motorola Archives - The Silicon Underground

Commodore Plus 4 and Commodore 16

Dave Farquhar — Sun, 29 Jul 2018 11:00:03 +0000

Dan Bowman kindly pointed me to former Commodore engineer Bil Herd’s discussion of the ill-fated Commodore TED machines on Hackaday. Here in the States, few remember the TED specifically, but some people may remember that oddball Commodore Plus 4 that closeout

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Is TP-Link good?

Dave Farquhar — Mon, 21 Aug 2017 11:00:59 +0000

You’ve probably seen TP-Link network equipment on computer store shelves, but it’s possible you’ve never bought any. TP-Link hasn’t been around as long as other brands, after all. But I don’t blame you for wondering: Is TP-Link good? I like

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Disadvantages of the 8086 microprocessor

Dave Farquhar — Tue, 11 Jul 2017 11:00:43 +0000

An 8086-series microprocessor, the 8088, powered the original IBM PC. Its direct descendants power PCs to this day. Not only that, they power modern Macs too. This was always controversial, especially running Mac OS on Intel chips. Why? What are

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The Atari 2600 CPU: The MOS 6507

Dave Farquhar — Mon, 29 May 2017 11:00:40 +0000

The Atari 2600 CPU was a nondescript MOS 6507 chip. Neither Intel nor Motorola had a CPU chip in the early 1970s that could meet Atari’s price point. MOS Technology didn’t have one either, but they asked Atari what they

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Radio Shack computers

Dave Farquhar — Thu, 25 May 2017 11:00:13 +0000

Radio Shack released one of the first home computers, the TRS-80 Model I, in 1977. Between 1977 and 1979, it sold 100,000 units. Radio Shack sold them just as quickly as Tandy could make them. You can count Radio Shack and

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Advantages and disadvantages of Windows NT 3.1

Dave Farquhar — Thu, 18 May 2017 11:00:38 +0000

I’ve talked a lot about the advantages and disadvantages of old milestone operating systems. But what were the advantages and disadvantages of Windows NT 3.1? That’s a fair question. Advantages of Windows NT 3.1 Windows NT 3.1 was a landmark

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Commodore 64 vs Amiga

Dave Farquhar — Fri, 03 Mar 2017 12:00:14 +0000

Looking at the Commodore 64 vs Amiga seems a little odd, at least to me. After all, the machines were never intended to be rivals. The Amiga was supposed to succeed the 64. Commodore bought Amiga because they couldn’t make a

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History of overclocking

Dave Farquhar — Wed, 11 Jan 2017 12:00:36 +0000

Overclocking didn’t start in the 90s, and it wasn’t limited to PCs either. Here’s a history of overclocking from a guy who did it some, and talked to guys who did it a lot in the 80s. I don’t recommend

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Blu Studio One review

Dave Farquhar — Wed, 28 Sep 2016 11:00:17 +0000

I needed a phone in a hurry the other day when my wife’s Moto E started acting up. We turned to the Blu Studio One, specifically model# S0110UU. This is my Blu Studio One review. It’s an inexpensive midrange phone for

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How the Amiga could have lived to age 30 and beyond

Dave Farquhar — Sat, 25 Jul 2015 14:25:46 +0000

It was 30 years ago this week that Commodore released its landmark, long-time-coming Amiga 1000 computer–the first 1990s computer in a field full of 1970s retreads. Yes, it was a 1990s computer in 1985. It had color and sound built

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