Fairchild F8

The Fairchild F8 is an 8-bit microprocessor monolithic integrated circuit introduced in 1974. The initial implementation consisted of multiple chips (3850 CPU, 3851 Program Storage Unit, 3852 Dynamic Memory Interface, 3853 Static Memory Interface, 3854 DMA).

In 1977, Mostek released a greatly improved single-chip implementation, the 4 MHz, 5 V-only 3870, which became so successful in microcontroller-type applications that Fairchild licensed it back and canceled their own short-lived 3879 single-chip implementation.

Links

• Fairchild F8 @ Wikipedia
• CPU of the Day: Fairchild F8 Microprocessor @ The CPUSHACK museum
• A History of Early Microcontrollers, Part 6: The Fairchild F8 and Mostek MK3870 @ eejournal.com

Supported by

• 018-0145-00 F8 personality module for MicroLab I
• 018-0147-00 3870/3872 personality module for MicroLab I
• 8002A
• 8550