test-drb March 2011

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

146 participants
225 discussions

hardware multiply/divide functionality in CPUs

by dm561＠torfree.net

----- Original Message ----- > Date: Mon, 07 Mar 2011 19:41:43 -0800 > From: "Chuck Guzis" <cclist at sydex.com> > Subject: Re: hardware multiply/divide functionality in CPUs > > The 701 had multiply and divide instructions as did the 650. But > then, the IBM 603 could multiply and the 604 could multiply and > divide. > > --Chuck ----- Reply: ----- I suppose within the paradigm of the day you could consider the 603 and 604 "numeric co-processors", the only electronic (tubes of course) components in an otherwise electro-mechanical "system". The 603's claim to fame is that it's considered to be "the first mass-produced commercial electronic calculating device" and the 604 which came two years later in 1948 was an improved version which, as Chuck points out, added division capabilities. Having myself worked with the 604 (640 kilos/4 m3) I had to chuckle at its being called 'a miniature electronic calculator'; the word 'miniature' certainly had a different meaning in the context of the day: http://www.science.uva.nl/faculteit/museum/604.php Wish I'd kept my IBM manuals, including the 604; the person to whom I sent them years ago (you know who you are ;-) solemnly promised to make them available on the 'web, but I haven't found them so far... BTW, FWIW with a little fancy programming the 40x series of 'tabulating machines' could also be made to multiply, albeit *very* slowly... ;-) mike

13 years, 9 months

hardware multiply/divide functionality in CPUs

by dm561＠torfree.net

----- Original Message ----- > > Date: Mon, 07 Mar 2011 15:27:46 -0800 > From: "Chuck Guzis" <cclist at sydex.com> > Subject: Re: hardware multiply/divide functionality in CPUs > > There were math co-processor boards (AM9511, AM9512, for example) for > S100 systems. ISTR that there was even a TRW bipolar (16x16? Huge > chip that ran hot as a pistol) for the S100 bus. > > --Chuck ----- Reply: ----- Also Cromemco's Maximizer co-processor and the XXU 68020/68881 (and later 68040) processor boards.

13 years, 9 months

hardware multiply/divide functionality in CPUs

by rickb＠bensene.com

Konrad Zuse's Z3 relay computer, built in 1941, had hard wired 22-bit floating point multiply, divide, and square root instructions. That is likely the first implementation of hardware multiply and divide in a computer. Multiply took up to 3 seconds.

13 years, 9 months

hardware multiply/divide functionality in CPUs

by brian＠quarterbyte.com

The IBM 1130 had 16x16 multiply and divide in 1967. Shift and add. It was not a microcoded machine. On average, a multiply took 26 usec, and 11 of those were the overhead of fetching the instruction and operands.

13 years, 9 months

I Never Knew That The VT100 Was A Computer :-)

by dm561＠torfree.net

----- Original Message ----- > > Date: Mon, 7 Mar 2011 15:02:57 -0800 (PST) > From: Fred Cisin <cisin at xenosoft.com> > Subject: Re: I Never Knew That The VT100 Was A Computer :-) > It had some damage; I had to retrieve it after the college dumpstered MY > collection (in spite of specific paperwork from the dean authorizing it!) > I'd like to drop it on a college administrator's head. > -- > Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin at xenosoft.com ----- Reply: ----- No wonder you're grumpy... m

13 years, 9 months

hardware multiply/divide functionality in CPUs

by bqt＠softjar.se

On 03/07/11 23:57, allison<ajp166 at verizon.net> wrote: > EAE was PDP-8 Actually, Tony is totally correct. There was an EAE for the PDP-11 as well, and it is a Unibus device, with a few registers in floating space. You load some of them with the arguments, and then read out the result at another register a little later. It was produced before the EIS came about, and probably only sold with the 11/20 and 11/15. But it should work on any Unibus machine. > The PDP11 series had multiple implementations including the FPP (2901 based) > and the FIS for the 11/23cpu (F11). The 11/44 had a FPU that used a carload > of 2901s. FIS first came on the 11/40. The same opcode space was then reused for the FPP on the 11/45 and onwards. 11/23 never had FIS, but the 11/03 did. 11/23 had an optional FPP chip, however (and CIS). In fact, the only two machines to have FIS was the 11/40 and 11/03 (and I know the 11/35 as well, but that is just a derivative of the 11/40). Why the 11/03 got FIS is beyond me, but maybe they didn't have enough transistors to implement the FPP, but wanted something, and reused that design instead, since you at least have some software that supports it. I'm pretty sure the FIS for 11/03 was an option, though, and not included in every machine. The FIS for the 11/40 definitely was. As far as integer multiply/divide goes, the 11/40 had EIS as well, but it was optional. Just like FIS. Johnny

13 years, 9 months

Pick-up: Cromemco System 3 - So Cal

by tosteve＠yahoo.com

Local folk, Item: Cromemco System 3 Quantity: 1 AKA: Giant monster. Please come and take it away. Orange County, CA 92656 Thanks- Steve.

13 years, 9 months

"300 Baud" magazine shuts down

by tshoppa＠wmata.com

Eric writes: > Issue #3 is unfortunately the final issue. > You can now get PDF files of issues 1 through 3 from their web site: > http://www.300baudmagazine.com/ And I never knew it existed until now :-(. The enthusiastic attitude and WIDE pop-culture-artifact orientation reminds me a lot of CHAC newsletters (did they/Kip Crosby do anything past the mid-90's?) Tim.

13 years, 9 months

Free: Stack of Victor or Sirius floppy disks

by tosteve＠yahoo.com

Yes, a whole stack of 5-1/4 inch floppy disks for your Victor computer. All copies, no originals. Are they any good? Who knows! Do you want them? Heck yeah! Pay shipping and we can make it so. No sniping allowed.

13 years, 9 months

photos from the Living Computer Museum (Seattle, WA)

by legalize＠xmission.com

On a trip to Seattle last week, Rich Alderson was nice enough to show me around the Living Computer Museum's hardware collection. Here are captioned photos from my trip. <https://picasaweb.google.com/legalize.slc/LivingComputerMuseum#> -- "The Direct3D Graphics Pipeline" -- DirectX 9 draft available for download <http://legalizeadulthood.wordpress.com/the-direct3d-graphics-pipeline/> Legalize Adulthood! <http://legalizeadulthood.wordpress.com>

13 years, 9 months

Jump to page:

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003

2002

2001

2000

1999

1998

1997

test-drb March 2011