The
Intel 8048 microcontrollerA microcontroller is a small computer on a single integrated circuit consisting of a relatively simple CPU combined with support functions such as a crystal oscillator, timers, watchdog timer, serial and analog I/O etc. Program memory in the form of NOR flash or OTP ROM is also often included on...
(µC) (MCS-48), Intel's first microcontroller, was used in the
Magnavox Odyssey²The Magnavox Odyssey², known in Europe as the Philips Videopac G7000, in Brazil as the Philips Odyssey, in the United States as the Magnavox Odyssey² and the Philips Odyssey², and also by many other names, is a video game console released in 1978.In the early 1970s, Magnavox was an innovator in the...
video game consoleA video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or electronic device that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
, the Korg Trident series,
Roland Jupiter-4The Roland Jupiter 4 was an analog synthesizer manufactured by the Roland Corporation of Japan between 1978 and 1981. It was notable as the company's first self-contained polyphonic synthesizer, and for containing digital control of analog circuits , allowing for such features as programmable...
and Roland ProMars
analog synthesizerAn analog or analogue synthesizer is a synthesizer that uses analog circuits and analog computer techniques to generate sound electronically. The earliest analog synthesizers in the 1920s and 1930s such as the Trautonium were built with a variety of valve and electro-mechanical technologies...
s, and (in its
8042 variant) in the original
IBM PC keyboardThe IBM PC keyboard and its derivative computer keyboards are standardized. However, during the 20 years of the PC architecture being constantly updated, several types of keyboards have been developed.-Keyboard layouts:...
. The 8048 is probably the most prominent member of Intel's
MCS-48 family of microcontrollers. It was inspired by, and is somewhat similar to, the
Fairchild F8In computing, the F8 was an 8-bit microprocessor created by Fairchild Semiconductor. It was introduced in 1975 and was the "the world´s leading microprocessor in terms of CPU sales" in 1977. One of the people responsible for developing it was Robert Noyce who co-founded Fairchild but then left in...
microprocessorA microprocessor incorporates most or all of the functions of a central processing unit on a single integrated circuit . The first microprocessors emerged in the early 1970s and were used for electronic calculators, using binary-coded decimal arithmetic on 4-bit words...
.
The 8048 has a
Modified Harvard architectureThe Modified Harvard Architecture is a variation of the Harvard computer architecture that allows the contents of the instruction memory to be accessed as if it were data...
, with internal or external program ROM and 64–256 bytes of internal (on-chip)
RAMRandom-access memory is a form of computer data storage. Today, it takes the form of integrated circuits that allow stored data to be accessed in any order...
.
The
Intel 8048 microcontrollerA microcontroller is a small computer on a single integrated circuit consisting of a relatively simple CPU combined with support functions such as a crystal oscillator, timers, watchdog timer, serial and analog I/O etc. Program memory in the form of NOR flash or OTP ROM is also often included on...
(µC) (MCS-48), Intel's first microcontroller, was used in the
Magnavox Odyssey²The Magnavox Odyssey², known in Europe as the Philips Videopac G7000, in Brazil as the Philips Odyssey, in the United States as the Magnavox Odyssey² and the Philips Odyssey², and also by many other names, is a video game console released in 1978.In the early 1970s, Magnavox was an innovator in the...
video game consoleA video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or electronic device that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
, the Korg Trident series,
Roland Jupiter-4The Roland Jupiter 4 was an analog synthesizer manufactured by the Roland Corporation of Japan between 1978 and 1981. It was notable as the company's first self-contained polyphonic synthesizer, and for containing digital control of analog circuits , allowing for such features as programmable...
and Roland ProMars
analog synthesizerAn analog or analogue synthesizer is a synthesizer that uses analog circuits and analog computer techniques to generate sound electronically. The earliest analog synthesizers in the 1920s and 1930s such as the Trautonium were built with a variety of valve and electro-mechanical technologies...
s, and (in its
8042 variant) in the original
IBM PC keyboardThe IBM PC keyboard and its derivative computer keyboards are standardized. However, during the 20 years of the PC architecture being constantly updated, several types of keyboards have been developed.-Keyboard layouts:...
. The 8048 is probably the most prominent member of Intel's
MCS-48 family of microcontrollers. It was inspired by, and is somewhat similar to, the
Fairchild F8In computing, the F8 was an 8-bit microprocessor created by Fairchild Semiconductor. It was introduced in 1975 and was the "the world´s leading microprocessor in terms of CPU sales" in 1977. One of the people responsible for developing it was Robert Noyce who co-founded Fairchild but then left in...
microprocessorA microprocessor incorporates most or all of the functions of a central processing unit on a single integrated circuit . The first microprocessors emerged in the early 1970s and were used for electronic calculators, using binary-coded decimal arithmetic on 4-bit words...
.
The 8048 has a
Modified Harvard architectureThe Modified Harvard Architecture is a variation of the Harvard computer architecture that allows the contents of the instruction memory to be accessed as if it were data...
