5 Aug
2008
5 Aug
'08
2:44 p.m.
Zane H. Healy wrote:
The CPU portion is the part that really had me
wondering. How on earth
can you manufacture such a device for only $12.
I don't know how you get it down to under $12, but clearly the CPU has
to be inside an ASIC, and the cost of the ASIC has to be under $1. It
won't particularly affect the cost for the CPU to be a 32-bit RISC
rather than a 6502. The RISC might take more transistors than the 6502,
but the transistors are essentially free, since the ASIC will be
pad-limited. The use of an ARM processor specifically might be more
expensive than a different 32-bit RISC, just because of licensing fees
to ARM Ltd., but other suitable choices exist.
As for the software, I believe it has to all be
written. I suspect that
no existing Apple II software supports Hindi.
All the more reason to use a modern processor architecture rather than a
6502.
Eric