ralphw@ius3.ius.cs.cmu.edu (Ralph Hyre) (09/28/88)
>> What is a chamelon chip? > In the Rumor posting by Murphy Sewall had an article outlining ... > software thinks you are running XXXXX chip. This allows you to run several > different processors on one chip. As I recall, the chip had to be 'burned in' to a particular instruction set you wanted to run. This would presumably limit its ability to run 'everything' Some believe that this would be a way to avoid microcode lawsuits, since resposibility for the chip's instruction set would be diffused. -- - Ralph W. Hyre, Jr. Internet: ralphw@ius3.cs.cmu.edu Phone:(412) CMU-BUGS Amateur Packet Radio: N3FGW@W2XO, or c/o W3VC, CMU Radio Club, Pittsburgh, PA "You can do what you want with my computer, but leave me alone!8-)"
tmetro@LYNX.NORTHEASTERN.EDU (09/29/88)
Thomas Murphy <pnet01!crash!BRL.MIL!TMURPHY%wpi.bitnet> writes: > What, pray tell, is a Chamelon chip? Does anyone actually make such > an unlikely beast? Details, please. ============================================================ VAPORWARE Murphy Sewall [an excerpt] From the September 1988 APPLE PULP H.U.G.E. Apple Club (E. Hartford) News Letter $15/year P.O. Box 18027 East Hartford, CT 06118 Permission granted to copy with the above citation Call the "Bit Bucket" (203) 569-8739 Chameleon CPU. Designers may salivate - but shouldn't hold their breath - for the VM8600S microprocessor created by V.M. Technology Corp., of Tsukuba, Japan. The CPU portion of the chip has a native instruction set of 155 commands, but the company can configure three programmable logic arrays (PLAs) on the chip to translate another processor's instructions into the CPU's native instruction. A 25 MHz version of the 32-bit VM8600S already has PLAs configured to translate Intel 80386 instructions. PLAs to emulate the 68000 family and even the yet to be shipped 65832 are technically feasible. Unfortunately, samples of the microprocessor probably won't be available in the United States for about a year. - Electronic Design, June 9, 1988 (forwarded by Tom Metro) ============================================================== ___________ ./ Tom Metro \_____________________________________________________________. | _ _ | | INET: tmetro@pro-angmar.uucp --/\/\_| |_| '- DigiTell, Inc. | | ARPA: crash!pnet01!pro-angmar!tmetro@nosc.mil Newton, MA | | UUCP: [sdcsvax nosc]!crash!pnet01!pro%angmar!tmetro | |_Alternate: tmetro@lynx.northeastern.edu__________________________________|