Tms 8100 2021 -

The TMS8100 was not a glamorous chip. It was a – a slightly souped-up 4-bit microcontroller that added serial I/O to the industry-standard TMS1000. It powered thousands of industrial devices, calculators, and printers throughout the late 1970s and early 1980s. While completely obsolete today, its architecture influenced decades of embedded design, and understanding it gives genuine insight into the constraints and cleverness of early microcomputing.

In the pantheon of legendary microprocessors, names like the Intel 8080, the MOS 6502, and the Zilog Z80 usually hog the spotlight. Yet, hiding in the shadows of computing history is a chip that was equally revolutionary, albeit in a quieter, more integrated way: the . tms 8100

Despite its strengths, the TMS8100 had severe constraints: The TMS8100 was not a glamorous chip

: Because of its ability to separate traffic surgically, it is frequently used by providers to offer "Clean Pipe" managed security services to their own customers. Despite its strengths, the TMS8100 had severe constraints: