Reproduction micros

[Liam Proven]

On 21 July 2016 at 23:26, Pete Turnbull <pete at dunnington.plus.com> wrote:

> Um, isn't that pretty much what I wrote?  I'm pretty sure the first
> batch(es) weren't rated for the full 200.

I don't know; I'm basing this comment mainly on Wikipedia.

>
> Hmm.  Never seen one like that.  None of the ones I've seen in real life are
> PQFPs, and none have a heatsink.

Perhaps you misread my message.

My point was that DEC's own Alpha RISC CPU was so dependent on good
cooling that the actual chip package included bolts to screw a
heatsink on.

In comparison, StrongARM, a DEC chip based on a licensed-in ISA,
needed so little cooling it shipped in a plastic package. No need for
ceramics here.

>   They're all plastic pin grid array
> packages.  No heatsink at all.  Nor does the datasheet for the PQFP show
> anything related to a heatsink.  It also shows a PLCC version; no heatsink
> there either, and again I've never seen one.  Maybe that's just because I
> normally only saw them in Acorn machines, of course.

You seem to misunderstand my remark about heatsinks.

It is also possible that I am misusing the term "PQFP" but I have
attempted to confirm it with Google image searches and I think it's
what I meant.

PQFP:

https://www.google.com/search?q=pqfp&safe=off&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjSy5jp04XOAhUCsxQKHdGLBZIQ_AUICCgB&biw=1650&bih=985

StrongARM SA110:

https://www.google.com/search?q=strongarm+sa110&safe=off&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiT-Mbv04XOAhXB1hQKHUb4CxQQ_AUICSgC&biw=1650&bih=985

Is that not a PQFP chip? A flat plastic package with pins on all 4 sides?

>>> I wish I'd kept an A500, though.  All I have now is the
>>> podule to connect it to a Beeb.  Anybody got the machine to put it in?
>>
>>
>> I have an A5000, near-new in box. But it's not been removed for about
>> 15y and I've no idea what working condition it's in. I could post it
>> to you when I'm next in the UK -- probably early next month. If you're
>> interested, make drop me a line off-list. It's in my storage unit in
>> South Wimbledon, where I have no power or anything, so I can't
>> plausibly get it out and test it.
>>
>> I am planning to move the rest of my stuff here to Czechia next month,
>> mainly for cost reasons due to the falling GBP. If you wished you
>> could come and meet me and inspect it in person?
>
>
> There's a thought.  I'd be up for that, though it's not actually an A5000 I
> meant; the A500 was the development system - looks rather like an A310 but
> without the fancy front bezel, and painted blue/grey.

Ah, sorry, that was my mistake!

> There were only a few
> made.  They were used internally during development - hence the podule to
> connect it to a Beeb, which provided the I/O early on - and in the later
> stages before the Archimedes launch in 1987, several were loaned to software
> developers.

This is the machine Dick Pountain reviewed, I think.

-- 
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