F8
F8 is a processor system which is used in the Fairchild Video Entertainment System (Channel F) and other machines (VideoBrain is worth mentioning).
The smallest usable system usually contains a Central Processing Unit (CPU) 3850 and a Program Storage Unit (PSU) 3851 with 1kB space.
The 3850 is an 8-bit processor with 64 bytes of on-chip RAM and the first PSUs could generally hold 1kB of ROM data. To keep the chip pin count down the F8 system doesn't have an address bus but instead each chip in the system has it's own program counter. Control signals are sent to all chips in the system using five ROMC signals. Very innovative for its time.
Chips are listed below:
Contents
3850 CPU
Central Processing Unit
3851 PSU
Program Storage Unit
3852 DMI
Dynamic Memory Interface
3853 SMI
Static Memory Interface
3854 DMA
Direct Memory Access Controller
3861 PIO
Peripheral Input/Output
3872
Read more
Read more in F8_User's_Guide_(1976)(Fairchild) (.pdf 13.8MB)