28 Nov
2006
28 Nov
'06
7:37 p.m.
Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2006 08:35:42 -0600
From: Jules Richardson <julesrichardsonuk at yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: Re: multiple cpu machines Re: rogues galleries
--------------------Original Message:
<snip>
Ahh, I was originally asking after systems with
different CPUs though, not
several of the same type - mainly to rule out lots of posts about parallel
machines (as I was curious as to how many manufacturers managed to make a go
of selling 'average' systems with a mixture of CPU types - parallel machines
tend to be in a different league)
---------
Cromemco DPU? Z80 and 68000 on one S-100 card; add an IOP Serial I/O
card, and you've got another Z80...
mike
28 Nov
28 Nov
8:16 p.m.
From: "M H Stein" <dm561 at torfree.net>
Subject: multiple cpu machines Re: rogues galleries
How about the Sega MegaDrive/Genesis? That ran a 68000 and Z80. If I
remember rightly, the Z80 handled the startup procedure, handing off to the
68000 when things seemed to be under control. After that point, I think it
was still available for parallel tasks, and was often used for sound
processing. Its main purpose seemed to be to maintain backwards
compatability with the prior model, the Master System.
So maybe that's not exactly the sort of example that was expected, but I
think it's a good one nonetheless!
>Ahh, I was originally asking after systems with
different CPUs though,
not
>several of the same type - mainly to rule out lots
of posts about
parallel
>machines (as I was curious as to how many
manufacturers managed to make a
go
>of selling 'average' systems with a
mixture of CPU types - parallel
machines
tend to be in a
different league)
Cromemco DPU? Z80 and 68000 on one S-100 card; add an IOP Serial
I/O
card, and you've got another Z80... 
29 Nov
29 Nov
2:40 a.m.
On 29 Nov 2006 at 14:16, Mike van Bokhoven wrote:
How about the Sega MegaDrive/Genesis? That ran a 68000
and Z80. If I
remember rightly, the Z80 handled the startup procedure, handing off to the
68000 when things seemed to be under control. After that point, I think it
was still available for parallel tasks, and was often used for sound
processing. Its main purpose seemed to be to maintain backwards
compatability with the prior model, the Master System.
TRS-80 model 16. Like a Model 2, but with a 68K installed in
addition. The Z80 still does the I/O and boots CP/M 2.2, then one
boots CP/M 68K.
...but that's only 2 CPUs, albeit different and both used in their
own right for user tasks.
Bill Godbout marketed a couple of dual Intel CPU boards as well as
boards for various other processors (68K, etc.) in his Compupro S-100
line.
Cheers,
Chuck
4:34 a.m.
Mike van Bokhoven wrote:
That's only two, though :) I'm mainly curious as to which vendors managed to
produce and market a system with more than two out of the box (rather than
relying on add-on boards from third parties, or even optional extras from the
manufacturer). I don't think there could have been many.
cheers
Jules
Cromemco DPU?
Z80 and 68000 on one S-100 card; add an IOP Serial I/O
card, and you've got another Z80...
How about the Sega MegaDrive/Genesis? That ran a 68000 and Z80. 
9:58 a.m.
Jules Richardson wrote:
Mike van Bokhoven wrote:
That's only two, though :) I'm mainly curious as to which vendors
managed to produce and market a system with more than two out of the box
(rather than relying on add-on boards from third parties, or even
optional extras from the manufacturer). I don't think there could have
been many.
The IBM IS/390 came with three by default. A PC processor running OS/2,
a mainframe processor running a mainframe OS (commonly VM or VSE) and a
channel processor with an i960.
Peace... Sridhar
Cromemco
DPU? Z80 and 68000 on one S-100 card; add an IOP Serial I/O
card, and you've got another Z80...
How about the Sega MegaDrive/Genesis? That ran a 68000 and Z80. 
4:29 p.m.
Jules Richardson wrote:
Mike van Bokhoven wrote:
That's only two, though :) I'm mainly curious as to which vendors
managed to produce and market a system with more than two out of the
box (rather than relying on add-on boards from third parties, or even
optional extras from the manufacturer). I don't think there could
have been many.
Amstrad produced a 386 PC with a built-in Megadrive. So that's three.
