29 Nov
2006
29 Nov
'06
3:44 p.m.
--- Jim Leonard <trixter at oldskool.org> wrote:
arcarlini at iee.org wrote:
>>> How about the Sega MegaDrive/Genesis? That ran
a
68000 and Z80.
There have been many multi-cpu consoles; the Sega
Saturn had two Hitachi
RISC CPUs for core processing, plus a host of othe
r
stuff for CDROM,
display, sound... The PlayStation 2 is also
dual-CPU. The PlayStation 3
is a Cell monster, 7 cores you can play with,
wrong!!! Some places state 9, but the last
*official* CPU diagram I saw has 8 cores.
One main core (slightly larger than the others)
and 7 co-cores. (Does that make sense?)
although I think that's
been discussed here already by Mr. Brutman.
My favorite was the Atari Jaguar, which had no les
s
than:
- a 32-bit RISC GPU
- a 64-bit RISC "object processor"
- a 64-bit RISC blitter
- a 64-bit general purpose DSP for audio and other
functions
- a 68000 for general-purpose helper functions
And to shuffle memory around, a 64-bit DRAM
controller.
The Atari Jaguar *should* have been the most
kick-ass console of its
generation (the blitter in particular was certainl
y
the most powerful of
all the 5th-generation consoles). But it was so
complex that nobody
could figure out how to program it properly.
Coupled with legendary
Atari marketing fumbles, it died a quick death
before a suitable "killer
app" could be developed for it.
Most coders unfamiliar with the system would treat
the Jaguar as a
68000-based machine with a giant framebuffer, like
an Atari ST on
steroids. This was clearly not the best use of th
e
machine.
The Atari Jaguar is basically a Super Spectrum
(SS).
No I'm not kidding (surely someone here can
back me up?). There is a page on the web
somewhere explaining how the guys that were
designing the SS ended up working for Atari.
The SS evolved into the Atari Jaguar.
Also, with the CD unit fitted into the Jaguar
cartridge slot (so it could play Jaguar CD
games - of which there must be about 6!)
that add's yet another processor or two
possibly.
Regards,
Andrew B
aliensrcooluk at yahoo.co.uk