The passing of American processor developer, Charles (Chuck) Ingerham Peddle (Nov. 25, 1937 to Dec. 15, 2019), reminded me of a video interview I conducted with Dominic Pajak, ARM's embedded strategist, concerning the 6502 and British Acorn PC.

Chuck Peddle was best known for his design of the MOS Technology 6502 microprocessor, as well as the KIM-1 single-board computer and its successor, the Commodore PC. The 6502 was an 8-bit processor that gain wide use in the late 70s and early 80s. It was so successful that Jack Tramiel, president of Commodore, used it in his famous Commodore Computers.

In Britain, the MOS 6502 gained fame in 1979 when Acorn Computers used it as the basis for the BBC Model B microcomputer, which was the company’s first big success. Acorn went on to design the ARM processor, which spun out into the Arm company whose processors still dominate the mobile markets.

Check out my interview with Dominic Pajak from Arm on the amazing evolution of the 6502.

John Blyler is a Design News senior editor, covering the electronics and advanced manufacturing spaces. With a BS in Engineering Physics and an MS in Electrical Engineering, he has years of hardware-software-network systems experience as an editor and engineer within the advanced manufacturing, IoT and semiconductor industries. John has co-authored books related to system engineering and electronics for IEEE, Wiley, and Elsevier.