Project : "WhereTo?"

- Undocumented PC II

09/17
Whenever i find a great site, i really eager to be an evangelist :P "People(mostly developers) need to know this site!". Well, How about this one? Techsightings by Andover Network. This site also introduces lots of sites related to technologies. It's a great starting point for surfing. You can give comments to the site they recommend. It hasn't been long since they opened the site, but its great! Take a look.
On with the main topic. As for a developer when programming in those 4GL Languages coming out now and then, you don't quite need to know the back side of the platform. But if this isn't your lifetime goal(or whatever vanity :), understanding the PC itself is essential. AND the historical facts of computers are really essential on understanding lots of aspects.
Here's a site on the CPU's history. Great Microprocessors of the Past and Present. Sounds like a museum. This site describes a great amount of the history(the evolution) of computers along with the CPU. That means the Intel 4004 and the PDPs. It even gives you a brief on RISC vs CISC. One thing is that the pentium(and above) are sorted into the CISC part. This is still an issue whether it really is a CISC arch. Some says that CISC is dead. The latest version i've seen is v11.1.5(this site has been living for years :).
Chronology of Events in the History of Microcomputers is another kick ass history site. As it says, it gives you a chronology of the whole(although brief) computer industry from 1947(the invention of the transistor) to the present. This site is quite strange since it maintains not only the computer chronology, but a lot more of em related to others. Topics like chronology of WW II, Disney(?), Canadian coins and ETC!
If you want to be intel specific their 25th Anniversary site is another source. I remember when they first opened the page, since that was the day i first got to know that Fairchild was the root of Intel :P
CPU Info Center is a well known site between CPUers(?). It's not PC specific(most of the sites introduced aren't :) but gives you a whole lotta references.