Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!cec2!amc4919 From: amc4919@cec1.wustl.edu (Adam Michael Costello) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware Subject: Re: A3000 CPU slot Message-ID: <1990May4.195424.8119@cec1.wustl.edu> Date: 4 May 90 19:54:24 GMT References: <11207@cbmvax.commodore.com> <11007@shlump.nac.dec.com> <11321@cbmvax.commodore.com> Sender: news@cec2 (USENET News System) Reply-To: amc4919@cec2.UUCP (Adam Michael Costello) Distribution: comp Organization: Washington University, St. Louis, MO Lines: 22 In article <11321@cbmvax.commodore.com> daveh@cbmvax (Dave Haynie) writes: >Just like in the 2000, a Coprocessor slot device can take over all system >operations from the motherboard processor, becoming a full fledged primary >bus master and the one and only CPU active in a uniprocessor configuration. >However, you will notice that I call this slot the "Coprocessor" slot. >Just like on the 2000, a Coprocessor slot device can only take over the >motherboard bus for short bursts, keeping the motherboard '030 active the >other times. On top of this, there are actually two different mechanisms >to effect either of these transfer-of-control operations; one that's very >much like a normal 68030 bus arbitration, and one that's a modified 68030 >bus arbitration: a bit of additional complexity, but it's very fast. > >So, in other words, the Coprocessor slot card can take over completely >or run in parallel with the motherboard CPU. In the latter case, that >coprocessor slot CPU will need some private memory so that it's not eating >up all the motherboard bus bandwidth. Will the '030 be able to access the RAM on the Coprocessor card? This sounds like true parallel processing. Will the OS be able to cope with this, or will it be up to individual programs and the user to take advantage of this? Thanks, AMC