6800

From: Allison J Parent <allisonp_at_world.std.com>
Date: Thu Nov 13 17:17:29 1997

<Well I want it for my CPU collection and therefore it is QUITE different
<to me...
<
Enrico,

What your saying is you want a real Intel 1974 C8080D date code part!
That's the commercial grade cermet package part that was the initial
offering. Not an AMD, NEC or some dozen others, not all identical.
On the other hand if you really wanted all of the various permutations
of the 8080 and there are at least 4 or 5 (all pre 1979) I know of. You'd
have to consider the 8080a a find as that is still pre '79 design! You
have to qualify the vendor and mask set used of or if it was a reverse
engineerd design like the NEC parts the 8080, 8080a and 8080af. Of course
there were subtleties like the round lid uPD8080AFD or the square.

So if you are going to preserve history, you have to be a lot more specific.
Or otherwise an 8080A is really then just another 8080! It's the specific
part, vendor and die level aspects of the history you loose by collecting
those 40 pin slabs of plastic or ceramic indiscriminately.

FYI: the MDS I have has a intel 8080 cermet late 74 date code nonstandard
branding hand written part number. It appears to be a engineering sample
marking. I also have several dated copies of the 8080 and NEC 8080 parts
as they were different both in packaging and specifications. Never minding
the other intel one from my altair(early 75). The 6800D1 board I have has
a MC6800L, that's the cermet 1mhz part circa 1976(august if the datecode
reads right). Since I was designing with and using these parts I retained
samples that I never threw out as I figured some day I may use them again.
they are also part of the collection of processors that includes the DEC
T-11 single chip version of the PDP-11 chips I have with DC310es60
(engineering samples 4 of them). One of the ES parts is in a internal DEC
demo/proto board. Then there are the pre '79 SC/MP, cosmac, Intersil, TI


I know a bit about the history as I was one of the now older hackers from
then!


Allison
Received on Thu Nov 13 1997 - 17:17:29 GMT