Designs (was Re: OT: how big would it be?) - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

20 Oct 1999

...
 > Are they the correct technology? I like 'em
because you can get to parts of
> the circuit easily, but it is more compact to put everything on just a few
> boards. 
...
 Flip chips, M series and all were really dictated not
by what could be put
on a board but how many connections the bord could make.  For a flip chip
it was 18 or 36 (someone?).  A 16 bit parallel load register like say a
pair of LS573s would need 32 IO, plus power and controls.  See the
problem?

Even TTL chips hit the wall in pins/functions per package. 
Exactly - it's not a question of "do we have the parts?" but "Can
we connect all the parts together usefully?".

Is it true that the first CPU-on-a-single-board was the DG Nova?
(And it's a rather largish board, at that!  Almost equivalent in
area to all the boards in the PDP-8/E CPU put together...)

-- 
 Tim Shoppa                        Email: shoppa(a)trailing-edge.com
 Trailing Edge Technology          WWW:   http://www.trailing-edge.com/
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