Microprocessor Topics

• Intel
• Computer
• Chip
• Motorola
• Cpu
• Amd

Related Images

Source

del.icio.us Tags

• microprocessor
• hardware
• wikipedia
• computer
• bit200w07
• processor
• bit200f06
• information
• types,
• architectures,
• group15
• research
• electronics
• group122
• history,
• cpu
• microprocesadores
• toread
• tech
• microproc
• ic
• microprocessor,
• technology
• article,

Microprocessor, Microprocessor

Other embedded uses of 4- and 8-bit microprocessors, such as terminal, printer, various kinds of automation etc, followed rather quickly. Affordable 8-bit microprocessors with 16-bit addressing also led to the first general purpose microcomputers in the mid-1970s.

The integration of the whole CPU onto a single VLSI chip therefore greatly reduced the cost of processing capacity. From their humble beginnings, continued increases in microprocessor capacity have rendered other forms of computers almost completely obsolete (see history of computing hardware), with one or more microprocessor as processing element in everything from the smallest embedded systems and handheld devices to the largest mainframes and supercomputers.

In the late 1990s, and in the high-performance microprocessor segment, heat generation (TDP), due to switching losses, static current leakage, and other factors, emerged as a leading developmental constraint.

His solution was to simplify the design and produce a programmable processor capable of creating a set of complex special-purpose calculator chips. Together with Masatoshi Shima and Federico Faggin, later the founder of Zilog, Hoff came up with a four-chip design; a ROM for custom application programs, a RAM for processing data, an I/O device, and an unnamed 4-bit central processing unit which would become known as a "microprocessor." http://oz.plymouth.edu/~harding/historymicro.html The Smithsonian Institution says TI engineers Gary Boone and Michael Cochran succeeded in creating the first microcontroller (also called a microcomputer) in 1971. The result of their work was the TMS 1000 which went commercial in 1974.

Ray Holt, the US Navy allowed the documents into the public domain. Since then many debates have argued that this was, in fact, the first microprocessor.

The design was complete by 1970, and used a MOS-based chipset as the core CPU. The design was significantly (approximately 20 times) smaller and much more reliable than the mechanical systems it competed against, and was used in all of the early Tomcat models. This system contained a "a 20-bit, pipelined, parallel multi-microprocessor". However, the system was considered so advanced that the Navy refused to allow publication of the design until 1997. For this reason the CADC, and the MP944 chipset it used, are fairly unknown even today.

It may never be known which company actually had the first working microprocessor running on the lab bench. In both 1971 and 1976, Intel and TI entered into broad patent cross-licensing agreements, with Intel paying royalties to TI for the microprocessor patent. A nice history of these events is contained in court documentation from a legal dispute between Cyrix and Intel, with TI as intervenor and owner of the microprocessor patent.

The computer-on-a-chip patent, called the "microcomputer patent" at the time, , was awarded to Gary Boone and Michael J. Cochran of TI. Aside from this patent, the standard meaning of microcomputer is a computer using one or more microprocessors as its CPU(s), while the concept defined in the patent is perhaps more akin to a microcontroller.

Datapoint later decided not to use the chip, and Intel marketed it as the 8008 in April, 1972. This was the world's first 8-bit microprocessor. It was the basis for the famous "Mark-8" computer kit advertised in the magazine Radio-Electronics in 1974. The 8008 and its successor, the world-famous 8080, opened up the microprocessor component marketplace.

Development labs set up by Hamilton/Avnet, Intel's first microprocessor distributor, showcased the 8080 and provided a broad customer base which contributed to its becoming the industry standard. A key factor in the 8080's success was its role in the introduction in January 1975 of the MITS Altair 8800, the first personal computer. It used the powerful 8080 microprocessor and established the precedent that personal computers must be easy to expand. With its increased sophistication, expandability, and an incredibly low price of $395, the Altair 8800 proved the viability of home computers.

An 8-bit version of the chipset was introduced in 1974 as the IMP-8. During the same year, National introduced the first 16-bit single-chip microprocessor, the National Semiconductor PACE, which was later followed by an NMOS version, the INS8900.

The 9900 was used in the TI 990/4 minicomputer, the TI-99/4A home computer, and the TM990 line of OEM microcomputer boards. The chip was packaged in a large ceramic 64-pin DIP package, while most 8-bit microprocessors such as the Intel 8080 used the more common, smaller, and less expensive plastic 40-pin DIP. A follow-on chip, the TMS 9980, was designed to compete with the Intel 8080, had the full TI 990 16-bit instruction set, used a plastic 40-pin package, moved data 8 bits at a time, but could only address 16 KB. A third chip, the TMS 9995, was a new design. The family later expanded to include the 99105 and 99110.

After the divestiture of AT&T in 1984, it was renamed the WE 32000 (WE for Western Electric), and had two follow-on generations, the WE 32100 and WE 32200. These microprocessors were used in the AT&T 3B5 and 3B15 minicomputers; in the 3B2, the world's first desktop supermicrocomputer; in the "Companion", the world's first 32-bit laptop computer; and in "Alexander", the world's first book-sized supermicrocomputer, featuring ROM-pack memory cartridges similar to today's gaming consoles. All these systems ran the UNIX System V operating system.

The RISC-like Itanium is produced in smaller quantities. The vast majority of 64-bit microprocessors are now x86-64 CISC designs from AMD and Intel.

Many examples of these are either not programmable, or have limited programming facilities. For example, in general GPUs through the 1990s were mostly non-programmable and have only recently gained limited facilities like programmable vertex shaders. There is no universal consensus on what defines a "microprocessor", but it is usually safe to assume that the term refers to a general-purpose CPU of some sort and not a special-purpose processor unless specifically noted.

Source: Wikipedia > Microprocessor