Show notes
Philip Freidin joins to talk about developing a passion for electronics and computer architecture while growing up in Australia, getting started on the PDP-8, his grand plan to work on AMD bit-slice processors, and plenty more.Philip on X: https://twitter.com/PhilipFreidinPhilip’s Site: http://www.fliptronics.com/Show NotesWelcome Philip Freidin (00:01:02)Growing up in Australia (00:03:25)Teletype Model 33 ASR (00:07:10)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teletype_Model_33Kilocore Ticks (00:09:15)General Electric GE-235 (00:11:50)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GE-200_serieshttps://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/mainframe-computers/7/178/720Learning Fortran and Algol (00:16:03)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortranhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ALGOLPeeling Back Abstractions (00:19:02)Working on Hospital Electronics (00:19:51)Making a Digital Clock at Age 14 (00:24:31)DEC PDP-8 (00:26:26)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDP-8Why DEC Used the PDP Name (00:29:40)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programmed_Data_ProcessorGlass Teletypes (00:31:01)Programming in FOCAL and Fortran (00:31:31)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FOCAL_(programming_language)Linking and Loading with Paper Tape (00:33:27)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punched_tapeDECtape (00:35:57)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DECtapeDesigning a Floppy Disk Drive System for PDP-8 (00:37:01)PDP-8 OMNIBUS Backplane (00:37:38)https://gunkies.org/wiki/OMNIBUSSoftware Support for Floppy Disk Drive (00:39:42)OS/8 Operating System (00:40:26)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OS/8DEC Manuals (00:43:53)https://bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/The Onion Model for Abstraction (00:45:21)Understanding Computer Architecture (00:48:29)Moving to the PDP-11 (00:52:31)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDP-11PDP-11/34 and Microcode (00:54:36)https://gunkies.org/wiki/PDP-11/3474181 ALU Chip (00:54:49)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/74181DEC VAX 11/780 (00:55:29)https://gunkies.org/wiki/VAX-11/78074182 Chip (00:57:55)https://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/sn54s182.pdfPerformance Optimization by Understanding Dependencies (01:00:01)DSP and FPGAs (01:01:06)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field-programmable_gate_arrayhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_signal_processingFIR Filter (01:05:12)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finite_impulse_responseTMS320 (01:06:16)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TMS320Tradeoffs Between DSP Chips and FPGAs (01:11:46)Applications of FIR Filters (01:13:38)FPGAs in Communication Systems (01:15:28)Optimization Starts with Algorithms (01:16:20)Misuse of Floating Point (01:16:55)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floating-point_unitJoining AMD (01:18:57)Bit Slice (01:19:53)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit_slicingIntel 3002 (01:20:52)https://www.cpu-zone.com/3002/intel3002.pdfMMI 6701 (01:21:00)https://www.cpushack.com/2011/03/31/cpu-of-the-day-mmi-6701-bit-slice/AMD Am2901 (01:22:16)https://www.righto.com/2020/04/inside-am2901-amds-1970s-bit-slice.htmlData General Eclipse MV/8000 (01:23:24)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_General_Eclipse_MV/8000Mini Supercomputers (01:24:13)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MinisupercomputerDesigning first chip at age 12 (01:25:11)RS Latch (01:28:03)https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/textbook/digital/chpt-10/s-r-latch/74LS279 (01:28:39)https://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/sn74ls279a.pdfLearning about Bit Slice (01:30:00)R&D Electronics (01:30:53)Internal and External Applications Engineers (01:32:45)Becoming Australia’s First Field Applications Engineer (01:36:11)MMI Programmable Array Logic (PAL) (01:37:08)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programmable_Array_LogicMeeting the Bit Slice Designers (01:38:03)S-100 Bus (01:39:01)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S-100_busTeaching at University (01:39:50)Sending Resume to AMD (01:42:27)AMD Interview (01:43:16)Moving to the U.S. (01:45:40)AMD’s Secret RISC CPU (01:46:19)Am29000 (01:50:19)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMD_Am29000Why RISC over CISC? (01:51:38)https://cs.stanford.edu/people/eroberts/courses/soco/projects/risc/risccisc/Memory is free (01:52:40)Compiler Optimizations (01:56:36)Mapping Instructions to Opcodes (02:00:15)RISC-V and Fixed-Position Operands (02:01:16)CISC Became RISC (02:03:47)Register Windows on Am29000 (02:05:22)https://danielmangum.com/posts/retrospective-sparc-register-windows/Texas Instruments TMS9900 (02:07:04)https://en.wikipedia....