Hardware Podcasts

An Interview with Ken Shirriff

The Amp Hour · 25 Sept 2017 · 1h 14m · Episode 361

What this episode covers

Ken Shirriff, who runs the blog Righto.com and formerly worked at Google, discusses his reverse engineering of vintage silicon and restoration of historical computing hardware. He details his process for creating die shots of 1970s chips using metallurgical microscopes and chemical etching, and explains the technical challenges of restoring a Xerox Alto computer, including replacing decaying foam and fixing incompatible TTL logic boards. Shirriff also analyzes the internal architecture of Apple power supplies, noting the presence of microcontrollers for safety handshakes, and compares the varied internal designs of standard components like the 555 timer and 741 op-amp across different manufacturers.

Most relevant to

makers and hobbyists

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Apple
Products
Xerox Alto, Sinclair Scientific Calculator
Chips
555 timer, 741 op-amp, 7805, 76477, 8008
Tools
Hugin, LT Spice
Also
Righto.com, Visual 6502

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