Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!bpa!cbmvax!daveh From: daveh@cbmvax.UUCP (Dave Haynie) Newsgroups: comp.sys.transputer Subject: Re: What makes Transputer interesting Message-ID: <5378@cbmvax.UUCP> Date: 30 Nov 88 18:06:45 GMT References: <6426@lanl.gov> Organization: Commodore Technology, West Chester, PA Lines: 26 in article <6426@lanl.gov>, jxdl@lanl.gov (Jerry DeLapp) says: > Summary: I disagree! > Actually, my experience has been that the transputer works best in > tightly coupled systems, not loosely coupled. Huh? You only get loosely coupled systems using Transputers. At least, as long as you're using the built-in links, you're only going to be able to implement loosely compled systems. From what I've head from folks who've been working with them, the external bus interface of the Transputer makes it complicated to use in a tightly coupled manner. The 680x0 family isn't really rough to use in a tightly compled manner, but you certainly need some external buffering. Newer RISC chip like the 88k make tightly coupled systems a slam-dunk, and the rumor mill says that the 68040 will work in a similar fashion. To exist in a tightly coupled system efficiently, though, you absolutely need caches and hardware cache consistency, which you don't get in the internal 68020/68030 caches. > (It took INTEL 8 years to finally build a CPU worthy of respect. I've > always respected the 68000 series). I think we're in complete agreement on at least this last point. -- Dave Haynie "The 32 Bit Guy" Commodore-Amiga "The Crew That Never Rests" {uunet|pyramid|rutgers}!cbmvax!daveh PLINK: D-DAVE H BIX: hazy Amiga -- It's not just a job, it's an obsession