Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!orca!javelin.sim.es.com!javelin!cpetterb From: cpetterb@glacier.sim.es.com (Cary Petterborg) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware Subject: Re: Amiga Custom Chips - why hasn't C= made them faster? Message-ID: Date: 3 Apr 91 19:58:58 GMT References: <1991Apr2.235710.13984@news.iastate.edu> <20324@cbmvax.commodore.com> Sender: news@javelin.sim.es.com Organization: Evans & Sutherland Computer Corp. Lines: 45 In-Reply-To: daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com's message of 3 Apr 91 17:29:08 GMT Nntp-Posting-Host: mickey.sim.es.com In article <20324@cbmvax.commodore.com> daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com (Dave Haynie) writes: > 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 How long did it take C= to design the first chips? Should it take any longer to develop the next set? > you are totally ignorant of the chip design process and would not be expected > to understand any of the details involved. > > 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. > Cary -- _______________ Cary Petterborg (801)582-5847 x6446 Evans & Sutherland Computer Corp. Simulation Division SLC, UT 84108 UUCP: ...!uunet!sim.es.com!cpetterb *NET: cpetterb@glacier.sim.es.com