AMD Am2900
Am2900 is a family of integrated circuits (ICs) created in 1975 by Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). They were constructed with bipolar devices, in a bit-slice topology, and were designed to be used as modular components each representing a different aspect of a computer control unit (CCU). By using a bit slicing technique, Am2900 family was able to implement a CCU with data, addresses, and instructions to be any multiple of 4-bits by multiplying the number of ICs. One major problem with this modular technique was it required a larger amount of ICs to implement what could be done on a single CPU IC. The Am2901 chip was the arithmetic-logic unit (ALU), and the "core" of the series. It could count using 4 bits and implement binary operations as well as various bit-shifting operations.
Computers made with Am2900-family chips
There are probably many more, but here are some known machines using these parts:
- Data General Nova 4, which obtained 16-bit word width using four Am2901 ALUs in parallel; one of the boards had 15 Am2901 ALUs on it.[1]
- Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) PDP-11/23, PDP-11/34, and 11/44 floating-point options (FPF11, FP11-A and FP11-F, respectively)[2][3]
- The Xerox Dandelion, the machine used in the Xerox Star and Xerox 1108 Lisp machine[4]
- Several models of the GEC 4000 series minicomputers: 4060, 4150, 4160 (four Am2901 each, 16-bit ALU), and 4090 and all 418x and 419x systems (eighteen Am2901 each, 32-bit integer ALU or 8-bit exponent, 64-bit Double Precision floating point ALU) [5]
- The DEC KS10 PDP-10 model[6]
- The UCSD Pascal P-machine processor designed at NCR by Joel McCormack
- A number of MAI Basic Four machines[7]
- The Tektronix 4052 graphics system computer
- The SM-1420, Soviet clone of PDP-11, used Soviet clone of AM2901[8] perhaps also used in others.[9]
- The Lilith computer designed at ETH Zürich by Niklaus Wirth
- Atari's vector graphics arcade machines Tempest, Battlezone, and Red Baron each used 4 Am2901 ICs in their "math box" auxiliary circuit boards.
- Simulation Excel (Sim-X), Oslo, Norway: Typographical workstation / typesetter; one of its four processors was a 16-bit microcoded calculation and transformation engine built from four 2901 slices and one 2910 address sequencer. The Sim-X machine used a 16-bit integer multiplier to optimize graphical transformations.[10] The machine debuted in 1983 and the company shut down in 1987.
- Eventide H949 Harmonizer; four Am2901 chips (and several microcode PROMs) are used to generate addresses and generate reference voltages for the DAC system - audio was not processed in the 2901 ALU section.
- Many Siemens Teleperm and S5 PLCs used for industrial control were built using the 2900 series.
- AT&T 3B20D Processor[11]
Members of the Am2900 family
The Am2900 Family Data Book lists:[12]
- Am2901 – 4-bit bit-slice ALU (1975)
- Am2902 – Look-Ahead Carry Generator
- Am2903 – 4-bit-slice ALU, with hardware multiply
- Am2904 – Status and Shift Control Unit
- Am2905 – Bus Transceiver
- Am2906 – Bus Transceiver with Parity
- Am2907 – Bus Transceiver with Parity
- Am2908 – Bus Transceiver with Parity
- Am2909 – 4-bit-slice address sequencer
- Am2910 – 12-bit address sequencer
- Am2911 – 4-bit-slice address sequencer
- Am2912 – Bus Transceiver
- Am2913 – Priority Interrupt Expander
- Am2914 – Priority Interrupt Controller
- Am2915 – Quad 3-State Bus Transceiver
