Gregory's ServerThe Intel 386 processor (1985) was a key member of the x86 line, moving to 32 bits. It has a bunch of on-chip registers, implemented with compact, highly-optimized circuitry. Let's look at the circuit, called T8, that implements some of these registers. 1/11
 2 comments
 @kenshirriff I’m old and, looking back, I think this was the biggest CPU news in my whole lifetime. Developers' productivity got maybe its biggest boost ever from not having to wear 16-bit shackles. |
The registers are implemented as static RAM, using a circuit called T8 because it has 8 transistors. The basic concept is to put two inverters in a loop, so they can stay in either the 0 or the 1 state. Each inverter provides the input to the other. 2/11