Microcontrollers Everywhere
From BenningtonWiki
I've been wondering just how many computers are inside my PowerBook...
- The PowerPC CPU, of course.
- The Power Management Unit. According to this Apple web page, "The PMU (Power Management Unit) is a microcontroller chip that controls all power functions for the computer. It has memory, software, firmware, I/O, two crystals, and a CPU. Its function is to tell the computer to turn on, turn off, sleep, wake, idle, etc.; manage system resets from various commands; maintain parameter RAM (PRAM); manage the real-time clock." [1]
- Graphics Coprocessor (ATI Mobility Radeon 9700).
- Smart Battery microcontroller[2]. Maybe something like this.
- USB controller.
- Firewire controller.
- CD/DVD drive / controller (Matshita DVD-R UJ-846).
- Hard drive (Seagate Momentus ST9100824A).
- Ethernet transceiver.
- Modem (Motorola SoftModem SM56K / Silicon Labs Si3018 DAA).
- 802.11 transceiver.
- Bluetooth transceiver.
- S/PDIF Audio (Crystal Semiconductor CS84xx / Cirrus Logic CS8427).
- Analog Audio (Burr Brown / Texas Instruments PCM3052).
- Memory controller.
- Keyboard.
- Multi-touch trackpad.
