New ProductsEditor: Kenneth Majithia/lBM Corporation

Fairchild enters 32-bitCMOS arena

A CMOS 32-bit microprocessor thatexecutes instructions in 30 nanosec-onds-or at an average rate of morethan five million per second-has beenintroduced by Fairchild Camera and In-strument Corp.

Clipper is a general-purpose three-chip module maximized for scientificand professional computing applica-tions in the UNIX operating system en-vironment. Clipper's streamlined in-struction set architecture, which runs at33 MHz, has the basic elements of theRISC (reduced instruction set com-puter) architecture, coupled with amacroinstruction unit that provideshigh-level instructions and functions.Hardwired instead of microcoded in-structions are used to achieve peak per-formance levels of up to 33 MIPS.The module contains a CPU with on-

chip floating-point execution unit andtwo combination cache/ memory-man-agement chips (one each for instructionsand data); total transistor count is846,000. The two cache chips are linkedto the CPU via a dual-bus architecturewith one 32-bit bus dedicated to instruc-tions, the other to data.An additional 32-bit, synchronous,

multiplexed address/data bus allows thechip set to interface with main memoryand with a variety of industry-standardperipheral chips; the flexible bus struc-ture permits byte, half-word, word, andquad-word transfers.

The Fairchild Clipper 32-bit microprocessor is a three-chip set consisting of aCPU (left) and two identical cache/memory-management units (right), one eachfor instructions and data.

The Clipper CPU chip consists offour major functional blocks: an integerpipe with a three-port 32 x 32 registerfile, serial 64-bit double-bit shifter, anda 32-bit arithmetic logic unit; a 64-bitfloating-point unit with its own registerfile of eight 64-bit registers; completeprefetch logic to support an eight-byteinstruction buffer; and a macroinstruc-tion ROM used to execute sequences ofstandard machine instructions.

The Clipper module is a3.0 x 4.5-inch printed circuit card,which plugs into the user's system via a96-pin connector. Individual chips onthe module are packaged in 132-pinceramic leaded chip carriers.

Priced at $2451.80, Clipper is ex-pected to be available in sample quan-tities in June 1986 and productionvolumes in fourth quarter 1986. Initialsoftware offerings are planned to in-clude a port of UNIX System V (Ver-sion 2); optimized Fortran, C, andPascal compilers; and an assembler. AVAX cross-support software package,available immediately, includes an as-sembler, C compiler, processor simula-tor, module performance analyzer,debugger, and various utilities.

Contact Fairchild Camera and Instru-ment Corp. at 464 Ellis St., Drawer No.7281, Mountain View. CA 94039: (415)s962-5011. Reader Service Number 31

10-net LAN works over twisted pair wiringFox Research, Inc., is offering a high-

speed local area network that usestwisted pair wiring for installation.

10-Net is designed for IBM PC, XT,AT, and compatible systems runningunder DOS 2.0 or a later version. Its ad-dressing and message format are com-patible with Ethernet standards.A dedicated file server is not required

with 10-Net. Any station on the networkcan serve as a "superstation" and shareits resources of software and peripherals.The LAN provides print spooling, elec-tronic mail, communication among sta-tions, concurrency control, and multiplesecurity levels.

10-Net nodes (including interface card,tap box, eight-foot cable, software, and

manual) are each available for $695;dealer, OEM, and VAR inquiries areinvited.

For additional information contactFox Research, Inc., 7005 CorporateWay, Dayton, OH 45459; (513)433-2238.

Reader Service Number 32

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NW PJRODUCTS

Users can configure 32-bit board-level computer

National Semiconductor Corporationhas introduced a family of 32-bit, board-level computers, called Integrated Com-puter Modules. The products are basedon National's Series 32000 32-bit micro-processor family and are suited for usewith workstations, CAD/CAM, robot-ics, data acquisition, process control,and other computational environments.The ICM-3216 module makes use of

the NS32016 CPU, the NS32081 FPUfloating point unit, the NS32082 MMUmemory management unit, the NS32201TCU timing and control unit, and theNS32202 ICU interrupt control unit,along with four serial ports, a parallelport, a Small Computer System Inter-face, and a 16-bit I/O bus-all of whichfit on a 9 x 11-inch board format.Depending on the desired size of

physical memory, the computer moduleconsists of either two or three printed

circuit boards (9.18 x 11.02 inches).One is a CPU board that provides com-puting functions such as CPU, disk/tapecontrol, serial ports, and a printer port.Memory occupies either one or twoboards and provides from IM to 8Mbytes of dynamic RAM.The CPU is National's 10-MHz

NS32016 microprocessor, which com-bines its internal 32-bit architecture witha 16-bit external data path and a 24-bitaddress bus. This capability provides upto 16M bytes of memory without theburden of segmented addressing.The second-generation ICM-3232

module is designed to use the NS32032CPU in its computing cluster and pro-vide the power of the 32-bit data bus.The ICM-3232, scheduled for availabil-ity in 1986, is expected to contain 2Mbytes of memory on board. It is parti-tioned into a computing cluster and an

I/O processor, which uses the NS32016under control of the I/O and withoutthe burden of the l/O overhead.I/O processor section is similar to theICM-3216.Both the ICM-3216 and the ICM-3232

provide hard-disk capability via a SmallComputer Systems Interface. FourRS-232 serial ports, a parallel port, and areal-time calendar clock with batterybackup are also provided on board.

