Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!linus!philabs!pwa-b!mmintl!franka From: franka@mmintl.UUCP (Frank Adams) Newsgroups: comp.arch Subject: Re: Horizontal pipelining Message-ID: <2581@mmintl.UUCP> Date: Wed, 25-Nov-87 18:55:04 EST Article-I.D.: mmintl.2581 Posted: Wed Nov 25 18:55:04 1987 Date-Received: Mon, 30-Nov-87 00:40:49 EST References: <201@PT.CS.CMU.EDU> <388@sdcjove.CAM.UNISYS.COM> Reply-To: franka@mmintl.UUCP (Frank Adams) Organization: Multimate International, E. Hartford, CT. Lines: 24 In article <958@winchester.UUCP> mash@winchester.UUCP (John Mashey) writes: |In article <380@PT.CS.CMU.EDU> lindsay@K.GP.CS.CMU.EDU (Donald Lindsay) writes: |>If you assume a single-chip CPU, I guess it's a bad idea. | |That's the critical observation, and observe that an increasing piece |of the computing spectrum is being dominated by single-chip CPUs, |whose design tradeoffs are very different from having boards full of |[TTL, ECL, etc] logic. This is a good point, but unless I am missing something, it is only a temporary one. Surely we will reach the point, not too many years from now, when the logic which now fills many boards will all fit on one chip. At that point, the arguments for horizontal pipelining on a single chip CPU will be as strong as they are today for multi-chip CPUs. Won't they? Another trend which might doom the idea is that towards individual (single-user) computers. The future of multi-tasking on such machines is very much in question; if it becomes a big thing, there is no problem. Otherwise, we are left the relatively few (but, on average, higher-powered) time-shared systems which are left. -- Frank Adams ihnp4!philabs!pwa-b!mmintl!franka Ashton-Tate 52 Oakland Ave North E. Hartford, CT 06108