CPU of the Day: A PICture from the Past
Microchip has now shipped almost 7 billion of the legendary PIC processor line. Still being made, and improved today, the PIC has been around for a very very long time. General Instruments created the PIC16 in 1975 to make up for the bad I/O of their CP1600 line. Later GI spun this off into Arizona Microchip Technologies in the late 1980’s and what is known today as simple Microchip.
GI PIC1655A
Here is an original PIC1655A made in 1979.
Microchip PIC16C55A
And here is the same part (albeit now in CMOS) made in late 2001. Old designs such as the PIC, and the MCS-51 remain immensly popular, they are inexpensive, and have over 30 years of code base to work with.
