Microprocessors and Microcontrollers
A processor is a state machine wired to a memory bus, and every instruction is a fixed sequence of transfers between them. These topics step through those transfers one clock at a time.
Start from the beginning →1 topic you can watch now, 25 still to come.
How a processor runs
The loop that never stops, and the registers it needs to run it.
- Buses: address, data and control
- Register set and flags
- Machine cycles and T-states
- Von Neumann vs Harvard
The 8085 architecture
A small processor, small enough to hold entirely in your head.
- Pin diagram and signals
- Addressing modes
- Instruction set groups
- Timing diagrams for a memory read
- Assembly programs: sorting, searching, delays
Interrupts and I/O
How a processor stops looking and lets the world tell it instead.
- Polling vs interrupt-driven I/O
- Hardware and software interrupts
- Vectors, priority and masking
- DMA
The 8086
Segmentation, a queue, and the start of a family still shipping.
- Architecture and the BIU/EU split
- Segmented memory and physical address generation
- Minimum and maximum mode
- Assembler directives and procedures
Peripheral interfacing
The chips around the processor that do the actual work.
- 8255 programmable peripheral interface
- 8253 timer and 8259 interrupt controller
- ADC and DAC interfacing
- Keyboard and display interfacing
Microcontrollers
The whole computer on one chip, designed to be embedded.
- 8051 architecture and memory organisation
- Ports, timers and counters
- Serial communication
- ARM Cortex-M overview