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From: henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer)
Newsgroups: net.micro.atari
Subject: Re: questions : os9,unix,rumors
Message-ID: <6099@utzoo.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 30-Oct-85 15:57:51 EST
Article-I.D.: utzoo.6099
Posted: Wed Oct 30 15:57:51 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 30-Oct-85 15:57:51 EST
References: <396@ssc-bee.UUCP> <213@l5.uucp> <1584@hammer.UUCP>, <136@sdcc7.UUCP>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 31

> I must say that I find it quite hard to believe that NatSemi is already coming
> out with the 32332 already, when they haven't even come out with the 32132
> or the 32232 yet(Yes, these are actual scheduled components).

Last I heard, the 32232 was no longer a real part, and the 32132 is a minor
upgrade of the 32032.  The plans got reshuffled a while ago:  make sure you
have the up-to-date word.  Yes, the 32332 is coming, and looks interesting.
Non-disclosure prevents me from saying more.  (Except that they'd better
get the 32332 out fast without major bugs if they want any market share!)

> This argument is moot anyway for one reason.  The 68020 is considerably faster 
> because the original 68000 is very bus bound, while the 20 is much less so.

Let me see.  You're saying that because the 68000 had no prefetch queue and
a 16-bit bus, and the 68020 fixes both of those problems, that the 68020 is
better than the National 32-bit chips?  Does not compute:  the National chips
have had prefetch queues all along, and the 32-bit ones have had a 32-bit
bus all along.  The 68020 is a vast improvement on the 68000 in this regard,
but that is utterly irrelevant to comparing it against the 32000s.

> ...  Also, a memory cycle
> on the NS series and the 68000 is 4 cycles, as opposed to the twenty, which is
> 3 for main memory, and 2 for the 256 byte queue.

Let me know if you can find a 68020 system that really does a main-memory
fetch in 3 cycles.  It's extremely difficult to build low-cost main memory
that can run that fast (although caches can help).  Don't forget to add the
delay for memory management.
-- 
				Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
				{allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!henry