The Intel 8088 And 8086 Processor’s Instruction Prefetch Circuitry

Cache prefetching is what allows processors to have data and/or instructions ready for use in a fast local cache rather than having to wait for a fetch request to trickle through to system RAM and …

Breaking Through The 1 MB Barrier In DOS With Unreal Mode And More

The memory map of the original 8086 computer with its base and extended memory made the original PC rather straightforward, but also posed countless issues for DOS-based applications as they tried …

Intel V. NEC : The Case Of The V20’s Microcode

Back in the last century, Intel saw itself faced with a need to have ‘second source’ suppliers of its 8088 and 8086 processors, which saw NEC being roped in to be one of those alternati…

8086 Multiply Algorithm Gets Reverse Engineered

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 microproc…

Reverse-Engineering The Conditional Jump Circuitry In The 8086 Processor

As simple as a processor’s instruction set may seem, especially in a 1978-era one like the Intel 8086, there is quite a bit going on to go from something like a conditional jump instruction t…