From: wheeler at sjrlvm1 Date: 3/18/81 10:19:45 Subject: processor speed
Amdahl has announced (of course) the 5880 and an MP version of the same. It is supposedly is a 12 mip processor. It also has something called macro-code. MAcro-code apparently is something very close to micro-code in speed but is a subset of the 370 instruction set. Comment from endicott is that ECPS proposed something similar at ECPS time. By restricting 370 instruction set & certain things like self-modifying instructions you could get it to run at nearly the same speed as micro-code. Result is that you have micro-code speed but not a problem where you have only two or three people in the whole world capable of programming the box. Code developement & ECPS enhancment becomes very simple. 5880 also has dual caches, one for instruction & one for data, something very similar to idea that 801 architecture uses. In the current world there is the NAS AS9000. The week of the VMITE, xxxxx was down @ Lockheed Dialog which has one. He had just finished benchmarking the box at 9 mip UP. Box is micro-coded & has VMA. xxxxx also said that Natsemi also has ECPS ready to go & would like to work with people enhanching microcode features. The AS9000 box is made by Hitachi. SLAC was in Japan in Dec. to benchmark the box. They commented that the first box that Hitachi built was actually an MP with built-in array processer in each CPU (MP wasn't an add on technology to come out later). Would seem to be MP 15-18 mips in 370 mode and 30-40+? mips in the array processors. From: wheeler at sjrlvm1 Date: 4/21/81 10:05:31 Subject: AS9000 did I ever send you a copy of the message about the AS9000 at Dialog. AS9000 is a uni-processor marketed in this country by NAS. It is made by Hitachi (i think they call it H-240M or some such thing). xxxxxx (who does some consulting work for Dialog) has clocked the AS9000 at 9 mips. There is also the story about the first AS9000 built by Hitachi. It was a full duplex machine with built in array processors on each CPU. Also the machine is a fully micro-coded machine. It has VMA, national has full ECPS but has not yet installed it on Dialog machine. They have also talked to xxxxxx about any design help in enhancing the micro-coded assists. AS9000 is several years old & Hitachi is working on more advanced machine. ... snip ... collected posts mentioning microcode http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/subtopic.html#mcode amdahl did its hypervisor implementation in "macrocode" ... and ibm eventually responded with pr/sm on the 3090. misc. past posts mentioning (amdahl) macrocode http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2002p.html#44 Linux paging http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2002p.html#48 Linux paging http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2003.html#9 Mainframe System Programmer/Administrator market demand? http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2003.html#56 Wild hardware idea http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2003o.html#52 Virtual Machine Concept http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2005d.html#59 Misuse of word "microcode" http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2005d.html#60 Misuse of word "microcode" http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2005h.html#24 Description of a new old-fashioned programming language http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2005p.html#14 Multicores http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2005p.html#29 Documentation for the New Instructions for the z9 Processor http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2005u.html#40 POWER6 on zSeries? http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2005u.html#43 POWER6 on zSeries? http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2005u.html#48 POWER6 on zSeries? misc. past posts mentioning ecps: http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/94.html#21 370 ECPS VM microcode assist http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/94.html#27 370 ECPS VM microcode assist http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/94.html#28 370 ECPS VM microcode assist http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2003f.html#43 ECPS:VM DISPx instructions http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2003f.html#47 ECPS:VM DISPx instructions http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2003f.html#52 ECPS:VM DISPx instructions http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2003f.html#54 ECPS:VM DISPx instructions http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2003f.html#56 ECPS:VM DISPx instructions -- Anne & Lynn Wheeler | http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/
