Reverse-engineering the interrupt circuitry in the Intel 8086 processor

.hilite {cursor:zoom-in} a:link img.hilite, a:visited img.hilite {color: #fff;} a:hover img.hilite {color: #f66;} Interrupts have been an important part of computers since the mid-1950s,1 providing a mechanism to interrupt a program's execution. Interrupts allows the computer to handle time-critical tasks such as I/O device operations. In this blog post, I look at the interrupt features in the Intel 8086 (1978) and how they are implemented in silicon, a combination of interesting circuit...

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