, with internal or external program ROM and 64–256 bytes of internal (on-chip)
RAMRandom-access memory is a form of computer data storage. Today, it takes the form of integrated circuits that allow stored data to be accessed in any order...
. The
I/OIn computing, input/output, or I/O, refers to the communication between an information processing system , and the outside world – possibly a human, or another information processing system. Inputs are the signals or data received by the system, and outputs are the signals or data sent from it...
is mapped into its own
address spaceIn computing, an address space defines a range of discrete addresses, each of which may correspond to a physical or virtual memory register, a network host, peripheral device, disk sector or other logical or physical entity...
, separate from programs and data. Though the 8048 was eventually replaced by the very popular
Intel 8051The Intel 8051 is a Harvard architecture, single chip microcontroller which was developed by Intel in 1980 for use in embedded systems. Intel's original versions were popular in the 1980s and early 1990s, but has largely been superseded by a vast range of faster and/or functionally enhanced...
/8031, even at the turn of the millennium it remains quite popular, due to its low cost, wide availability, memory efficient one-byte instruction set, and mature development tools. Because of this it is much used in high-volume consumer electronics devices such as TV sets, TV remotes, toys, and other gadgets where cost-cutting is essential.
The
8049 has 2 KiB of masked
ROMRead-only memory is a class of storage media used in computers and other electronic devices. Because data stored in ROM cannot be modified , it is mainly used to distribute firmware .In its strictest sense, ROM...
(the
8748 and 8749 had
EPROMAn EPROM, or Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory, is a type of memory chip that retains its data when its power supply is switched off. In other words, it is non-volatile. It is an array of floating-gate transistors individually programmed by an electronic device that supplies higher voltages...
) that can be replaced with a 4 KiB external ROM, as well as 128
byteA byte is a unit of information storage representing the smallest addressable element for a given computer architecture. It often designates a sequence of bits whose length is determined by the architecture...
s of
RAMRandom-access memory is a form of computer data storage. Today, it takes the form of integrated circuits that allow stored data to be accessed in any order...
and 27
I/OI/O may refer to:* Input/output, a system of communication for information processing systems* The input-output model, an economic model of flow prediction between sectors...
ports. The µC's oscillator block divides the incoming clock into 15 internal phases, thus with its 11 MHz max. crystal one gets 0.73 MIPS (of one-clock
instructionAn instruction set is a list of all the instructions, and all their variations, that a processor can execute.Instructions include:* Arithmetic such as add and subtract...
s). Some instructions are single byte/cycle ones, but a large amount of opcodes need two cycles and/or two bytes, so the raw performance would be closer to 0.5 MIPS.
Reportedly, most if not all IBM PC AT and
PS/2The PS/2 connector is used for connecting some keyboards and mice to a PC compatible computer system. Its name comes from the IBM Personal System/2 series of personal computers, with which it was introduced in 1987...
keyboards contain a variant of the 8049AH microcontroller. An 8042 is located in the PC, and can be accessed through port
0xIn mathematics and computer science, hexadecimal is a numeral system with a radix, or base, of 16. It uses sixteen distinct symbols, most often the symbols 0–9 to represent values zero to nine, and A, B, C, D, E, F to represent values ten to fifteen.Its primary use is as a...
60 and
0xIn mathematics and computer science, hexadecimal is a numeral system with a radix, or base, of 16. It uses sixteen distinct symbols, most often the symbols 0–9 to represent values zero to nine, and A, B, C, D, E, F to represent values ten to fifteen.Its primary use is as a...
64 (personal computers using
Pentium IIThe Pentium II brand refers to Intel's sixth-generation microarchitecture and x86-compatible microprocessors introduced on May 7, 1997. Containing 7.5 million transistors, the Pentium II featured an improved version of the first P6-generation core of the Pentium Pro, which contained 5.5 million...
or later microprocessors have the 8042 integrated into the
Super I/O"Super I/O" is a class of I/O controller integrated circuits that began to be used on personal computer motherboards in the late 1980s, originally as add-in cards, later embedded on the motherboards. A super I/O chip combines interfaces for a variety of low-bandwidth devices...
). Also 8042 controls
A20 lineThe A20 or addressing line 20 is one of the plethora of electrical lines that make up the system bus of an x86-based computer system. The A20 line in particular is used to transmit the 21st bit on the address bus....
and "soft boot" to switch
Intel 80286The Intel 80286, introduced on February 1, 1982, was an x86 16-bit microprocessor with 134,000 transistors...
from
protectedIn computing, protected mode, also called protected virtual address mode, is an operational mode of x86-compatible central processing units . It was first added to the x86 architecture in 1982, with the release of Intel's 80286 processor, and later extended with the release of the 80386 in 1985...
to real mode.
Another variant, the ROM-less
8035, was used in
Nintendois a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel...
's arcade game Donkey Kong. Although not being a typical application for a microcontroller, its purpose was to generate the background music of the game.
External links
- MCS-48 family architecture (PDF
Portable Document Format is a file format created by Adobe Systems in 1993 for document exchange. PDF is used for representing two-dimensional documents in a manner independent of the application software, hardware, and operating system....
)