The inside story of a global interface

Two Wires.
One remarkable story.

The first-hand story behind the creation and early development of the I²C bus — told by one of the two engineers who invented and developed it.

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126 pages

Full colour print edition

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The book

How I²C began — from the people who were there.

I²C is used in billions of electronic products, yet the story of how it came to be has rarely been told from inside the original development team.

Two Wires reconstructs the early ideas, design choices, internal discussions, patent history and first applications that shaped the bus. It combines technical context with personal recollections and historical source material.

The result is not a technical manual, but a record of how a deceptively simple engineering idea developed into a worldwide standard.

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Read a 32-page preview of Two Wires, including the Preface, Introduction, selected chapters, original historical material and excerpts from the 2002 depositions.

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Softcover

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Printed copy + ebooks: purchasers of the softcover or hardcover may request the complimentary PDF and EPUB editions after purchase. How it works.

1979

Where the story starts

A small design problem with an unexpectedly large future.

The origins of I²C reach back to work at Philips in Eindhoven at the end of the 1970s. The challenge was clear: connect increasingly intelligent circuits with as little wiring as possible.

The solution evolved into a compact two-wire serial bus. What began as an internal engineering answer would ultimately become part of electronics on a global scale.

The people behind the story

Told from first-hand experience.

Ad Moelands

Author · I²C co-inventor

Electrical engineer and former Philips engineer. Ad was one of the two engineers who developed the concept that became the I²C bus. In addition to developing the concept, he actively promoted its acceptance.

Herman Schutte

I²C co-inventor

Herman Schutte played a central role in the invention and early implementation of the serial communication concept. His recollections and deposition testimony form an important part of the historical record presented in the book.

Beyond the book

Additional stories, sources and technical background.

A growing collection of material that expands on subjects from the book.

The European patent A pdf of the European patent

I²C SPECIFICATION MAB8400 Manual

D²B SPECIFICATION MAB8400 Manual

MAB8400 SECTION MAB8400 Manual

SERIAL I/O SECTION MAB8400 Manual

PRESENTATION Overhead slides I²C promotion

WESCON 83 Leaflet Wescon conference

ECA NOVEMBER 1980 Serial I/O with the MAB8400

ECA NOVEMBER 1982 Small area networks for serial data transfer

ECA SEPTEMBER 1983 I2C bus in consumer applications

The CLIPS system Circuits for modular design of consumer and industrial products

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Read the story behind two wires that changed electronics.