Fairchild F8
More info
- Manufacturer
- Fairchild Semiconductor
- Type
- Microprocessor (8-bit)
- Released
- 1975
Fairchild's 8-bit microprocessor from 1975 — the brain of the Channel F, the first games console with swappable cartridges.
The F8 had an unusual multi-chip design: the processor chip itself (the 3850) had no address bus, and addressing and program memory had to be handled by separate support chips such as the 3851. Alone it was useless; as a set it worked. Mostek was a second source and built it as the 3850, later offering the single-chip 3870.
Its place in history rests on the Fairchild Channel F of 1976 — the first programmable games console with interchangeable ROM cartridges, beating the Atari 2600 to the idea of removable games. That the whole concept hung on a processor that barely functioned without its retinue of support chips says something about the era.