Intel 8085

The Intel 8085 is an 8-bit microprocessor introduced by Intel in 1977. It was binary compatible with the more-famous Intel 8080 but required less supporting hardware, thus allowing simpler and less expensive microcomputer systems to be built.

The "5" in the model number came from the fact that the 8085 requires only a +5-volt (V) power supply rather than the +5V, −5V and +12V supplies the 8080 needed. Both processors were sometimes used in computers running the CP/M operating system, and the 8085 also saw use as a microcontroller, by virtue of its low component count. Both designs were eclipsed for desktop computers by the compatible Zilog Z80, which took over most of the CP/M computer market as well as taking a share of the booming home computer market in the early-to-mid-1980s.

The 8085 had a long life as a controller. Once designed into such products as the DECtape controller and the VT100 video terminal in the late 1970s, it served for new production throughout the life span of those products (generally longer than the product life of desktop computers).