20 Oct
1999
20 Oct
'99
9:13 a.m.
Ok, so who would be interested in creating a repository
of "generic" gate
designs?
Are the flip chip cards copyrighted? (Somehow I doubt Compaq would come
after us if we started building them :-)
The PC artwork might be copyrighted, but the protection on the circuit
design would be a patent. And the patents have (in the case of
the "classic" technology being discussed) almost certainly expired
by now.
Are they the correct technology? I like 'em because
you can get to parts of
the circuit easily, but it is more compact to put everything on just a few
boards.
Have we ruled out using SMT technology? We could easily build a 16 bit
register on a single flip chip sized card with SMT stuff.
I, personally, don't think that surface mount is the way to go. I'd prefer
to see all the transistors in TO-3 cans, though of course real transistors
on flip chips often were TO-92's, and these offer a definite cost and
density advantage (as does SMT, but I think that's a bit too far!)
Tim.