cpu.md

CPU

• cpu.land putting-the-you-in-cpu

  • A technical explainer by @kognise of how your computer runs programs, from start to finish.
  • Really amazing description combination of hardware and OS
  • [kernel]
  • [logical-organization]

• The Virtues Of The 8-Bit Era : Eight Iconic Processor Designs - Why do the 8-bit designs of the 1970s generate so much enthusiasm?

  • Simplicity
  • Documentation
  • Close to the metal
  • Intel 8008
  • Motarola 68000
  • Zilog [z80]
  • [6502]

• Eight More '8-Bit Era' Microprocessors

  • Descriptions of architecture and why they failed

• Intel 80386, a revolutionary CPU

  • 32-bit memory management and protected mode
  • Intel's magnum opus that changed desktop computing

• Unicorn is a lightweight multi-platform, multi-architecture CPU emulator framework.

  • Multi-architectures: ARM, ARM64 (ARMv8), m68k, MIPS, PowerPC, RISC-V, S390x (SystemZ), SPARC, TriCore & x86 (include x86_64).

Pentium - Branch prediction

• Does a compiler use all x86 instructions?

  • someone counted 678, meaning there are over 200 instructions that do not occur even once in all the code in my /usr/bin.

• How we ran a Unix-like OS (Xv6) on our home-built CPU with our home-built C compiler [compiler] [logical-organization]

[logical-organization]

• How a CPU works: Bare metal C on my RISC-V toy CPU

  • [assembly]

• Modern CPUs have a backstage cast of cores performing other tasks

  • The [boot] process on modern cpu's is complex.
  • The design is "pay no attention to the man behind the curtain"

• [cache]