18 Aug
2013
18 Aug
'13
4:02 p.m.
On 18/08/13 3:28 PM, Tony Duell wrote:
Thanks very much for the information and encouragement. Dave McGuire
says I should get hold of some C011 chips too.
http://archive.org/details/bitsavers_inmostransr_245349
Teh T2 is the oddity in hardwar. It has a 16 bit data bus and IIRC 14
address lines on separate pins. The T4s and T8s have a 32 bit multiplexed
addres/data bus. IIRC The T414, T425 and at least one of the T8s were pin
compatible. If you built a bvoard with a T4 on it and decided you wanted
a flation point devive, you could pul lthe T4, plug in a T8 and expect it
to work.
Also, very cleverly, binary compatible (if you stick to common
capabilities).
--Toby
On 17/08/13 3:02 PM, Tony Duell wrote:
I still want to build a homebrew SBC based on one or two.
It is veyry easy.. The T4 and T8 (at least) have a configurable memoery
controller on-chip. For most applciations you just tie one of the pins on
the Trnasputer ot one of the address/data lines to set it up.
... The
Transputer was actually a very simple and elegant design -- and very
Yes. I used a couple for my Ph.D. work and I've yet to see a processor
that is easier to interface or program.
I feel that they were intially mis-marketed. ...
They were almost ideal for high-performance embedded systems -- like
fast data acquistion devices (what I used them for) and the like.
Yes. The product line was even helpfully segmented along these lines,
between the T2xx, T4xx, and T8xx, along with a good palette of glue
There wa astrange version of the T8 (T801? T805?) which was optimised for
fast (at the time) static RAM. I've never designed with it, just seen it
on a TRAM.
chips from Inmos for I/O, etc.
The registrrs on those link adapters reminded me -- a lot -- of a DEC DL11
:-)
-tony