The Microsoft SoftCard for the Apple II: Getting two processors to share memory
https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20251104-00/?p=111758
#HackerNews #Microsoft #SoftCard #Apple #II #Memory #Sharing #Two #Processors #TechHistory
The peanut gallery takes potshots at Tim Cook for betraying Steve Jobs with middling incrementalism, and maybe there's some truth to that, but Apple's processor execution is remarkable (and powerfully enabling to everything else at Apple).
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/09/21/apple-now-controls-all-core-iphone-chips-prioritizing-ai-workloads.html #Apple #Processors #iPhone #Mac
Did you know that the 'NT' in Windows NT stood for "Nine Ten"?
The intended core platform for the OS was the then-expected Intel i910 RISC processor, which was to be the rebranded moniker for the i860 that can be found in the wild.
It never came to be due to the i860s terrible handling of context switching -- a capability that a CPU for a multitasking, multiuser workstation OS must be able to do very_efficiently. The i860 wasn't.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTkFGZqVCM8&t=459s
** EDIT: Several have pointed to sources indicating differently that NT stood for N10, which was the codename for the i860, so -- N10, N-Ten > NT.
#TIL#WindowsNT#Windows#Intel #i860 #i910 #vintagecomputing #retrocomputing#OS#techhistory#RISC #x86 #processors #computers #computinghistory#Microsoft