Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!bloom-beacon!oberon!orion.cf.uci.edu!ucsd!sdcc6!sdcc10!cs161agc
From: cs161agc@sdcc10.ucsd.EDU (John Schultz)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: COMDEX Announcements [TMS340 GSP]
Summary: Hot Chips, Real, Real FAST.
Keywords: TI, 34010, 34020, FAST, fast, Fast, Real-time.
Message-ID: <17@sdcc10.ucsd.EDU>
Date: 23 Nov 88 21:02:15 GMT
References: <13541@oberon.USC.EDU> <7718@well.UUCP> <13603@oberon.USC.EDU>
Reply-To: cs161agc@sdcc10.ucsd.edu.UUCP (John Schultz)
Organization: University of California, San Diego
Lines: 70



In article <13603@oberon.USC.EDU> papa@pollux.usc.edu (Marco Papa) writes:

[...TMS34010 dialogue...]

>Best case for BitBlt: 23.5 Million bits/sec. with VRAM (video RAM). 
>This is with the 34010 from 1986.  I don't know if TI has upgraded the chip 
>with a faster clock.
>
>-- Marco Papa 'Doc'
>-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

  In 1988 we have the TMS34020, 32 bit graphics processor.  Here is
a short blurb from Byte, September 1988:

  The '20 is the newest member of Texas Instruments' (TI) TMS340 GSP
Family.  Depending on the instruction mix, it's between 6 and 50
times faster in key graphics operations than its predecessor, the
TMS34010 (the '10).  The '20 runs at 10 million instructions per
second (MIPS) when executed from its 512-byte instruction cache.
It's designed to connect directly to a second '20 as well as the
40-million-floating-point-operation-per-second (MFLOPS) TMS34082
graphics floating-point coprocessor (the '82 FPU).  The '20 has
instructions that can perform pixel- or bit-aligned block transfers
at 142 megabits per second, and when using the TMS44C251 1-megabit
video RAM (the 44C251 VRAM), the '20 can execute fills at up to
1.136 gigabits per second.

... [End of blurb]

  The article goes on to state how these chips interface and
interact, etc.  The 34082 FPU has _built in_: [from page 265]

  One-operand operations: Absolute value, 1's complement, Square
root, 2's complement.
  Two-operand operations: Add, Divide, Subtract, Compare, Multiply.
  Conversions: integer to single, single to integer, integer to
double, double to integer, single to double, double to single.
  Matrix Operations: 4x4,4x4 multiply, 3x3,3x3 multiply,1x4,4x4
1x3,3x3 multiply.
  Graphics Operations: Backface testing, Polygon clipping, polygon
elimination, Viewport scaling and conversion, 2-D linear
interpolation, 2-D window compare, 2-plane clipping (X,Y,Z), 2-D
cubic spline, 3-D linear interpolation, 3-D volume compare, 2-plane
color clipping (R,G,B,I), 3-D cubic spline.
  Image Processing: 3x3 convolution.
  Chained operations: Polynomial expansion, 1-D minimum/maximum,
multiply/accumulate, 2-D minimum/maximum.
  Vector operations: Add, Dot product, Subtract, Cross product,
Magnitude, Normalization, Scaling, Reflection.

[...end of excerpt...]

  The TMS34020, TMS34082, and TMS44C251 are an awesome combination.
Imagine real-time VideoScape, imagine a killer flight simulator, 3-D
CAD in 3-D with real-time updates.  I guess we could call this
chipset the "RTCS" or "Real Time Chip Set".  If someone is working
with the old 34010, then a 34020 version could be right around the
corner, as software written for the '10 is compatible with the '20.
A board using these chips for the Amiga would definately bring the
Amiga state of the art up to workstation power.  Simply put,
a board like this for the Amiga would be totally awesome [dude].

  For more information, look up the September 1988 issue of Byte,
"Taking the Wraps off the 34020", pp257-272.

Hope I opened some sleepy eyes,

  John Schultz