Jonathan Standley wrote: > > That approach went out with the introduction of the 4004.
> Imagine a motherboard that acted as the physical layer for a > TCP/IP-based mesh network. TCP/IP is a bit too heavy... I heard of a system once that used ATM as its bus protocol... Today there is 3GIO and hyperchannel (I think) used on the new hammer processors. I think the tech is also used in the X-box... (go look up some chipsets and study how their NB<>SB interconnect.. ) > This motherboard could have a number of slots for major > card-based subsystems like graphics and sound, and multiple zif type > sockets for several standardized chip sizes and pin configuration. And > of course a CPU to play the role of conductor and traffic cop. there > could be dozens of chip sockets on a given mother board, and you could > connect motherboards to build a more powerful system. Then you simply > add all the optional chips and cards you want(the system is a fully > functional PC from the start). It would seem that way... In the good old days of my 386 and 486, you could drop things in at will... My 386 could take either a 387 or a wytec co-processor for example. Almost nothing was on the mobo itself so with the 32bitx50mhz VLB you could install anything you want... In theory the board could support USB, firewire, UDMA/100 etc.... Generally its much cheaper to put cheap junk parts like winmodems all bound to a single board with no connectors (which tend to be expensive) or additional boards which make assembling the finished PC more expensive. > By having entire c++, java, etc. libraries in hardware on a base > system, you take a huge load off the cpu. Instant supercomputer in a > tidy 1000$ package. :) As I said (maybe you read what I had written as a joke) reconfigurable logic is your best choice. It's almost as good as custom hardware. Even though its pricey, you only have to buy it once and simply upload new designs to it. Xylinx is a bit of a microsoft, look at altera first: http://www.altera.com/products/devkits/kit-index.html =) They're expensive but they have the virtue of being available... -- I WANT A DEC ALPHA!!! =) 21364: THE UNDISPUTED GOD OF ALL CPUS. http://users.rcn.com/alangrimes/ [if rcn.com doesn't work, try erols.com ] ------- To unsubscribe, change your address, or temporarily deactivate your subscription, please go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?[EMAIL PROTECTED]
