| The
Zilog
Z-80 (1976) was an improvement on the 8080, using 8 bit
data and 16 bit addressing. Hitachi produced the 64180,
which was essentially the Z-80 with added components.
Shortly after Intel’s 8080, Motorola introduced
the 6800. Some of its designers left to form MOS Technologies,
which was to be bought by Commodore, which produced the
6502 processor, later used in early Commodores, Apple
II and Ataris.
Advancements…
The Motorola
6809 was a major advance over its predecessor, the 6800.
It was optimised so that the instructions were hardwired
into the processor, rather than being written in microcode.
This made for faster processing.
The
first true 16 bit microprocessor was the TMS
9900 by Texas Instruments, in 1976. It had smaller
and faster programs than the Intel 8086 (released in
1978), and at one point looked to surpass the 8086 in
popularity.
|
