Babbage
@babbage.bsky.social
Computer History and Architecture.
Writes The Chip Letter.
thechipletter.substack.com
Writes The Chip Letter.
thechipletter.substack.com
Intel then Nvidia as your main competitor.
You have to admire AMD’s fighting spirit.
You have to admire AMD’s fighting spirit.
October 18, 2025 at 12:00 PM
Intel then Nvidia as your main competitor.
You have to admire AMD’s fighting spirit.
You have to admire AMD’s fighting spirit.
How Big was IBM? Pretty big actually!
How Big was IBM?
Big Blue was big but how does it compare to today's tech giants?
thechipletter.substack.com
October 2, 2025 at 1:44 PM
How Big was IBM? Pretty big actually!
Inside the Trillion-Dollar AI Buildout
This is an amazing interview with Dylan Patel. Only 2 hours long but 6 hours of info by normal podcast standards.
This is an amazing interview with Dylan Patel. Only 2 hours long but 6 hours of info by normal podcast standards.
Inside the Trillion-Dollar AI Buildout | Dylan Patel Interview
YouTube video by Invest Like The Best
www.youtube.com
October 1, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Inside the Trillion-Dollar AI Buildout
This is an amazing interview with Dylan Patel. Only 2 hours long but 6 hours of info by normal podcast standards.
This is an amazing interview with Dylan Patel. Only 2 hours long but 6 hours of info by normal podcast standards.
Arm's Chief Architect on the History of the Arm Architecture
Arm's Chief Architect on the History of the Arm Architecture
Richard Grisenthwaite talks decades of Arm history
thechipletter.substack.com
September 22, 2025 at 9:18 AM
Arm's Chief Architect on the History of the Arm Architecture
Python: The Documentary | An Origin Story
Python: The Documentary | An origin story
YouTube video by CultRepo (formerly Honeypot)
www.youtube.com
September 2, 2025 at 9:03 AM
Python: The Documentary | An Origin Story
As a quick follow-up how did Chris Columbus make it without GPS? And how did he even tell his followers on Instagram without Starlink?
I am officially one of The Ancients, Keeper of Knowledge of the Before Time
June 4, 2025 at 11:36 AM
As a quick follow-up how did Chris Columbus make it without GPS? And how did he even tell his followers on Instagram without Starlink?
Posting my favourite die shot of all time!
AMD Radeon Fiji GPU, from Fritzchens Fritz
www.flickr.com/photos/13056...
AMD Radeon Fiji GPU, from Fritzchens Fritz
www.flickr.com/photos/13056...
June 4, 2025 at 9:47 AM
Posting my favourite die shot of all time!
AMD Radeon Fiji GPU, from Fritzchens Fritz
www.flickr.com/photos/13056...
AMD Radeon Fiji GPU, from Fritzchens Fritz
www.flickr.com/photos/13056...
On two occasions I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question.
Charles Babbage
Charles Babbage
June 4, 2025 at 9:44 AM
On two occasions I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question.
Charles Babbage
Charles Babbage
How important has Apple's role been in China's recent development?
Patrick McGee's new book reveals that Apple's investment in China over just the last five years has been - according to the company - more than $270 billion.
Patrick McGee's new book reveals that Apple's investment in China over just the last five years has been - according to the company - more than $270 billion.
Apple In China
Patrick McGee's important new book
thechipletter.substack.com
May 27, 2025 at 8:42 AM
How important has Apple's role been in China's recent development?
Patrick McGee's new book reveals that Apple's investment in China over just the last five years has been - according to the company - more than $270 billion.
Patrick McGee's new book reveals that Apple's investment in China over just the last five years has been - according to the company - more than $270 billion.
Where did the Personal Computer come from? We look at the origins, rise and (not quite) downfall in my latest post.
The birth, rise and eclipse of the personal computer
A look back at the 'personal computer' at fifty.
thechipletter.substack.com
May 15, 2025 at 10:45 AM
Where did the Personal Computer come from? We look at the origins, rise and (not quite) downfall in my latest post.
Reposted by Babbage
If you think you need internet speeds more than about 1Gbps, you really don't.
