3 ms·
The line between "chip" and CPU has always been a bit blurry. Anything that deals with USB or any other complex protocol is probably based on a tiny CPU (8051s
by mmastrac 4y ago
The line between "chip" and CPU has always been a bit blurry. Anything that deals with USB or any other complex protocol is probably based on a tiny CPU (8051s are still weirdly common).
Software runs the world, but some of it is just cleverly disguised as hardware.
- sidewndr46 4y agoI can second this, I remember looking at the spec sheet for an early USB interface chip. It includes a complete processor. No MMU, but the datasheet even showed how to prevent someone from reading the contents of the ROM.
- retrac 4y agoAs early as the mid-1970s, minicomputers and mainframes started incorporated microprocessors for things like system monitoring, booting, and peripheral interfaces. In 1981, the original IBM PC's keyboard had a 8048 microcontroller internally to handle communication with the PC. Architecturally, this is still how it's done, usually just all shrunk down to a single IC now. Pretty much any expansion card or USB device will have a microcontroller in it, possibly multiple.
- NobodyNada 4y agoOh, for sure. But my surprise is less because there’s a CPU in the chip, and more because the CPU is so weird, and so tightly integrated with the rest of the chip, rather than being a “normal” general-purpose processor that communicates using a set of cleanly-defined I/O interfaces.