Learn the architecture of computers by creating the first computer ever, made in 1981 (IBM PC 5150)
IBM PC 5150 is arguably the first personal computer and was made in 1981, from then on almost any computer that you see is an improvement of that first computer.
What you’ll learn
- Architecture of the first computer ever made.
- Computer design.
- Hardware design.
- Cpu design.
- Refresh memory.
- 8259 interrupt controller.
- Bios.
- 8237 dma controller.
- 8253 timer chip.
- 8255 peripheral chip.
- Timing in computers.
Course Content
- Architecture of ibm pc 5150 –> 28 lectures • 5hr 42min.
Requirements
IBM PC 5150 is arguably the first personal computer and was made in 1981, from then on almost any computer that you see is an improvement of that first computer.
But there has never been any course or book analyzing maybe the most important computer of all time, there has been a lot of courses talking about “how to create a computer”, which I, myself, have created a course called “creating a cpu using transistors and logic gates”, in which we created a computer from scratch. The reason for this, is because IBM PC 5150 (or any other REAL-WORLD computers- meaning computers that have been created by companies and have been sold in the world- is much more complicated than a computer that you could create on your own, in your garage or using software.
When we look at the motherboard of IBM PC 5150 we see so many chips that feels so complicated, and the reality of it, is that it is really complicated, in fact if it was easy everyone would have known that. What we have done in this course, is that we completely drawn all the motherboard wire by wire and bit by bit, every 0 or 1 on that motherboard has a reason and we leave nothing to chance. We take nothing for granted. But the question is:
why should we take this course?
By understanding the architecture of IBM PC 5150, we will be able to understand the BIOS code written in one of the ROMs on the motherboard, this BIOS is somehow the first operating system, the first program. Then we will rise through a path which would lead us to understanding the following in the most intuitive way which is by studying the source code:
BIOS
DOS operating system
Assembler
Compiler
80286 and 80386 processors
Understanding the first linux by reading its source code
Remember the best way to undestand anything is to study the source code, and to understand the soure code we need to learn the underlying hardware down to the most detailed and lowest level possible and thats what we have done in this course.