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From: thomsen@spf.trw.com (Mark R. Thomsen)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: Re: NeXT prototype with Motorola 40mhz 88110 RISC CPU!
Message-ID: <2856A9FB.41AD@deneva.sdd.trw.com>
Date: 12 Jun 91 23:10:51 GMT
References: <676698423wkn3369@edmund.cs.andrews.edu>
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Andrew Gillham writes
  
  I just got the latest INFOWORLD and it had an article on a NeXT prototype
  machine based on the Motorola 88110 RISC chip.  Claims it will do 40-50
  MIPS or so and will cost about the same as the current 68040 machine.
  If NeXT is going to really introduce it, it would ship in late '91 or
  early '92.

I would anticipate that NeXT has something going with the 88000 line
in an experimental stage, as they should with any potential future
processor paths. One of the advantages of that factory investment is
how fast they can turn a prototype design into a prototype board.

Note that NeXT ported Mach to the i860 and has some expertise hired
from CMU (Avadis Tevanian). I would speculate that a multiprocessor
board that fits in another NeXTbus slot would be a possibility, using
Mach as the OS layer. I think the i860 Mach is not in the CMU release
and is unique (proprietary?) to NeXT.

The InfoWorld speculation on the NeXTdimension makes no sense - the
i860 is not just a data processor but a data mover ... it's bandwidth
is a major reason to use it in a graphics board. The data bandwidth of
the i860 peaks at 16 bytes x clock rate. The data bandwidth of the 88K
peaks at 4 bytes x clock rate.

An 88K CPU board might be interesting but doubtful in the near term -
the 88K is so different from the 68K that it would cause severe
breakage. (The 88K design team was distinct, different from the 68K
team). Howsoever, it may be inevitable in the long term since a) NeXT
needs a RISC growth path, b) NeXT can get a good deal given how few
88Ks there are relative to MIPS and SPARCs, and c) it is a righteous
processor.

The 96002 upgrade from the 56001 is so natural that I have been
assuming this would happen. It is natural. Just a matter of when.

My 2 cents

Mark R. Thomsen