Netflix → 15 Mbps for 4K
8K video w/ H.265 encoding → 50 Mbps
MS Flight Sim live maps → 180 Mbps
Netflix → 15 Mbps for 4K
8K video w/ H.265 encoding → 50 Mbps
MS Flight Sim live maps → 180 Mbps
April 6, 2025 at 2:36 AM
If you think you need internet speeds more than about 1Gbps, you really don't.
Netflix → 15 Mbps for 4K
8K video w/ H.265 encoding → 50 Mbps
MS Flight Sim live maps → 180 Mbps
Netflix → 15 Mbps for 4K
8K video w/ H.265 encoding → 50 Mbps
MS Flight Sim live maps → 180 Mbps
Perhaps the best book written on making computers. Why is it so good?
The Soul of an Old Machine
How to win a Pulitzer Prize writing about computers
thechipletter.substack.com
April 4, 2025 at 7:55 AM
Perhaps the best book written on making computers. Why is it so good?
Reposted by Babbage
Whatever happens with the AI faux-Ghibli art generator thing, whether they get the pants sued off them, whether it remains legal or not, aside from the ethical problems - it'll still look staggeringly, face-palmingly tacky & lame to so many folk if you're seen using it.
Why would anyone want that?
Why would anyone want that?
March 28, 2025 at 1:35 PM
Whatever happens with the AI faux-Ghibli art generator thing, whether they get the pants sued off them, whether it remains legal or not, aside from the ethical problems - it'll still look staggeringly, face-palmingly tacky & lame to so many folk if you're seen using it.
Why would anyone want that?
Why would anyone want that?
Reposted by Babbage
I just dropped a new YouTube video that shows in a very practical way why SOTA models are still far the reach of even the best small local LLMs. Enable the English subtitles if you can't (very likely) understand Italian. (see the TLDR later):
www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3ai...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3ai...
I grandi LLM "state of the art" sono tutt'altra cosa: una dimostrazione pratica
YouTube video by Salvatore Sanfilippo
www.youtube.com
March 16, 2025 at 6:14 PM
I just dropped a new YouTube video that shows in a very practical way why SOTA models are still far the reach of even the best small local LLMs. Enable the English subtitles if you can't (very likely) understand Italian. (see the TLDR later):
www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3ai...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3ai...
Was Ballmer always shouty? Yes, yes he was.
Except in Nebraska!
An ad from 1986 for Windows 1.0. I’d almost forgotten that Steve ran Microsoft for 14 - yes 14! - years.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgJS...
Except in Nebraska!
An ad from 1986 for Windows 1.0. I’d almost forgotten that Steve ran Microsoft for 14 - yes 14! - years.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgJS...
Windows 1.0 with Steve Ballmer (1986) (HQ, 60FPS)
YouTube video by Blue OS Museum
www.youtube.com
March 12, 2025 at 8:27 AM
Was Ballmer always shouty? Yes, yes he was.
Except in Nebraska!
An ad from 1986 for Windows 1.0. I’d almost forgotten that Steve ran Microsoft for 14 - yes 14! - years.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgJS...
Except in Nebraska!
An ad from 1986 for Windows 1.0. I’d almost forgotten that Steve ran Microsoft for 14 - yes 14! - years.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgJS...
Q. Where was the first truly modern computer built?
A. In Manchester in the UK.
Learn more about this remarkably innovative machine in 'Modern Baby'.
thechipletter.substack.com/p/modern-baby
A. In Manchester in the UK.
Learn more about this remarkably innovative machine in 'Modern Baby'.
thechipletter.substack.com/p/modern-baby
Modern Baby
A pioneering computer from Manchester
thechipletter.substack.com
March 11, 2025 at 7:18 AM
Q. Where was the first truly modern computer built?
A. In Manchester in the UK.
Learn more about this remarkably innovative machine in 'Modern Baby'.
thechipletter.substack.com/p/modern-baby
A. In Manchester in the UK.
Learn more about this remarkably innovative machine in 'Modern Baby'.
thechipletter.substack.com/p/modern-baby
“The Mayor of Silicon Valley”
Bob Noyce didn’t just create the first Silicon Chip. He was the driving force behind much of the innovation that took place in ‘microelectronics’ in the 1960s and early 1970s.
An outstanding engineer, innovator and visionary.
open.substack.com/pub/thechipl...
