Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!portal!cup.portal.com!Jinfu_Jinfu_Chen
From: Jinfu_Jinfu_Chen@cup.portal.com
Newsgroups: comp.misc
Subject: Re: The New Chips
Message-ID: <3576@cup.portal.com>
Date: 29 Feb 88 09:12:04 GMT
References: <4746@watdragon.waterloo.edu>
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
Lines: 48
XPortal-User-Id: 1.1001.2934



For your information only:

In Feb. 22, 1988 issue of InfoWorld page 5, this is an article
titled ``Motorola RISC Processor to Run at 17 MIPS". Some
excerpts follows (without permission):

The first member of Motorola Inc.'s anticipated 88000 family of
RISC microprocessors will run at 17 MIPS and will provide over
50 MIPS in paralle processing, according to preliminary
specifications announced last week.
...
Early beta smaples of the first thress-chip processor unit inthe
88000 familay have already been SHIPPED to a few key system
vendors, and over 200 companies are reviewing the specifications
...
The processor unit consists of two cache chips and a CPU, the
first to implement both integer and floating-point math
capability on a single chip.
...
Motorola emphasized that it remains committed to its sucessful
68000 series of microprocessors used in the Mac, many techincal
workstations, and other systems.

...End of Excerpt...

Now my 2 cents. Many micro users only know IBM and Intel, and
think that's all about computers. This is expecially true in
the micro jounalism, namely magazines like PC World, PC Magazine,
Personal Computing...  Editors just catch some buzzwords and
jagons and create all kind of hypes. Do you know who's the
largest 32 bit CPU manufacture in 1986, 1987? If my memory is
working, DataQuest's data show National's 32000 (or 32032?) was
the biggest selling 32 bit CPU in 1986, and 68020 is the one
in 1987. Perhaps 80386 may get some share in 88, thanks to IBM's
PS/2.

As someone mentioned before, for small software developers,
going to Intel's route saves time to porting CP/M programs. But
majority of high-end micros/mini developers choose 68K, do you
think Apollo, SUN, Apple, Atari, etc just want to pay more $$$
to be different from IBM? Not until 80386 there's no high
performance workstation being built in 80xxx family!

Enough to say.

Jinfu Chen
(My paycheck comes from Mot but this is my own opinion)