henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) (11/01/88)
In article <1354@unisoft.UUCP> paul@unisoft.UUCP (n) writes: >I finally managed to get a look at the byte article about the Next machine... >Also of interest is the picture of the board, in the top right corner is an >empty pga socket my guess is that this is for the NuBus interface... I wondered about that socket too, but came up with a more mundane guess at what it's for. I think that's the 68882 socket, and Byte simply mislabeled the picture. The chip they label as a 68882 is not a PGA package and its markings (or rather, lack thereof) suggest to me that it's something else, although I can't be sure of this. -- The dream *IS* alive... | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology but not at NASA. |uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu
daveh@cbmvax.UUCP (Dave Haynie) (11/02/88)
in article <1988Oct31.183411.13975@utzoo.uucp>, henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) says: > Xref: cbmvax comp.arch:7333 comp.sys.misc:2107 > In article <1354@unisoft.UUCP> paul@unisoft.UUCP (n) writes: >>I finally managed to get a look at the byte article about the Next machine... >>Also of interest is the picture of the board, in the top right corner is an >>empty pga socket my guess is that this is for the NuBus interface... > I wondered about that socket too, but came up with a more mundane guess at > what it's for. I think that's the 68882 socket, and Byte simply mislabeled > the picture. The 68882 is only a 68 pin PGA, the unlabelled socket is much larger. Not only that, but there's no reason to have a 68882 sitting right next to the card connector, if the 68030 is all the way over on the other side of the machine. > The chip they label as a 68882 is not a PGA package and its markings (or rather, > lack thereof) suggest to me that it's something else, although I can't be sure > of this. Didn't notice the packaging, but Motorola is starting to offer these parts in cost reduced packages; perhaps this was an early one without markings yet. > The dream *IS* alive... | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology > but not at NASA. |uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu -- Dave Haynie "The 32 Bit Guy" Commodore-Amiga "The Crew That Never Rests" {uunet|pyramid|rutgers}!cbmvax!daveh PLINK: D-DAVE H BIX: hazy Amiga -- It's not just a job, it's an obsession
davidc@umd5.umd.edu (David Conrad) (11/03/88)
From article <5172@cbmvax.UUCP>, by daveh@cbmvax.UUCP (Dave Haynie): > in article <1988Oct31.183411.13975@utzoo.uucp>, henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) says: >> Xref: cbmvax comp.arch:7333 comp.sys.misc:2107 > >> In article <1354@unisoft.UUCP> paul@unisoft.UUCP (n) writes: >>>I finally managed to get a look at the byte article about the Next machine... >>>empty pga socket my guess is that this is for the NuBus interface... >> what it's for. I think that's the 68882 socket, and Byte simply mislabeled > The 68882 is only a 68 pin PGA, the unlabelled socket is much larger. Not According to the picture in Unix World, the socket is for the "Bus Buffer Gate Array". Supporting this is the fact that if you look at the traces from the bus connector, most go through that socket. Also, in the Unix World picture, the 68882 is labeled with the Motorola insignia and something like 'Xx68882FM25'. Its kinda strange that the Byte picture has an unmarked chip for the FPU. -drc
wetter@cit-vax.Caltech.Edu (Pierce T. Wetter) (11/03/88)
Weird Socket Theory #96: The empty socket is for NeXT's RISC chip. Once they get it back from the fabricators, you can just pop it in. Mach will split up processes between the two CPUS assuming you have two versions of your code and ZOOM. Of course that's completely bogus as theorys go. Weird Socket Theory #97: That's the socket for a Weitek Postscipt chip. Weird Socket Theory #98: That's the socket for a RISC chipe, the 030 is only used to drive the screen. Weirdest Socket Theory: That's where the cable that connects between you brain and the Box plugs in. Pierce :-) ____________________________________________________________________________ You can flame or laud me at: wetter@tybalt.caltech.edu or wetter@csvax.caltech.edu or pwetter@caltech.bitnet Caution: All my postings are 100% accurate from my point of view. However, my point of view rarely translates into english. Therefore any errors in my posting are your fault for not interpreting it correctly.
paul@taniwha.UUCP (Paul Campbell) (11/04/88)
In article <5172@cbmvax.UUCP> daveh@cbmvax.UUCP (Dave Haynie) writes: >in article <1988Oct31.183411.13975@utzoo.uucp>, henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) says: >> I wondered about that socket too, but came up with a more mundane guess at >> what it's for. I think that's the 68882 socket, and Byte simply mislabeled >The 68882 is only a 68 pin PGA, the unlabelled socket is much larger. Not only >that, but there's no reason to have a 68882 sitting right next to the card >connector, if the 68030 is all the way over on the other side of the machine. In Unix World they have a similar picture except that they label the empty socket too, they call it something like 'bus driver interface chip'. Since it is sitting right next to the bus connector I think that that's probably correct ... Paul Campbell -- Paul Campbell ..!{unisoft|mtxinu}!taniwha!paul (415)420-8179 Taniwha Systems Design, Oakland CA "Where was George?" - Nudge nudge, say no more ...