ARM Club 3/TheARMClub_PDCD3.iso/hensa/documentation/documents/a252ioc

Internet Message Format | 1999-04-27 | 5KB

From: [e-mail] (Andrew J D Hurley)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
Subject: ARM/x86 Acorn machine
Date: 15 Sep 1993 13:15:05 GMT

Have I missed something, or is this new to everyone? I nearly choked
on my tea!

The following is reproduced without permission from Electronics Weekly,
Wed, September 15th:

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Acorn pairs up ARM and x86
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cambridge-based computer maker Acorn has devised what it believes is
a cost-effective means of making its computers compatible with the
dominant Intel architecture.

All Acorn's computers use an ARM Risc microprocessor and run a proprietary
operating system. But a forthcoming device from its chip-designing
sister company ARM, called the I/O C20, will allow an Archimedes to
contain an ARM and an Intel microprocessor at the same time.

According to Peter Bondar, product marketing manager, the I/O C20 will
control all access between the system memory and the microprocessor. It
will work with either an Arm or Intel device.

Bondar said next year will see Acorn machines with a vacant slot into
which an Intel chip can be plugged. The computer could then switch
between Acorn and DOS/Windows applications.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

The article goes on to talk about the 20% price reduction.

So what do people think? An Archimedes with an 'Intel Inside', it
hardly bears thinking about, but could be an interesting curiousity
for those that insist on using DOS/Windows. No more soft emulation or
PC cards, just drop in a 486!


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From: [e-mail] (Jim Noble)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
Subject: Article from Electronics Weekly...
Date: Wed, 16 Mar 94 17:15:08 GMT

From the March 16th issue of Electronics Weekly. Reproduced without
permission (and with a couple of spelling/grammar corrections :*)

"Acorn Sockets it to Intel
-------------------------

Acorn Computers, the Cambridge based subsidiary of Olivetti, will this year
bring out a computer with a novel method of running Intel-compatible
software as well as code written specifically for itself.

It will contain a socket into which a user can plug an Intel
microprocessor, which can then make use of all the system resources just as
Acorn's own microprocessor can.

This will be made possible using a chip developed by ARM, the design
house that also develops Acorn's microprocessors. The new chip, called IOMD,
will allow the system memory to be shared by both the Intel and ARM chip.

There is nothing revolutionary about trying to run Intel-based software on
a machine that normally runs different code. Computer makers who have
chosen a non Intel-compatible microprocessor need some way of giving their
customers access to the huge library of Intel-based software.

Emulation, tried by many, is often too slow to be worthwhile; IBM is
reputed to be developing a version of Intel microcode to run on it's
PowerPC microprocessor; and both Acorn and Apple have already experimented
with add-in cards that contain Intel processors and system memory to enable
DOS/Windows applications to be run on their systems.

The difference is that whereas the latter systems are like Siamese twins,
where effectively two computer systems are tied together to share resources
like disks, monitors and keyboards, the new Acorn system will be like a
computer with two brains.

According to Peter Bondar, Acorn marketing manager, the operation of Intel
applications will be split between the two microprocessors.

For example the main Arm microprocessor running Acorn's Risc/OS, will
handle the operating system tasks like screen refresh, and disk, mouse and
keyboard management.

The core processing part of the application would then be handled by the
Intel microprocessor, for which it was written in the first place.

According to Bondar, DOS applications will experience hardly any
degradation when run in this way. However, he concedes that performance
will fall off drastically when graphics processing is required. "Graphics
have to be generated by DOS as a bit image", he said, "and then transferred
accorss to the Arm processor. They are then repainted as an Arm bit image."

The time and effort taken to do all this reduces the graphics performance
to between 50 and 80 percent of the Intel chip in the system.

This would deter the use, not only of graphics-intensive applications such
as games, but also Windows software on the Acorn system.

However, Bondar says that Acorn is working to develop driver functions for
Windows graphics primitives that will talk to the Windows API and run in
native mode under Risc/OS on the Arm processor."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
Jim Noble. 3rd year Computer Systems Engineering. University of Kent.

What I just said is probably wrong.
Heck! Everybody knows I only open my mouth to change feet. :-)