Bob Noyce didn’t just create the first Silicon Chip. He was the driving force behind much of the innovation that took place in ‘microelectronics’ in the 1960s and early 1970s.
An outstanding engineer, innovator and visionary.
open.substack.com/pub/thechipl...
Robert Noyce And The Road To El Dorado
Why the inventor of the silicon chip deserves more credit for the microprocessor
open.substack.com
March 2, 2025 at 11:56 AM
“The Mayor of Silicon Valley”
Bob Noyce didn’t just create the first Silicon Chip. He was the driving force behind much of the innovation that took place in ‘microelectronics’ in the 1960s and early 1970s.
An outstanding engineer, innovator and visionary.
open.substack.com/pub/thechipl...
Bob Noyce didn’t just create the first Silicon Chip. He was the driving force behind much of the innovation that took place in ‘microelectronics’ in the 1960s and early 1970s.
An outstanding engineer, innovator and visionary.
open.substack.com/pub/thechipl...
Learning Assembly for Fun, Performance and Profit
Learning Assembly for Fun and Profit
Why take an interest in assembly language and which to learn?
open.substack.com
February 21, 2025 at 7:25 AM
Learning Assembly for Fun, Performance and Profit
AMD's Lisa Su Named Time CEO Of The Year
open.substack.com/pub/semicona...
open.substack.com/pub/semicona...
AMD's Lisa Su Named Time CEO Of The Year
good thing they hadn't picked Intel's ex-CEO
open.substack.com
December 11, 2024 at 9:20 AM
AMD's Lisa Su Named Time CEO Of The Year
open.substack.com/pub/semicona...
open.substack.com/pub/semicona...
Reposted by Babbage
"Still Right. Still Poor."
@alphaville.ft.com and I are of one mind on crypto. Love it.
www.redbubble.com/i/tote-bag/S...
@alphaville.ft.com and I are of one mind on crypto. Love it.
www.redbubble.com/i/tote-bag/S...
"Still Right. Still Poor." Tote Bag for Sale by FTAlphaville
Buy "Still Right. Still Poor." by FTAlphaville as a Tote Bag
www.redbubble.com
December 9, 2024 at 3:02 PM
"Still Right. Still Poor."
@alphaville.ft.com and I are of one mind on crypto. Love it.
www.redbubble.com/i/tote-bag/S...
@alphaville.ft.com and I are of one mind on crypto. Love it.
www.redbubble.com/i/tote-bag/S...
The best analysis of Intel's travails and of a route forward that saves Intel's Fabs.
semianalysis.com/2024/12/09/i...
semianalysis.com/2024/12/09/i...
Intel on the Brink of Death
Intel’s board is incompetent and its horrible decisions over the decades are going to push it towards death. The decision to fire Pat Gelsinger, put in charge a CFO + career sales and marketing lea…
semianalysis.com
December 9, 2024 at 12:14 PM
The best analysis of Intel's travails and of a route forward that saves Intel's Fabs.
semianalysis.com/2024/12/09/i...
semianalysis.com/2024/12/09/i...
Inside xAI's Datacenter with Elon's 100,000 GPUs
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jf8E...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jf8E...
Inside the World's Largest AI Supercluster xAI Colossus
YouTube video by ServeTheHome
www.youtube.com
December 8, 2024 at 10:56 AM
Inside xAI's Datacenter with Elon's 100,000 GPUs
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jf8E...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jf8E...
Intel famously 'missed' the opportunity to create the most important chip in the first iPhone.
It's generally believed that this was because it couldn't meet Apple's price.
But is that the whole story? Find out more in
How Intel Missed the iPhone : The XScale Era
It's generally believed that this was because it couldn't meet Apple's price.
But is that the whole story? Find out more in
How Intel Missed the iPhone : The XScale Era
How Intel Missed the iPhone : The XScale Era
Challenging the conventional narrative on Intel's smartphone miss
thechipletter.substack.com
August 31, 2024 at 7:45 AM
Intel famously 'missed' the opportunity to create the most important chip in the first iPhone.
It's generally believed that this was because it couldn't meet Apple's price.
But is that the whole story? Find out more in
How Intel Missed the iPhone : The XScale Era
It's generally believed that this was because it couldn't meet Apple's price.
But is that the whole story? Find out more in
How Intel Missed the iPhone : The XScale Era