High performance coprocessor boards of the 80s and 90s - was Re: SGI ONYX

[Pete Turnbull]

On 20/04/2016 16:00, Toby Thain wrote:
> On 2016-04-20 10:27 AM, Pete Turnbull wrote:
>> It did indeed - I have one.  Also a couple of 6502 CoPros, a 65C102, a
>> 32016 and a pair of Z80s, which were nice in their day.
>
> Nice collection. I'd forgotten about the 32016! What software ran on
> these respective processors?

There was a collection of "scientific" software for the 32016 - things 
like Spice, some maths software, and assorted CAD stuff; basically the 
software licensed for the 32016 ACW and the Master Scientific, which 
came later.  The Z80 CoPro ran CP/M - real licensed CP/M 2.2, not the 
bastardised often-not-compatible "CPN" lookalike offered by Torch, and 
came with GEM and various office software.  The ARM CoPro originally had 
little software beyond TWIN (the Two Window Editor), assembler, BASIC, 
and utilities.  The 6502 variants - including the 65C102 that was used 
for the Master Turbo - just ran whatever you'd otherwise have on the 
Beeb itself, albeit with a faster clock, larger memory space, and in 
some cases a "High" version that lived right at the top of memory.

-- 
Pete
Pete Turnbull