Thirty years ago, on June 8, 1978, Intel Corp. introduced its first 16-bit microprocessor, the 8086, with a splashy ad heralding “the dawn of a new era.” Overblown? Sure, but also prophetic. While the ...

Blow the dust off that 8086 CPU in your attic.

The 8086 has been around since 1978, so it’s pretty well understood. As the namesake of the prevalent x86 architecture, it’s often studied by those looking to learn more about microprocessors in ...

Forward-looking: After being beaten by AMD in introducing the first, truly 64-bit instruction set in the x86 CPU world, Intel is now trying to get ahead of its historical competitor by working on a ...

The CPU addresses each general-purpose register as a 16-bit register or two 8-bit registers. The core architecture breaks down into two separate sets: the processor proper and the bus-interface unit, ...

Use left and right arrow keys to seek audio. Building a functioning 16-bit processor or CPU inside Microsoft Excel, with its own memory, output, and custom assembly language, is an impressive - if not ...