http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Breadboard_complex.jp...
The 8088/8086 were probably the first - and last - "breadboardable" x86 CPUs as everything after that came in square, non-DIP packages. However, there have been hobbyists making their own electronics for x86-based computers up to the 486: http://dubel.org/computer/
Starting with the Pentium, however, things got really hairy...
From a hobbyist perspective, PGA packages aren't really alot more difficult to deal with than DIP. Even LCC & PLCC packages have easy through-hole sockets.
QFP & PGA are, of course, nightmares. :-)
The real problem is it becomes increasingly difficult to breadboard a machine as processor clock goes above 10-20MHz. I've actually been puzzling how slow a PCI bus can run, since prototyping something at 33MHz is really hard.
28-pin: http://www.nxp.com/products/microcontrollers/cortex_m0_m0/lp...
4-pin!: http://www.nxp.com/products/microcontrollers/cortex_m0_m0/lp...
Since we're on the subject... can anybody recommend any good books / websites / magazine articles / etc., that cover this kind of ground? That is, starting from a raw chip (a simple one, like one of these old 8 bit ones, not a 80386 or something) and building a simple computer from scratch? I'd really like to get my hands dirty doing something like this, to get a better feel for the nuts and volts level stuff.
http://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/sainsmart-dds120-usb-o...
"scope is advertised as 50Ms/s while the ADC runs at 40MHz"
40MHz sampling means its usable for signals up to ~10MHz. Its ok'ish for arduino level of tinkering.
If you like this type of old school hardcore hardware hacking check those links:
Those guys are actively building 20-30 year old computers from scratch. Most modern (and probably the fastest) is 386DX/486DLC board
http://www.s100computers.com/My%20System%20Pages/80386%20Boa...
On the other end of the spectrum is virtual hardware hacking. MAME project has a less known offshoot branch called MESS. It emulates old computers on a logic level with single clock cycle precision (not instruction, its clock accurate!). To get you idea of what that means imagine sound card emulation. Sane person would map buffers and pump samples to your host sound API. MESS people on the other hand desolder chips from old Sound Blaster 2.0, DECAPSULATE Intel microcontroller responsible for DMA, read its rom content. Emulated sound card runs this rom dump on virtual Intel 8048. Same with Keyboards - they emulate 8048 with its rom content inside keyboard, and 8051 sitting on the motherboard with its individual rom content! :)
This is pretty crazy and inefficient (C++), but extremely accurate. Emulated hardware ranges from 6502 (and all of its individual sub models like 6510, 6509 etc) to 486/586 processors and 3DFX cards (again emulating low level functions, no opengl mapping there).
They used to supply geeks throughout the US with their mail order biz; For me, it was late 70s/early 80s.
http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/CP80C88-2Z/CP80C88-...
http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/IP80C88/IP80C88-ND/...
There's also a military-rated version (this is probably one of the reasons why they're still in production...) which is in the $500+ range and curently not in stock: http://www.intersil.com/en/products/space-and-harsh-environm...
