neideck@kaputt.enet.dec.com (Burkhard Neidecker-Lutz) (03/22/91)
I'm typing what I've read in a local computer magazine here in Germany. The magazine isn't exactly known for overwhelming accuracy, so beware. Summary: I'm underwhelmed. Done by small British company called PgC, Ltd. (Yawn). Funded by Clive Sinclair (Oha !). RISC machine with a couple of onboard systems to make cheap machine implementation possible. The components: - Timer (connects to IFU) - Serial control unit (SCU) connects to IFU and external world - Instruction Fetch Unit (IFU) connects to ECU and external world - Execution Control Unit (ECU) connects to a ROM and QCache - CPU 6ns self clocking design coupled with 160 Byte of 3ns RAM - Memory Controller (MCU) connects to CPU, QCache and external world. The ROM can be used to store emulation code for CISC instructions ( I assume this is similar to what Clipper has). Price abotu 600 Deutsche Mark ( 400 $) External RAM interface: Separate Data and Address, 160 MByte/sec. bandwidth. Qcache is 32 instructions deep. Integrated support for dual-ported SRAMS in MCU, claim that this enables multiprocessor systems. At last a (buggy) table showing planned routes into the future: Name When Price Technology MIPS PgC7600 1/91 400 $ Bipolar 200 PgC7610 2/92 40 $ CMOS 80 PgC7620 1/93 100 $ Bipolar 250 PgC7700 2/93 400 $ CMOS 1000 PgC7710 4/93 200 $ Bipolar 2000 If you ask me: Too little, too late, no serious performance, no software. Forget it. Burkhard Neidecker-Lutz, CEC Karlsruhe