12 Oct
2007
12 Oct
'07
11:59 p.m.
On 12 Oct 2007 at 23:02, Brent Hilpert wrote:
Can't testify to it's accuracy but one of my
favorite quips about the 4004
is the reason it had that multiplexed 4-bit bus/machine cycle was to squish
it into a 16-pin package because management didn't want to tool up for larger
packages.
Sounds like an urban legend to me. 24-pin packages were around in
the Intel line then, I believe. In any case, the 8008 followed suit
with an 18-pin package. I suspect that multiplexing didn't matter
much to the overall speed of the thing.
While the 8080 wasn't multiplexed, the 8085 was, as was the
8086/8088. I don't think it was thought to matter.
Cheers,
Chuck