The Silicon Underground

Intel’s Pentium FDIV bug and recall

Dave Farquhar — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 11:00:57 +0000

On June 13, 1994, a mathematics professor discovered a bug in Intel’s then-new Pentium CPU. Intel’s new CPU was fast, but it couldn’t divide correctly. The bug became known as the Pentium FDIV bug. It resulted in Intel recalling 60

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The failed 3Com and US Robotics merger

Dave Farquhar — Thu, 11 Jun 2026 11:00:56 +0000

On June 12, 1997, 3Com and US Robotics merged at a cost of $8.5 billion. At the time, it was the merger of the two biggest names in their respective fields, and it seemed poised to become a telecommunications giant.

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Texas Instruments Speak and Spell

Dave Farquhar — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 11:00:54 +0000

My first experience with a computer wasn’t with a desktop machine or a game console. It was with an orange handheld device called a Texas Instruments Speak and Spell. Many Gen Xers born in the early 70s can probably say

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Apple II: Launched June 10, 1977

Dave Farquhar — Tue, 09 Jun 2026 11:00:19 +0000

On June 10, 1977, Apple launched the Apple II, one of the first pre-built desktop computers. It went on to sell about 6 million units over the course of the next 17 years, making it the longest lived and most

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Eagle Computer: The rise and fall of an early PC clone

Dave Farquhar — Mon, 08 Jun 2026 11:00:01 +0000

When it comes to 80s computer brands, few flew as high as Eagle Computer flew in 1983. The aptly named company was selling 12,000 computers a month and had been doubling sales every quarter under the leadership of a talented

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First Commodore PET sold, June 5, 1977

Dave Farquhar — Fri, 05 Jun 2026 11:00:36 +0000

On June 5, 1977, at the summer Consumer Electronics Show, Commodore had its PET 2001 personal computer on display after showing a prototype at the January 1977 show. Chuck Peddle said Commodore took its first distributor order on that day,

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AMD 486DX4 released June 4, 1995

Dave Farquhar — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 11:00:58 +0000

On June 4, 1995, AMD released its DX4 CPU, about six months after Intel released its DX4 CPUs. The AMD CPUs weren’t quite as fast as Intel’s DX4s, but they proved very popular because of their value for money. While

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GE Widescreen 1000: Big time TV for big budgets

Dave Farquhar — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 11:00:54 +0000

The GE Widescreen 1000 was a big time TV for big time budgets in an era of excess, with the tagline “This is GE Performance Television.” Introduced in June 1978, it cost about 3/4 as much as a family sedan

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Cyrix 486DLC CPU: Introduced June 1992

Dave Farquhar — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 11:00:09 +0000

In the first week of June 1992, Cyrix debuted its 486DLC CPU. Cyrix didn’t have its own fabrication plants so they made arrangements with Texas Instruments to manufacture the chips in May 1992. Part of the agreement allowed TI to

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Intel 8088s and non-Intel non-clones

Dave Farquhar — Mon, 01 Jun 2026 11:00:13 +0000

The Intel 8088 CPU made its debut June 1, 1978. It rose to fame as the CPU powering the IBM PC, PC/XT, and tens of millions of PC and XT clones from the 1980s. But did you know Intel wasn’t

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