levy@nsc.nsc.com (Jonathan Levy) (06/07/90)
In article <m0hcn8v-0000o2C@vw25.chips.com> gs@vw25.chips.com (George Scolaro) writes: > >Why not tell us more about the new chips - I wont even call it advertising! >Besides, I'm sure you're dying to..... > >thanks, > Well, you twisted my arm :-) ... I will try to summarize the main points regarding the recent (may 23rd) announcement from NSC. Three new processors were announced: The 32CG160, the 32FX16 (both based on CG16 cores), and the 32GX320 (based on the GX32 core). As you well know the main thrust of the Series 32000 (now called Series 32000/EP) is the embedded market with emphasis on office imaging peripherals. We call this market 'desktop imaging' and it includes (but is not limited to) printers, faxes, scanners. The CG160 was designed with the purpose of further reducing the cost of PostScript laser beam printers in the 4 - 8 ppm range and PCL printers. This was done by adding to the basic CG16 core several H/W modules which reduce system cost and also improve the performance in certain (printer specific) areas. These are: - 2 Channel DMA controller - 3 timer/counters (which can also be used to generate pulse width modulated signals). - 15 level prioritized interrupt controller - BitBLT unit which significantly improves the performance of some of the low level bitmap manipulation operations. This is especially important for PCL type printers. - H/W multiplier Other than these additions, the CG160 is fully S/W compatable to the CG16 (which itself is compatable to the rest of the 32k with exception of the graphic instructions). The real innovation in the recent announcement, however, is in the other two parts, the FX16 and the GX320. The FX16 was developed to penetrate the emerging (and exploding) FAX market. It is based on the CG16 core, and as such is fully compatable to the CG16 (including all graphic instructions). It does not include any on-chip peripherals. Instead it includes a special purpose DSP module. This module implemets *just* enough of the DSP functionality to make it ideal for the FAX modem implementation. The concept behind the FX16 definiton was not to build a DSP chip (there are enough of those), but rather to come up with an embedded processor with enough general purpose computation power to implement traditional CPU intensive tasks *and* sufficient DSP power to implement the modem functions of a 9600 baud fax. The result is a processor that can perform all office peripheral functions in S/W alone (what is begining to be called the Multi Functional Office Peripheral). This capability was demonstrated at our launch by combining PostScript (compatable) PDL, a full fledged 9600 baud fax, Voice Mail functions, and preview capability. By combining all these, we also landed with a plain paper fax (or laser fax). I hope the above didn't sound *too* much like a commercial, but I wanted to convey some of the uniqueness to you 32k'ers out there. The GX320 is based on the GX32 core, and is also targetted at the Multi-Functional market in addition to the more 'conventional' applications such as mid-range printers, FAX servers, Communication servers (Ethernet & FDDI), and others. It is capable of the same S/W integration as its smaller brother, the FX16, but has much more general purpose power. This makes it possible to support many applications simultaneously. Some technical info on the GX320: - GX32 core ( 0.5k Instruction Cache, 1k Data Cache, 4 Stage pipeline etc. In fact, it has all the on-chip goodies of the 32532 except MMU and the H/W cache coherency techniques.) - H/W multiplier (reduces a MULD to 11 cycles from 37) - Performance of certain instructions were improved: Set Bit and Clear Bit reduced from 15 to 9 cycles Test Bit reduced from 11 to 7 cycles Index reduced from 43 to 16 cycles Arithmetic Shift (left) reduced from 9 to 5 cycles - 4 new *complex arithmetic* instructions were added. These use the H/W multiplier in pipeline: A complex multiply accumulate ( which requires 4 multiplies and 2 additions) takes only 12 cycles. This makes the S/W implementation of a modem possible. - 2 DMA channels on chip - 15 level prioritized interrupt controller on chip - 3 timer/counters on chip As with the FX16, the GX320 is not targetted at pure DSP applications. These can be implemented with conventional DSP chips (such as the 56001, TMS32C25, TMSC050 etc.) which can have better DSP performance. The GX320, however, can do what none of the above can do: It can implemet Postscript (5x - 10x NTX), and at the same time, with no extra DSP H/W, perform all functions required from a FAX. By including on the FX16 and GX320 just enough DSP capability to perform the most common DSP functions, the user has the option of adding/changing/enahcing filter characteristics in S/W. This opens the possibility for someone who uses the chips to start off with a low end FAX, for example, and then add voice cabability, data modem capability, and Postscript. All this with no change to his H/W platform. Price and availability : Samples of all the parts are available NOW. Production later this year. All prices in 1000 Quantity CG160 15Mhz 38.90 20Mhz 40.70 25Mhz 48.40 FX16 15Mhz 31.20 20Mhz 33.60 25Mhz 40.80 GX320 20Mhz 135.70 25Mhz 155.25 30Mhz 224.25 If anyone wants more info please send me e-mail and I will try to respond personally. If there are more general queries, I will post a response through the net. Jonathan