Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!crdgw1!CRD.GE.COM
From: oconnordm@CRD.GE.COM (Dennis M. O'Connor)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: 68040
Keywords: need data
Message-ID: <5120@crdgw1.crd.ge.com>
Date: 6 Feb 90 14:29:40 GMT
References: <851@trane.UUCP> <7793@quick.COM>
Sender: news@crdgw1.crd.ge.com
Reply-To: oconnordm@CRD.GE.COM (Dennis M. O'Connor)
Organization: GE Corporate R&D Center
Lines: 17
In-reply-to: srg@quick.COM (Spencer Garrett)

srg@quick (Spencer Garrett) writes:
] 	I don't know for sure, but I'd bet there's no nanocode, and
] 	probably not much microcode.  The only "complex" fpu op is
] 	sqrt, so maybe they bit the bullet and hardwired it all.

Sqrt is not much more complex than division, actually. Look at
the manual procedures you were taught for each : very similar.
I think I've seen array circuit designs that did mul, div and sqrt. 
I think I remember that once you've built an array divider,
it's not hard to make it do square-root as well.

Unfortuneately, I can't find the paper I'm thinking of
in the office. Sorry.
--
  Dennis O'Connor      OCONNORDM@CRD.GE.COM      UUNET!CRD.GE.COM!OCONNOR
  Science and Religion have this in common : you must take care to
  distinguish both from the people who claim to represent each of them.