Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!henry 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