Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!uwm.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!apple!motcsd!xdos!doug
From: doug@xdos.UUCP (Doug Merritt)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware
Subject: Re: (B) 68040 vs. gfx coprocessor <pipe(lined) dreams>
Message-ID: <641@xdos.UUCP>
Date: 1 Feb 90 16:32:34 GMT
References: <633@xdos.UUCP> <3046@pur-phy> <16389@boulder.Colorado.EDU> <677@h.cs.wvu.wvnet.edu>
Reply-To: doug@xdos.UUCP (Doug Merritt)
Organization: Hunter Systems, Mountain View CA (Silicon Valley)
Lines: 23

In article <677@h.cs.wvu.wvnet.edu> dbl@h.cs.wvu.wvnet.edu (David Lawson) writes:
>
>     If we want to talk about pipe dreams but stay in the realm of possibility,
>how about the motorola DSP to handle sound (and other various and sundry stuff)
>and add the TI 34020 to do the windowing, gfx, etc, and top these new players
>off with an '030/040 running in the mid to low double digits (25-50 MHz).

As I was just discussing with David Sinz in another article, there's a question
as to how many memory cycles are available beyond what the 040 uses. If there
are enough, then a couple of coprocessors like this would be really great.
But it seems quite possible that the problems/expense of memory interleave,
or dual ported memory, or separate processor memory areas, or whatever,
might be too great for low end systems.

>The beauty of this (and the real complement to the system software designers)
>is by replacing a library here and there this could work with CURRENT
>applications that do not grab the hardware.  

Yep; another win for the Amiga OS design.
	Doug
-- 
Doug Merritt		{pyramid,apple}!xdos!doug
Member, Crusaders for a Better Tomorrow		Professional Wildeyed Visionary