- Am2916 – Quad 3-State Bus Transceiver
- Am2917 – Quad 3-State Bus Transceiver
- Am2918 – Instruction Register, Quad D Register
- Am2919 – Instruction Register, Quad Register
- Am2920 – Octal D-Type Flip-Flop
- Am2921 – 1-to-8 Decoder
- Am2922 – 8-Input Multiplexer (MUX)
- Am2923 – 8-Input MUX
- Am2924 – 3-Line to 8-Line Decoder
- Am2925 – System Clock Generator and Driver
- Am2926 – Schottky transistor 3-State Quad Bus Driver
- Am2927/Am2928 – Quad 3-State Bus Transceiver
- Am2929 – Schottky 3-State Quad Bus Driver
- Am2930 – Main Memory Program Control
- Am2932 – Main Memory Program Control
- Am2940 – Direct Memory Addressing (DMA) Generator
- Am2942 – Programmable Timer/Counter/DMA Generator
- Am2946/Am2947 – Octal 3-State Bidirectional Bus Transceiver
- Am2948/Am2949 – Octal 3-State Bidirectional Bus Transceiver
- Am2950/Am2951 – 8-bit Bidirectional I/O Ports
- Am2954/Am2955 – Octal Registers
- Am2956/Am2957 – Octal Latches
- Am2958/Am2959 – Octal Buffers/Line Drivers/Line Receivers
- Am2960 – Cascadable 16-Bit Error Detection and Correction Unit
- Am2961/Am2962 – 4-Bit Error Correction Multiple Buss Buffers
- Am2964 – Dynamic Memory Controller
- Am2965/Am2966 – Octal Dynamic Memory Driver, Image
Many of these chips also have 7400 series numbers such as the 74F2960 / Am2960.
See also
References
- ^ "Data General NOVA4/X recovered from Bakersfield". January 17, 2005. http://www.wps.com/NOVA4/pitchas.html. Retrieved July 11, 2011.
- ^ "Photo of DEC11-34". CPU museum web site. http://www.cpu-museum.com/Bilder/DEC11-34_1.jpg. Retrieved July 11, 2011.
- ^ John Holden. "Production PDP-11 Models". University of Sydney School of Psychology. http://www.psych.usyd.edu.au/pdp-11/models.html. Retrieved July 11, 2011.
- ^ Nathan Lineback. "Xerox Star". Nathan's Toasty Technology page. http://toastytech.com/guis/star.html. Retrieved July 11, 2011.
- ^ Andrew Gabriel (1997). "GEC 4000 series processors". http://www.cucumber.demon.co.uk/geccl/4000series/processors.html. Retrieved July 11, 2011.
- ^ Klaus Michael Indlekofer (November 11, 2002). "Computer Architectures". K.M.I. - the site. http://kmi9000.tripod.com/kmi_comp.htm. Retrieved July 11, 2011.
- ^ "Field Information Bulletin 113". March 28, 1988. http://www.bcptrilogy.com/support/matrix/Fibs/4103.txt. Retrieved July 11, 2011.
- ^ (in Russian) Справочник по электронной вычислительной технике. 1993. p. 124. ISBN 5217020903.
- ^ "Part VII: Advanced Micro Devices Am2901, a few bits at a time". Great Microprocessors of the Past and Present. Russian Supercomputer Software Department. 1998. Archived from the original on June 16, 2009. http://web.archive.org/web/20090616154329/http://www.microprocessor.sscc.ru/great/s1.html#2901. Retrieved July 11, 2011.
- ^ Kari Johnson (1983). "An IEEE Floating Point Arithmetic Implementation". IEEE Symposium on Computer Arithmetic: 130–135. http://www.acsel-lab.com/arithmetic/arith6/papers/ARITH6_Johnsen.pdf.
- ^ "3B20D Central Processing Unit". The Bell System Technical Journal. 1.1.2 Data manipulation unit 62 (1): 193. 1983. http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/bstj/vol62-1983/articles/bstj62-1-191.pdf.
- ^ "The Am2900 Family Data Book with Related Support Circuits". AM-PUB003. Advanced Micro Devices. 1979. http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/amd/_dataBooks/1979_AMD_2900family.pdf. Retrieved July 11, 2011.
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