jsgray@watrose.UUCP (03/14/87)
The current 68020 or 68030 has all the hardware you'd need to do a very
decent bitblt instruction, and provide a nice alternative to the TI34010
(a RISC with {bitblt, vector draw, etc.} instructions and a frame buffer
interface) and other similar parts. This is a reasonable feature for
the 680x0, a processor which has so many workstation design-ins.
The semantics don't have to be particularly pretty; put the source(s)
and destination bitmap descriptors, clipping rectangle(s), etc. into
fixed register numbers, and issue the 0 operand "bitblt" instruction.
(Okay, okay, I know it violates the design rules of all the other
instructions...)
All it would take would be a few more dozens of lines of microcode.
Or I'll do it myself if you give me a small area of writable control
store. :-)
Why have a processor and a separate bitblt processor fighting for
the bus when one 68030b will do?
What do you say, Motorola?
Jan Gray jsgray@watrose University of Waterloo (519) 885-1211 x3870