--=-UTZlYvMpfww8Oqziq1lY Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Just a couple more notes: Yes, the MIPS processor is used in the Playstation 2 I know. It's something like 350Mhz as I recall. The MIPS was also used in Cobalt's RAQ and Qube computers. Furthermore, all Sharp Zaurus models run the Intel StrongARM CPU. Just another $.01. On Mon, 2004-02-02 at 13:21, June Tate wrote: > Here's a little more info for those of you who are computer history > buffs: >=20 > On Sun, 2004-02-01 at 22:52, Ted Gould wrote: > > Here are the currently used instruction sets that I can think of > > (without research): > >=20 > > -- IA32 (Intel Processors, AMD 32-bit, Cyrix (are they still around?), > > VIA and others) >=20 > These chips were primarily used in PCs and PC clones. Cyrix, however, > seems to have sold their product line to VIA who now markets derivatives > as their C3 and C3-2 CPUs (used in the Epia line of Mini-ITX > motherboards). >=20 > > -- MIPS (SGI and Cray, plus lots of embedded stuff (they sell cores > > now)) >=20 > I'm not 100% sure, but I think a MIPS CPU was used in the Playstation > gaming console as well as several Handheld PC (windows CE) devices. >=20 > > -- ARM (New Palms - also popular in embedded) >=20 > Originally used in the Amstrad Acorn line of computers, ARM has a bit of > a clouded history. There seems to be an ARM consortium, and then there > is a derivative set of chips by Intel called the StrongARM. Both ARM and > StrongARM chips are used primarily in embedded devices such as the Palm, > Sharp Zaurus SL-5000D, and the Nintendo GameBoy Advance. In all, though > ARM chips are the most pervasive CPUs used in mobile and embedded > devices. >=20 > > -- PPC & PPC64 (Developed by AIM (Apple, IBM and Motorola) used in > > Cisco, Tivo, Apple and lots of others) >=20 > PPC and PPC64 chips are also used in embedded systems such as the old > Baynet Routers and some Cisco switches and routers. >=20 > > -- SPARC (Developed and used by Sun, I've heard there are some embedded > > SPARC cores out there?) >=20 > AFAIK, SPARC was used primarily only in Sun machines. >=20 > > -- Alpha (Dieing if not dead already, I think HP is still shipping some > > stuff for support contracts) >=20 > The Alpha line was originally a competitor to the Intel Xeon server line > which was originally created by Digital. IIRC, the Alpha was the first > CPU to break the 1GHz barrier (though I'm probably off on that remark). > Few motherboards with this chip still exist and are no longer supported > as Digital was bought by Compaq which merged with HP. =3Dop > =20 > > -- 68K (Developed by Motorola originally, kinda died, was revived by th= e > > ColdFire product line (which removed a large part of the instruction > > set) and is used in small embedded devices) >=20 > The 68000 was the chip that started it all, along with the earlier 6800 > line of CPUs. Originally, the little brother to the 6800, the 6510 was > used in the VIC-20, Commodore 64. An earlier 6502 was used in Apple, and > the 68000 line was used in the original Commodore brand of Amigas. >=20 > Note on the Amiga line of computers: Commodore is no longer a company, > but the staff that originally created the Amiga spun off their own > company called Amiga, Inc. From here, they made several derivative > products (such as the A1200, A5000, A5000T) which were based off of the > 68020, 68030, and 68040 lines of Motorola CPUs. Amiga has been bought > and sold so many times now, that they seem to have lost their identity. > Instead of supporting or building new hardware, they claim to be a > software development company only now. >=20 > The Amiga line of systems had a unique "chipset" in the form of three > separate CPUs -- one for graphics, another for sound, and then the main > CPU for other calculations (sometimes referred to as the ECS, OCS, or > AGA chipsets). AFAIK, these separate CPUs were all proprietary to Amiga, > Inc. and never saw use in other products. >=20 > > -- PIC (Developed by Microchip and used in _very_ small embedded > > environments, I don't think this one will run Linux) >=20 > AFAIK, the PICs created by Microchip cannot run a full operating system > such as Linux at this time, since most -- if not all -- of the program > code resides in a tiny (max I've heard of is a 128k) flash buffer on > chip. There are other limitations (such as CPU speed, lack of an MMU, > etc.) that prevent Linux from running on this line of chips. >=20 > Keep your eyes on Microchip, however, as they seem to be coming out with > more and more interesting chips (PICs with RF trancievers -- mm!). I > wouldn't be surprised if we hear about a Microchip PIC that runs a > stripped down Linux kernel eventually. =3Do) >=20 > As a side note about Microchip, they are based here in Arizona and > support the Chandler Hamilton High School FIRST[1] robotics team. >=20 > > These are the ones that I can think of right now - but I'm sure there > > are others. I don't remember the instruction set that the SH8 uses...=20 >=20 > I can think of several others: >=20 > SH3 - Created by Hitachi as the Super-H line of processors and used > primarily as an embedded CPU, it's bigger brother, the SH4, has > instructions specifically designed for 3D matrix transforms. I have yet > to see the SH4 actually used for this task, however. >=20 > S/390 - Created by IBM for use in their S/390 minicomputers. Seems to > have it's own architecture which is similar to that of the Digital > PDP/11. Not sure if the actual CPU name is S/390 or not -- there seems > to be limited documentation on this. >=20 > CRIS - Seems to be used by Axis Communications in their embedded > products. I couldn't find anything else about it online. =3Dop >=20 > Z80/Z8000 - CPU used by the Texas Instruments line of calculators, but > also previously used in early microcomputers. This line is heavily based > off of the original Intel 8080, and was created by Intel engineers after > they split off of the parent company and formed Zilog. A derivative > Z80-GB is used in the GameBoy and GameBoy Color -- there may be other > places it is used. The Z80 had a unique capability of swapping the > current working set of register values with another hidden set of > registers called "shadow registers". >=20 > RS/6000 - RISC CPUs used for scalable computing in IBMs RS/6000 > parallel computing cabinets. >=20 > You can find _tons_ more information on CPUs and such at "Great > Microprocessors of the Past and Present"[2]. Additionally, you can find > other, more specific details about a CPU line or specific CPU at the > "CPU Info Center"[3] and "Microprocessor instruction set cards"[4]. >=20 > Lotsa fun stuff out there. =3Do) >=20 > [1] - http://www.usfirst.org > [2] - http://www3.sk.sympatico.ca/jbayko/cpu.html > [3] - http://bwrc.eecs.berkeley.edu/CIC/ > [4] - http://vmoc.museophile.org/cards/ --=20 Bryce C CoBryce Communications --=-UTZlYvMpfww8Oqziq1lY Content-Type: application/pgp-signature; name=signature.asc Content-Description: This is a digitally signed message part -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.3 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQBAHsCT/wbq/C6yyPcRAhFqAJ41Tzrnw/6G+rrA4r6AOvWKcBzB7QCfQlmY bAvkE/netSGNzgtdXLzWLBA= =nEQk -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --=-UTZlYvMpfww8Oqziq1lY--