61
Why do people keep writing about the imaginary compound Cr2Gr2Te6?
I was reading the latest issue of the journal Science , and a paper mentioned the compound Cr 2 Gr 2 Te 6 . For a moment, I thought my knowl...
Ken Shirriff
Computer history, restoring vintage computers, IC reverse engineering, and whatever
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Visit righto.com → RSS feedOn Hacker News Jul 2013 – Oct 2026
Hardware & Electronics 171History & Retro Computing 128Systems & Performance 21Software Engineering 10Crypto & Blockchain 9Security & Privacy 7
62
A circuit board from the Saturn V rocket, reverse-engineered and explained
In the Apollo Moon missions, the Saturn V rocket was guided by an advanced onboard computer system built by IBM. This system was built fro...
63
The Intel 8088 processor's instruction prefetch circuitry: a look inside
In 1979, Intel introduced the 8088 microprocessor, a variant of the 16-bit 8086 processor. IBM's decision to use the 8088 processor in the I...
64
Notes on the Pentium's microcode circuitry
Most people think of machine instructions as the fundamental steps that a computer performs. However, many processors have another layer of ...
65
Tiny transformer inside: Decapping an isolated power transfer chip
I saw an ad for a tiny chip 1 that provides 5 volts 2 of isolated power: You feed 5 volts in one side, and get 5 volts out the other si...
66
Counting the transistors in the 8086 processor: it's harder than you might think
How many transistors are in Intel's 8086 processor? This seems like a straightforward question, but it doesn't have a straightforward answ...
67
Inside the Apollo “8-Ball” FDAI (Flight Director / Attitude Indicator)
During the Apollo flights to the Moon, the astronauts observed the spacecraft's orientation on a special instrument called the FDAI (Flight ...
68
Decoding an air conditioner control's checksum with differential cryptanalysis
Back in 2009 I wrote an Arduino library ( IRRemote ) to encode and decode infrared signals for remote controls. I got an email recently fr...
69
12-minute Mandelbrot: fractals on a 50 year old IBM 1401 mainframe
When I found out that the Computer History Museum has a working IBM 1401 computer [1] , I wondered if it could generate the Mandelbrot frac...
70
The programming error that cost Mt. Gox 2609 Bitcoins
In October 2011, Mt Gox lost over 2609 bitcoins by accidentally creating transactions that can never be redeemed. (At the time, 2609 bitcoin...
71
Reverse-engineering the multiplication algorithm in the Intel 8086 processor
While programmers today take multiplication for granted, most microprocessors in the 1970s could only add and subtract — multiplication r...
72
Reverse engineering the 386 processor's prefetch queue circuitry
In 1985, Intel introduced the groundbreaking 386 processor, the first 32-bit processor in the x86 architecture. To improve performance, the ...
73
Inside a Titan missile guidance computer
I've been studying the guidance computer from a Titan II nuclear missile. This compact computer was used in the 1970s to guide a Titan II ...
74
Reverse-engineering the Globus INK, a Soviet spaceflight navigation computer
One of the most interesting navigation instruments onboard Soyuz spacecraft was the Globus INK, 1 which used a rotating globe to indicate...
75
The microcode and hardware in the 8086 processor that perform string operations
Intel introduced the 8086 microprocessor in 1978. This processor ended up being hugely influential, setting the path for the x86 architec...
76
Bitcoin mining on a 55 year old IBM 1401 mainframe: 80 seconds per hash
Could an IBM mainframe from the 1960s mine Bitcoin? The idea seemed crazy, so I decided to find out. I implemented the Bitcoin hash algorith...
77
The origin and unexpected evolution of the word "mainframe"
What is the origin of the word "mainframe", referring to a large, complex computer? Most sources agree that the term is related to the frame...
78
Reverse-engineering the electronics in the Globus analog navigational computer
In the Soyuz space missions, cosmonauts tracked their position above the Earth with a remarkable electromechanical device with a rotating ...
79
How the 8086 processor handles power and clock internally
One under-appreciated characteristic of early microprocessors is the difficulty of distributing power inside the integrated circuit. While...
80
8086 Processor's microcode pipeline from die analysis
Intel introduced the 8086 microprocessor in 1978, and its influence still remains through the popular x86 architecture. The 8086 was a fai...
81
Yamaha DX7 chip reverse-engineering, part V: the output circuitry
The Yamaha DX7 digital synthesizer (1983) was the classic synthesizer in 1980s pop music. It uses a technique called FM synthesis to produ...
82
Tiny, cheap, and dangerous: Inside a fake iPhone charger
Thoughts on the death of Ma Ailun According to reports , a woman in China was tragically electrocuted using her iPhone while it was char...
83
Looking inside a vintage Soviet TTL logic integrated circuit
This blog post examines a 1980s chip used in a Soyuz space clock. The microscope photo below shows the tiny silicon die inside the package, ...
84
Understanding the BeagleBone’s built in microcontrollers (2016)
The BeagleBone Black is an inexpensive, credit-card sized computer that has two built-in microcontrollers called PRUs. While the PRUs provi...
85
The core memory inside a Saturn V rocket's computer
The Launch Vehicle Digital Computer (LVDC) had a key role in the Apollo Moon mission, guiding and controlling the Saturn V rocket. Like most...
86
Xerox Alto's 3 Mb/s Ethernet: Building a Gateway with a BeagleBone
The Alto was a revolutionary computer designed at Xerox PARC in 1973. It introduced the GUI, high-resolution bitmapped displays, the optic...
87
Restoring YC's Xerox Alto, Day 6: Fixed a chip, data read from disk
In today's Xerox Alto restoration session we investigated why the disk drive isn't working and found a failed chip. With this chip repaire...
88
Restoring Y Combinator's Xerox Alto, day 4: What's running on the system
This post describes our continuing efforts to restore a Xerox Alto. We checked that the low-level microcode tasks are running correctly a...
89
“Space age electronics”: Inside a GE thin-film paperweight from the 1960s
In the early 1960s, General Electric developed a technology called thin-film electronics. 1 These circuits were built from thin films of ...
90
Inside the 76477 Space Invaders sound effect chip
The 76477 Complex Sound Generation chip (1978) provided sound effects for Space Invaders 1 and many other video games . It was also a pop...