The Evolution Of The Microprocessor (2131 words) Essay Example For Students

The Evolution Of The Microprocessor (2131 words) Essay The Evolution Of The MicroprocessorTheEvolution Of The MicroprocessorOnly once in a lifetime will a new inventioncome about to touch every aspectof our lives. Such a device thatchanges the way we work, live, and play is a specialone, indeed. The Microprocessorhas been around since 1971 years, but in the last fewyears it has changed the American calculatorsto video games and computers (Givone1). Many microprocessors have beenmanufactured for all sorts of products; somehave succeeded and some have not. This paper will discuss the evolution and historyof the most prominent 16 and 32 bit microprocessorsin the microcomputer and howthey are similar to and different fromeach other. Because microprocessors are a subject thatmost people cannot relate to and donot know much about, this paragraph willintroduce some of the terms that will be in-volved in the subsequent paragraphs. Throughout the paper the 16-bit and 32-bit mi-croprocessors are compared and contrasted. The number 16 in the 16-bit microproces-sor refers how many registers there areor how much storage is available for the mi-croprocessor (Aumiaux, 3). The microprocessorhas a memory address such as A16,and at this address the specific commandsto the microprocessor are stored in thememory of the computer (Aumiaux, 3). So with the 16-bit microprocessor there are576 places to store data. With the32-bit microprocessor there are twice as manyplaces to store data making the microprocessorfaster. Another common term which is mentionedfrequently in the paper is the oscil-lator or the time at which the processorsclock ticks. The oscillator is the pacemaker for the microprocessor which tellswhat frequency the microprocessor can proc-ess information, this value is measuredin Mega-hertz or MHz. A nanosecond is ameasurement of time in a processor, ora billionth of a second. This is used to measurethe time it takes for the computer toexecute an instructions, other wise knows as a cy-cle. There are many different types ofcompanies of which all have their own familyof processors. Since the individualprocessors in the families were developed over afairly long period of time, it is hardto distinguish which processors were introduced inorder. This paper will mention thefamilies of processors in no particular order. Thefirst microprocessor that will be discussedis the family of microprocessors called the9900 series manufactured by Texas Instrumentsduring the mid-70s and was developedfrom the architecture of the 900 minicomputerseries (Titus, 178). There were five dif-ferent actual microprocessors that weredesigned in this family, they were theTMS9900, TMS9980A, TMS9981, TMS9985, andthe TMS9940. The TMS9900 wasthe first of these microprocessors sothe next four of the microprocessors where simplyvariations of the TMS9900 (Titus,178). The 9900 series microprocessors runs with64K memory and besides the fact that the9900 is a 16-bit microprocessor, only 15 ofthe address memory circuits are in use(Titus, 179). The 16th address is used for thecomputer to distinguish between word anddata functions (Titus, 179. The 9900 seriesmicroprocessors runs from 300 nanosecondsto 500 ns from 2MHz to 3.3MHz andeven some variations of the original microprocessorwhere made to go up to 4MHz(Avtar, 115). The next microprocessor that willbe discussed is the LSI-11 which was pro-duced from the structural plans of thePDP-11 minicomputer family. There are threemicroprocessors in the LSI-11 family theyare the LSI-11, LSI-11/2, and the much im-proved over the others is the LSI-11/32(Titus, 131). The big difference between theLSI-11 family of microprocessors and othersimilar microprocessors of its kind is theyhave the instruction codes of a microcomputerbut since the LSI-11 microprocessororiginated from the PDP-11 family it isa multi-microprocessor (Avtar, 207). The factthat the LSI-11 microprocessor is a multi-microprocessormeans that many other mi-croprocessors are used in conjunctionwith the LSI-11 to function properly (Avtar,207). The LSI-11 microprocessorhas a direct processing speed of 16-bit word and 7-bit data, however the improved LSI-11/22can directly process 64-bit data (Titus, 131). The average time that the LSI-11 and LSI-11/2process at are 380 nanoseconds, whilethe LSI-11/23 is clocked at 300 nanoseconds(Titus, 132). There are some greatstrengths that lie in the LSI-11 family,some of which are the efficient way at whichthe microprocessor processes and the abilityto run minicomputer software which leadsto great hardware support (Avtar, 179). Domestic Violence Essay PaperThe next family of microprocessorwhich was fabricated for the