Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

The CPU from the original PlayStation is guiding a probe to Pluto

aaronvan said:
The Voyager probes were launched in 1977 and are still communicating and providing science to Earth. Can you imagine the old CPU in those babies?
Click to expand...
:D :D :D
vacuum-tube.jpg
 
I'm actually taking a computer science class on computer organization and assembly programming and we're learning about the MIPS processor that is guiding this probe. It's the MIPS R3000 and is old, but very reliable since its been out for so long. Pretty cool stuff :)
 
adamhenry said:
:D :D :D
Image
Click to expand...

I was thinking more like:

320px-Phodopus_sungorus_-_Hamsterkraftwerk.jpg



---

On a more serious note, the 1969 Apollo moon landing used this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Guidance_Computer

The actual Voyager computers used this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_program#Computers
...
It has been erroneously reported[citation needed] on the Internet that the Voyager space probes were controlled by a version of the RCA 1802 (RCA CDP1802 "COSMAC" microprocessor), but such claims are not supported by the primary design documents. The CDP1802 microprocessor was used later in the Galileo space probe, which was designed and built years later. The digital control electronics of the Voyagers were based on RCA CD4000 radiation-hardened, silicon-on-sapphire (SOS) custom-made integrated circuit chips, combined with standard transistor-transistor logic (TTL) integrated circuits.
​
You can still buy CD4000 series ICs. They won't be SOS or radiation-hardened, but if there's a schematic for Voyager's digital electronics somewhere, it could be duplicated.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back