Four if you count the keyboard :-)
Antonio
Cromemco
DPU? Z80 and 68000 on one S-100 card; add an IOP Serial I/O
card, and you've got another Z80...
How about the Sega MegaDrive/Genesis? That ran a 68000 and Z80. 
6:32 p.m.
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 other 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, although I think that's
been discussed here already by Mr. Brutman.
My favorite was the Atari Jaguar, which had no less 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 certainly 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 the machine. One of the
more depressing examples of the system is a 3-D racing game with a
completely unplayable screen update rate of about 3 frames per second.
Not a typo. 3 frames per second.
--
Jim Leonard (trixter at oldskool.org) http://www.oldskool.org/
Help our electronic games project: http://www.mobygames.com/
Or check out some trippy MindCandy at http://www.mindcandydvd.com/
A child borne of the home computer wars: http://trixter.wordpress.com/
6:31 p.m.
Mike van Bokhoven wrote:
That's only two, though :) I'm mainly curious as to which vendors managed to
produce and market a system with more than two out of the box (rather than
relying on add-on boards from third parties, or even optional extras from the
manufacturer). I don't think there could have been many.
A copule that have not been mentioned yet, although relying on optional
extras :
Xerox Daybreak. It has the bit-slice MESA processor board, an 80188 for
I/O, and an optional MS-DOS processor board that I've never seen, but
which prexumably contained an 80x86 or 8088 chip.
DEC Rainbow. 8088 and Z80 as standard, there's a 7220 graphics processor
on the colour card (well, if the Tiger can count that chip :-))
-tony
Cromemco
DPU? Z80 and 68000 on one S-100 card; add an IOP Serial I/O
card, and you've got another Z80...
How about the Sega MegaDrive/Genesis? That ran a 68000 and Z80. 
9:22 a.m.
And thusly were the wise words spake by Mike van Bokhoven
From: "M H Stein" <dm561 at torfree.net>
Subject: multiple cpu machines Re: rogues galleries
How about the Sega MegaDrive/Genesis? That ran a 68000 and Z80. If I
remember rightly, the Z80 handled the startup procedure, handing off to the
68000 when things seemed to be under control. After that point, I think it
was still available for parallel tasks, and was often used for sound
processing. Its main purpose seemed to be to maintain backwards
compatability with the prior model, the Master System.
Speaking of game consoles, there are also quite a few arcade boards
that use multiple CPUs.
Cheers,
Bryan
>Ahh, I was originally asking after systems
with different CPUs though,
not
>several of the same type - mainly to rule out
lots of posts about
parallel
>machines (as I was curious as to how many
manufacturers managed to make a
go
>of selling 'average' systems with a
mixture of CPU types - parallel
machines
tend to be
in a different league)
Cromemco DPU? Z80 and 68000 on one S-100 card; add an IOP
Serial I/O
card, and you've got another Z80... 
11:13 a.m.
On Wed, Nov 29, 2006 at 09:22:02AM -0500, Bryan Pope wrote:
Speaking of game consoles, there are also quite a few arcade boards
that use multiple CPUs.
As far as games consoles with multiple CPUs the Sega Saturn has quite a few -
2xHitachi SH2, 1xHitachi SH1 (CD controller), 1x68000 (sound controller),
and a couple of DSPs (no idea how accessible to the developer these are) -
this ended up in the arcades as the Sega ST-V board.
--
7:03 p.m.
--- Mike van Bokhoven <mike at ambientdesign.com> wrote:
How about the Sega MegaDrive/Genesis? That ran a
68000 and Z80. If I
remember rightly, the Z80 handled the startup
procedure, handing off to the
68000 when things seemed to be under control. After
that point, I think it
was still available for parallel tasks, and was
often used for sound
processing. Its main purpose seemed to be to
maintain backwards
compatability with the prior model, the Master
System.
I didn't know the Genesis was backwards compatible
w/the Master system? Or are we not talking about the
stock Genesis. Never played with one, but I want one!
Yeah I want it! Gimme gimme.
So maybe that's not exactly the sort of example
that
was expected, but I
think it's a good one nonetheless!
Bravicimo! Or however you spell it. Excellent in fact.
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