Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!unix.cis.pitt.edu!dsinc!bagate!cbmvax!daveh From: daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com (Dave Haynie) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware Subject: Re: Amiga Custom Chips - why hasn't C= made them faster? Message-ID: <20324@cbmvax.commodore.com> Date: 3 Apr 91 17:29:08 GMT References: <1991Apr2.235710.13984@news.iastate.edu> Reply-To: daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com (Dave Haynie) Organization: Commodore, West Chester, PA Lines: 43 In article <1991Apr2.235710.13984@news.iastate.edu> xgr39@CCVAX.IASTATE.EDU writes: > I sill maintain that there are no valid reasons why that 32-bit >'Super ChipSet' should not be available right now. Sun started >devlopment of their first RISC microprocessors in 1984, and was >shipping complete systems based on these microprocessors in 1987. >Sun was still a very small company during these years, and yet they >were able to develop the SPARC microprocessor completely from scratch >and ship complete systems based on the SPARC in less than four years. >By comparison, with the 'Super ChipSet' Commodore has it made. So, let's look at that. Sun got to start from scratch, nothing at all to be compatible with. With semiconductor partners, rather than doing all the chip fab stuff themselves. On a simpler design (eg, fewer transistors) than an improved chip set would entail. And still, it took them four years. >Commodore is still a much bigger company now than Sun was at that >time, and Commodore is not designing from scratch but is merely >improving an existing design. ECS was just an improvement to the existing chips. We have been shipping some ECS chips in systems for quite some time, in A2000s and laters A3000s. Any improvement beyond ECS would require "designing from scratch", though of course you are totally ignorant of the chip design process and would not be expected to understand any of the details involved. >Despite this, more than five years have gone by since the original chipset was >finished and significant improvements are still 2-3 years away. With the same degree of accuracy, I could claim that your eventual degree is at least 5-10 years away from being granted. Since I know absolutely nothing about the subject at hand, it's a complete shot in the dark. > ---------------------------------------------------------- > / Marc Barrett | BITNET: XGR39@ISUVAX.BITNET / >/ ISU COM S Student | Internet: XGR39@CCVAX.IASTATE.EDU / >---------------------------------------------------------- -- Dave Haynie Commodore-Amiga (Amiga 3000) "The Crew That Never Rests" {uunet|pyramid|rutgers}!cbmvax!daveh PLINK: hazy BIX: hazy "That's me in the corner, that's me in the spotlight" -R.E.M.