Path: utzoo!yunexus!geac!syntron!jtsv16!uunet!lll-winken!lll-lcc!ames!pasteur!ucbvax!hplabs!otter!hjb
From: hjb@otter.hple.hp.com (Harry Barman)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: RISC vs CISC
Message-ID: <780011@otter.hple.hp.com>
Date: 31 Oct 88 10:25:51 GMT
Article-I.D.: otter.780011
References: <1213@dutesta.UUCP>
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, Bristol, UK.
Lines: 13

A friend of mine saw 4.3 running on an Archimedes w/ X windows.  If Acorn's
famed marketing/shipping depts. can get their act together it may be possible
to buy it!

The ARM was started as a project in mid-83.  Initially, the main reasons for
the project were (don't laugh) a successor to the 6502 processor that was used
in Acorn's previous machines.  I believe this background influenced the design
of the MMU, which meant huge page sizes and so wasn't very suitable for Unix
implementations.

Acorn is in the business of building small PC board personal (cheap) computers,
and in that context I think the ARM fits in reasonably well.

Harry