OT: how big would it be? - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

20 Oct 1999

Do you have a list of bit-serial processors [without much integration]?

I would be interested in finding more.......... hopefully.

john

-----Original Message-----
From: CLASSICCMP(a)trailing-edge.com &lt;CLASSICCMP(a)trailing-edge.com&gt;
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
&lt;classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu&gt;
Date: Wednesday, October 20, 1999 12:57 PM
Subject: Re: OT: how big would it be?

...
 >Well . . . if you mean really discrete, i.e. no TTL
SSI/MSI stuff, you need
...
 >to recall that a single flip-flop was resistors,
capacitors and a handful of
...
  transistors.
...
There, methinks you'd be talking about a board as big as your dining room
table, with miles of wire, and potentially millions of errors to correct. 
No, it doesn't have to be as big as a dining room table.  Like I said,
I own several examples of bit-serial processors implemented using
discrete components - for example, my Monroe programmable calculator -
which pack everything onto a few square feet of printed circuit board,
and not incredibly dense PCB's at that.

There are other examples of bit-serial processors in my collection -
for instance, the HP 9100A - where there is some, but not much, integration
used.  The big PCB in the 9100A is the ROM, while the processor itself
resides on a daughtercard!

--
 Tim Shoppa                        Email: shoppa(a)trailing-edge.com
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