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kens
Author here for your 8087 questions...
WalterBright
Thank you! Amazing work! I've always had a soft spot for the 8087.

Maybe implement the algorithm in C? Thank would be fun!

jacquesm
Weitek next?
kens
The 8087 is probably enough floating point for a while :-)
jacquesm
That's an interesting chip though, but probably also much more challenging.
tremon
How did you determine the contents of the microcode ROM? I get using a microscope to examine the chip layout, but the ROM contents remain opaque no matter how far you zoom in. Has the 8087 microcode been published/annotated by Intel, or did you have to use a ROM reader and then interpret the instructions yourself?
jaygreco
Love these deep dives. It’s fascinating to see how real, low-level engineering we all take for granted today unfolded. It’s incredible that the rough equivalent of an entire 160lb digital computer was built and baked into silicon.

Also incredible reverse engineering. In a time when seemingly all appreciation for expertise is gone it’s so refreshing to see.

drob518
The combination of numerical methods and low-level hardware is fascinating. Those 20th century engineers were both smart and creative.
cmovq
Always thought it was strange that fptan also pushes 1 to the register stack just in case you were trying to compute the cotangent.
heronbank
Always fascinated by the low-level cleverness in early hardware. It's a different world from today's abundant resources.