microcomputeris the MC68020 32-bit microprocessor whichis based on the MC68000 family. Theother microprocessors that are includedin this family are the MC68000, MC68008,MC68010 and the MC68012 (Avtar, 302). Before going into the types of componentsthat this microprocessor contains, itshould first be know that the making of theMC68020 has been the product of 60 man-yearsof designing including the manufac-turing of the High-density ComplementaryMetal Oxide Semiconductor giving the mi-croprocessor high speed and low resistanceand heat loss (Avtar, 302). Because of allthe work that was put into the MC68020and its other related microprocessors, it is anextremely complex microprocessor. The MC68020 operates in two modes, these arethe user mode(for application programs)or the supervisor mode (the operating systemand other special functions) (Mitchell,155). The user and supervisor modes all havethere own specific registers to operatetheir functions. The user programming has 1732-bit address registers, and an 8-bitregister (Mitchell, 155). Then the supervisor pro-gramming has three 32-bit, an 8-bit andtwo 3-bit registers for small miscellaneousfunctions (Mitchell, 155). All ofthese registers within the two modes are split up intodifferent groups which would hold differentinformation as usual, but this set up ofregisters gives the microprocessors a20 32-bit information storing capacity. The next family of microprocessoris Intels 80386 and 80486 families. The80386 and 80486 were mostly over all betterthen the other microprocessors beingmade by the different companies in theindustry at this time, simply because Intel isnow the leading microprocessor producerin todays market. The 80386 was a productthat evolved from Intels very first microprocessor,the 8-bit 8080 (Mitchell, 85). Thennext came the earlier mentioned 16-bit8086. The reason why Intel did so well in themarket for microprocessors was becauseevery microprocessor that they made wascompatible with the previous and future(Mitchell, 85). This means that if a piece ofsoftware worked on the 8080 then it workedon the future microprocessors and vice-a-versa. Not only did Intel look forwardbut they looked back. The main differencebetween the 80386 and the other 32-bitmicroprocessors is the added feature of a bar-rel shifter (Mitchell, 88). Thebarrel shifter allowed information to switch places mul-tiple times in the r egisters within asingle cycle (Mitchell, 88). The microprocessorcontains 8 general purpose 32-bit registers,but with the barrel shifter that is increasedto the equivalent of a 64-bit microprocessor. For the most common 20MHz 80386microprocessor the run time for each cycleis 59 nanoseconds, but for a 33MHz mi-croprocessor the cycle time is reducedto 49 nanoseconds. The next 32-bit microprocessor in marketare AT;Ts WE32100 and 32200(Mitchell, 5). These microprocessorsalso needed six peripheral chips in order to run,these are termed: Memory Management Units,floating point arithmetic, Maths Accel-eration Units, Direct Memory Access Control,and Dynamic Rand Access MemoryControl (Mitchell, 5). These microprocessorsapart from the microprocessors all workan important part of processing the datathat comes through the microprocessor. Thedifference from this microprocessor andthe others is because the WE32200 addressinformation over the 32-bit range withthe help of a disk to work as a slow form ofmemory (Mitchell, 9). The WE32200microprocessor runs at a frequency of 24MHz(Mitchell, 9). The 16-bit and 32-bit microprocessors area mere page in the great book ofprocessor history. There will bemany new and extremely different processors in thenear future. A tremendous amountof time and money have been put into the makingand improving of the microprocessor. The improving and investment of billions ofdollars are continually going toward thecause of elaborating the microprocessors. Theevolution of the microprocessor will continueto evolve for the better until the timewhen a much faster and more efficientelectronic device is invented. This is turn willcreate a whole new and powerful generationof computers. Hopefully this paper hasgiven the reader some insight into theworld of microprocessor and how much workhas been put into the manufacturing ofthe microprocessor over the years. BibliographyMitchel, H.J. 32-bit Microprocessors. Boston:CRC Press. 1986,1991Titus, Christopher A. 16-Bit Microprocessors. Indiana: Howard W. Sams Co., Inc. 1981Aumiaux, M. Microprocessor Systems. NewYork: John Wiley Sons. 1982Givone, Donald D.; Rosser, Robert P. Microprocessors/Microcomputers. New York:McGraw-Hill Book Company. 1980Avtar, Singh. 16-Bit and 32-Bit Microprocessors:Architecture, Software, and InterfacingTechniques: New Jersey. Englewood Cliffs. 1991