home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- Newsgroups: comp.arch
- Path: sparky!uunet!ferkel.ucsb.edu!taco!rock!stanford.edu!ames!sun-barr!cs.utexas.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!hamblin.math.byu.edu!news.byu.edu!ux1!fcom.cc.utah.edu!ursa11.law.utah.edu!caperkin
- From: caperkin@ursa11.law.utah.edu (Charles Perkins)
- Subject: Re: 600 transistor CPU (was: MINIMUM instruction set)
- Message-ID: <1992Nov12.220301.23915@fcom.cc.utah.edu>
- Summary: How small can we make a CPU?
- Sender: Charles A. Perkins
- Organization: University of Utah College of Law
- References: <1992Nov10.235849.19192@fcom.cc.utah.edu> <1992Nov11.144304.10494@news.uiowa.edu> <1992Nov12.164510.28248@dartvax.dartmouth.edu>
- Date: Thu, 12 Nov 92 22:03:01 GMT
- Lines: 38
-
- The following article brings to mind an interesting question...
- How small can we make a (reasonably useful) CPU?
-
- In article <1992Nov12.164510.28248@dartvax.dartmouth.edu> stevel@coos.dartmouth.edu (Steve Ligett) writes:
- >Somewhere I have a copy of an article (or two) titled
- >
- >"A design for a 16 bit processor using only 600 transistors"
- >
- >from Microelectronics Journal, Vol 15, Nr 3,
- >copyright 1984 Benn Electronics Publications Ltd, London
- >
- >The machine has 4 instructions: three subtracts, and one bit clear.
- >
- >I'll try to find and reread the articles if it would be of interest.
- >--
- >steve.ligett@dartmouth.edu
- >Sign in our Machine Room: Before Leaving Please Lock Door Behind You
-
- Assuming good density, how many of the above could we put on a chip
- using today's processes (We can make 16 Megabit dram chips... but dram is
- very regular.)
-
- How many transistors would it take to make a minimally sized 32-bit chip?
- Optimized for transistor count, not cycle speed, op-code simplicity, or
- speed of design.
-
- This caught my attention because of an idea I have been toying with, which
- I have decided to call the Fractal Logic Asynchronous Scalable Circuit.
- (Basically a 'memory' where every cell is a finite state autonoma 'conversing'
- with the cells next to it.) I figure eight thousand of the little guys on a
- chip, simple though they might be individually, could get some serious
- computation done.
-
-
- --
- 8Chuck .2AlexanderTheGreat
- perkins@ursa11.law.utah.edu
- "I am not in denial."
-