhoven, originally a light bulb factory and later the company headquarters
28.
Magnavox
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Magnavox, is an American electronics company founded in the United States. Today it is a subsidiary of electronics corporation Philips, six decades later, Magnavox produced the Odyssey, the worlds first home video game console toy. Magnavox is the brand name worn by a line of products made by Funai under license from trademark owner Philips. Jensen and Pridham founded the Commercial Wireless and Development Company in 1911, moved from Napa to San Francisco then Oakland in 1916, Jensen moved on to the Jensen Radio Manufacturing Company, Chicago, in the late 1920s. Pridham stayed on with Magnavox, which moved manufacturing to Fort Wayne by the 1940s, the term Commercial Wireless had a different meaning in the early days of radio and telephone. Magnavox manufactured radios, TVs, and record players, in the 1960s Magnavox manufactured the first plasma panels for the military and for computer applications. In 1972, Magnavox introduced the Odyssey, which was the worlds first home game console toy. The introduction of the toy triggered the beginning of the video game toys market. In the late 1970s, Philips developed LaserDisc technology, producing an optically read,12 inch disc that would contain recorded video material, in the early 1980s, Philips worked with Sony to invent a standard for optical audio discs, using the technology developed for the LaserDisc. Philips acquired Magnavoxs consumer electronics division in 1974, to nationwide distribution for their VLP Videodisc technology. During the late 1970s the company released the Odyssey², also known as the Philips Videopac, in the early 1980s, Philips merged Sylvania, Philco and Magnavox into one division headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee, with a manufacturing plant in Greeneville, Tennessee. The Sylvania plant in Batavia, New York was closed and all moved to Greeneville. Philips also abandoned the Sylvania trademark which is owned by Osram, in the late 1980s, Magnavox sold the Magnavox/Philips VideoWriter with some success. Released in 1985, the VideoWriter was a standalone word processing machine. Starting in the early 1990s, some Philips electronics were marketed under the brand name Philips Magnavox, the three areas of business of the MESC operation during the late 1980s and early 1990s were C-Cubed, Electronic Warfare, and sonobuoys. When Hughes Electronics sold its aerospace and defense operations to Raytheon, shortly thereafter, Raytheon spun off the sonobuoy operation to form Under Sea Systems Inc, in Columbia City, Indiana. In 1998, Raytheon sold USSI to a British defense consortium named Ultra Electronics, the company is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Ultra, manufacturing water and acoustic sensing and communications devices for military and civil defense. The brand also has worked with Funai with their televisions after the Philips Magnavox name was popular
Magnavox
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Magnavox brand on a vintage amplifier
Magnavox
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Magnavox
Laserdisc player
Magnavox
–
Divisions and subsidiaries
29.
CD player
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A CD player is an electronic device that plays audio compact discs, which are a digital optical disc data storage format. CD players were first sold to consumers in 1982, CDs typically contain recordings of audio material such as music. CD players are often a part of home systems, car audio systems. With the exception of CD boomboxes, most CD players do not produce sound by themselves, most CD players only produce an output signal via a headphone jack and/or RCA jacks. To listen to using a CD player with a headphone output jack. To use a CD player in a stereo system, the user connects an RCA cable to the RCA jacks or other outputs and connects it to a hi-fi. They are also manufactured as portable devices, which are battery powered, modern units can play other formats in addition to PCM audio coding used in CDs, such as MP3, AAC and WMA. DJs playing dance music at clubs often use specialized players with a playback speed to alter the pitch. Audio engineers using CD players to play music for an event through a reinforcement system use professional audio-grade CD players. CD playback functionality is also valuable on CD-ROM/DVD-ROM drive equipped computers as well as on DVD players, American inventor James T. Russell has been credited with inventing the first system to record digital information on an optical transparent foil that is lit from behind by a high-power halogen lamp. Russells patent application was first filed in 1966, and he was granted a patent in 1970, following litigation, Sony and Philips licensed Russells patents in the 1980s. The Compact Disc is an evolution of LaserDisc technology, where a laser beam is used that enables the high information density required for high-quality digital audio signals. Prototypes were developed by Philips and Sony independently in the late 1970s, in 1979, Sony and Philips set up a joint task force of engineers to design a new digital audio disc. After a year of experimentation and discussion, the Red Book CD-DA standard was published in 1980, after their commercial release in 1982, compact discs and their players were extremely popular. Despite costing up to $1,000, over 400,000 CD players were sold in the United States between 1983 and 1984. The success of the disc has been credited to the cooperation between Philips and Sony, who came together to agree upon and develop compatible hardware. The unified design of the disc allowed consumers to purchase any disc or player from any company. In 1974, L. However, due to the performance of the analog format
CD player
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Sony CDP-101 from 1982, one of the earliest
CD players affordable to
consumers.
CD player
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The Red book Digital Audio logo is present in all discs and players ensuring compatibility
CD player
–
A 1980s-era
Denon CD player
CD player
–
Philips CD100 Player
30.
Nintendo
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Nintendo Co. Ltd. is a Japanese multinational consumer electronics and video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. Nintendo is one of the worlds largest video game companies by market capitalization, founded on 23 September 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it originally produced handmade hanafuda playing cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small businesses, such as cab services. The word Nintendo can be translated from Japanese to English as leave luck to heaven. From 1992 until 2016, Nintendo was also the majority shareholder of Major League Baseballs Seattle Mariners, as of 31 March 2014, Nintendo has cumulative sales of over 670.43 million hardware units and 4.23 billion software units. The company has created and released some of the best-known and top-selling video game franchises, such as Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Nintendo was founded as a card company in late 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi. Based in Kyoto, Japan, the produced and marketed a playing card game called Hanafuda. The handmade cards soon became popular, and Yamauchi hired assistants to mass-produce cards to satisfy demand, in 1949, the company adopted the name Nintendo Karuta Co. Ltd. doing business as The Nintendo Playing Card Co. outside Japan. Nintendo continues to manufacture playing cards in Japan and organizes its own contract bridge tournament called the Nintendo Cup. In 1956, Hiroshi Yamauchi, grandson of Fusajiro Yamauchi, visited the U. S. to talk with the United States Playing Card Company and he found that the biggest playing card company in the world was using only a small office. Yamauchis realization that the card business had limited potential was a turning point. He then acquired the license to use Disney characters on playing cards to drive sales, in 1963, Yamauchi renamed Nintendo Playing Card Co. Ltd. to Nintendo Co. Ltd. The company then began to experiment in other areas of business using newly injected capital during the period of time between 1963 and 1968, Nintendo set up a taxi company called Daiya. However, Nintendo was forced to sell it because problems with the unions were making it too expensive to run the service. It also set up a hotel chain, a TV network. All of these ventures failed, and after the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, playing card sales dropped. In 1966, Nintendo moved into the Japanese toy industry with the Ultra Hand, Yokoi was moved from maintenance to the new Nintendo Games department as a product developer. Nintendo continued to produce toys, including the Ultra Machine, Love Tester
Nintendo
–
The exterior of Nintendo's main headquarters in
Kyoto, Japan
Nintendo
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Former headquarters plate, from when Nintendo was solely a playing card company
Nintendo
–
The
Love Tester, one of Nintendo's experimental toys.
Nintendo
–
The
Wii Remote, along with the
Wii, was said to be revolutionary because of its motion detection capabilities.
