Notices by Ken Shirriff (kenshirriff@oldbytes.space)

I found a hidden name in the Intel 8088 processor. The 8088 was a derivative of the 8086 processor introduced in 1979 and best known as the processor in the IBM PC. I dissolved the chip's metal layer and found "רפי", the name in Hebrew of Rafi Retter, the chip's engineer.

The 8088 is constructed from a silicon wafer with polysilicon wiring and a single metal layer on top. (Modern chips can have a dozen layers of metal.) The metal obscured the name, making it unreadable on the chip until I dissolved the metal with acid.

I haven't come across a hidden name like this before. Chip art or names on a die are usually much easier to see. Rafi Retter's initials are also in the middle of the 8088 die, much more visible since it's in the metal layer and separated from the circuitry.

The 8088 processor was designed by Intel Israel (i/IL on the die). Intel Israel also designed the Intel 8087 floating point coprocessor chip. Intel's Israel site was opened in 1974, Intel's first design and development center outside the US.

Before WiFi, Ethernet was the best way to connect your computer to the network. This Fujitsu Ethernet chip from the 1980s was used in network cards. 🧵

The Globus INK (1967) is a remarkable piece of Soviet spacecraft equipment. Its rotating globe showed cosmonauts the position of their Soyuz spacecraft. An electromechanical analog computer, it used gears, cams, and differentials to compute the position. Let's look inside ?

Happy holidays! Here is a wreath made from punch cards that was at the Computer History Museum.