Title : What is the 8051 Microcontroller???

CHAPTER 2 : LITERATURE REVIEW(2)

CONTENT:

:---- Muhammad Ali Mazidi said :

• In 1981, Intel Corporation introduced an 8-bit microcontroller called the 8051. 

• This microcontroller had 128 bytes of RAM, 4K bytes of on-chip ROM, two timers, one serial port, and four ports (each 8-bits wide) all on a single chip. At the time it was also referred to as a “system on chip”.

•  The 8051 is an 8-bit processor, meaning that the CPU can work only 8-bits of data at a time. Data larger than 8 bits has to be broken into 8-bit pieces to be processed by the CPU. The 8051 has a total of four I/O ports, each 8 bits wide. 

• The 8051 became widely popular after Intel allowed other manufacturers to make and market any flavors of the 8051 they please with the condition that they remain code-compatible with the 8051. This has led to many versions of the 8051 with different speeds and amounts of on-chip ROM marketed by more than half a dozen manufactures. 

• The 8051 is the original member of the 8051 family. Intel refers to it as MCS-51. There are two other members in the 8051 microcontroller. They are the 8052 and 8031.

REFERENCES:

 [Muhammad Ali Mazidi is the author of The 8051 Microcontroller and Embedded Systems book]