22 Sep
2013
22 Sep
'13
4:13 p.m.
On 9/22/2013 3:58 PM, dwight elvey wrote:
Well, it's a processor of a sort, but it's not what I'd consider a
typical CPU; it offers noflow control or logical operationsand does no
computation. What it does do is parse incoming text streams and convert
that text into data thatgets stuffed into memory. (It also has logic to
walk through that memory and draw vectors based on the contents). So
it's an external display list + display processor, but it's not what
fits a typical definition of a CPU.
- Josh
From: derschjo
at gmail.com
Right, at first I thought it might be a simple custom CPU of some sort,
but looking at the schematics (and the *very* detailed explanations in
the service manual) made it clear that it's basically a huge state
machine for parsing command text.
I find that interesting that it would not be considered a CPU.
After all, that is all a CPU does. It would seem that the only
difference was that most CPUs encrypt the instructions.
It sure sounds like a CPU to me.
It is a state machine that executes based on decoding
input.
I'm not sure that the input has to be some special binary
code and can't be directly decoded text to qualify as
a CPU.
Dwight