The ICM-3216 is priced under $3000in single-piece quantities. The second-generation products are expected to bepriced below $4000. Personality modulesare expected to be priced at approx-imately $1500.

Contact National Semiconductor Cor-poration at 2900 Semiconductor Drive,Santa Clara, CA 95051; (408) 721-5000.

Reader Sernice Number 33

Workstation, LAN combine to form plant control system

Triconex Corporation has introduceda family of IBM-compatible colorgraphics operator workstations and a five-megabit, fault-tolerant local area net-

work. When combined with its Tricon-luniversal controller, the products giveusers an integrated real-timesystem for plantwide control.

The Triconex TriView color graphics workstation can be linked to theTricon.1 universal controller via TriLAN, a token-passing local area networkfor plantwide fault-tolerant control.

The TriView operator workstationuses the IBM PC AT microcomputerwith a color CRT and can be linked toTricon-l1 universal controllers via theTriLAN local area network. TriLANsupports the IEEE 802.4 and GM MAPinterconnect standards for token-passing local area networks.

Typical applications for an integratedsystem include interlock and control ofoffshore or remote oil production andprocessing facilities, chemical andpetrochemical plants, power plants, andother control applications where processcontrol and safety interlock systems arerequired.The TriLAN network allows users to

link up to 32 Tricon-l universal con-trollers and/or TriView workstationsvia a high-integrity data path. TriLANoperates transparently to the controlsystem software, uses a token-passingarchitecture at megabaud transmissionrates, and offers multiple levels ofredundancy.

TniView and TriLAN are availablefor purchase now with delivery early infirst quarter 1986. For further informa-tion on the products and their applica-tions, contact Triconex Corporation,16800 Aston Street, Irvine, CA 92714;(714) 261-0880.

Reader Service Number 34

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10-MIPS accelerator tacklesa variety of CAE tasks

Mentor Graphics Corporation'sgeneral-purpose hardware accelerator,called Compute Engine, is a parallel-processor system that uses ReducedInstruction Set Computer (RISC) con-cepts and extensive pipelining to pro-duce throughput of 10 million instruc-tions per second. Compute Engine in-creases throughput on simulation,placement, routing, design-rule check-ing, and data formatting.The accelerator's architecture is com-

plemented by a state-of-the-art compilerthat converts standard high-level lan-guage source code into object code fullyoptimized for the Compute Engine'sparallel-processing environment. Soft-ware includes a complete set of programdevelopment tools, which allow rapidapplications development in a standardHLL.According to the company, the Com-

pute Engine's logic simulation perfor-mance extends to 200,000 gate evalua-tions per second, depending on the par-ticular parts models being used. Quick-parts models, which condense complexmultigate logic functions into aminimum data space, execute at thismaximum speed. As a consequence,designs of up to a half million gates (theequivalent of a 32-bit microprocessor)can be simulated directly on the CAEworkstation. For conventional parts,speeds approach 100,000 gate evalua-tions per second and design capacity ap-proaches 100,000 gates. In circuit-levelsimulations, the Compute Engine has a

Mentor Graphics' Compute Engine hardware accelerator optimizes standard Csource code, providing a symbolic debugger and an object and image librarian.

calculation capacity of 8 millionfloating-point operations per second.Compute Engine, priced at $27,900,

includes a CPU board and 4M-bytememory board that fit into the ApolloDN 550 and DN 560 workstations, plusone Mentor Graphics software applica-tion upgrade. Both 10M-byte and20M-byte versions are available for$36,900 and $51,900 respectively.Customers may port their own applica-tion software to the Compute Engine by

licensing the C compiler and associatedprogram development tools for$150,000. Compute Engine shipmentsare expected to begin during firstquarter 1986.

Mentor Graphics Corporation islocated at 9400 Southwest Barnes Road,Suite 140, Portland, OR 97225; (503)297-1551.

Reader Service Number 35

HP introduces color eight- pen plotter

Hewlett-Packard Company has in-troduced the HP ColorPro eight-penplotter supported by 100 softwarepackages. The ColorPro plotter can becombined with a personal computer andgraphics software to provide businessand presentation graphics.

ColorPro produces multicolor pie,bar, and line graphs and text charts on8½/ x 11-inch (A4/A-size) overhead-transparency film and paper. The plot-ter's high resolution of 0.001 inch(0.025 mm) allows the plotting of solid

areas of color and continuous straightlines.

ColorPro is supported by popular in-tegrated software packages containinggraphics, such as 1-2-3 and Symphonyfrom Lotus; dedicated graphics pro-grams, such as Decision Resources'Chart-Master and Sign-Masters; and theHP Graphics Gallery and Textcharts.The plotter also features the HP-GLprogramming language, which allowsusers to create programs for specializedbusiness and technical needs.

Compatible with most popular per-sonal computers, the plotter may bepurchased with either RS-232-C orIEEE-488 bus interfaces.The eight-pen ColorPro business

plotter (HP 7440) costs $1295; deliveryis estimated at stock to two weeks.

For further information, call Hew-lett-Packard's sales office listed in thelocal telephone directory, white pages.

Reader Service Number 36

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Compression/expansion processor reduces memory storage requirements

A single-chip device from AdvancedMicro Devices, Inc., is designed tospeed the incorporation of documentcompression into office automationequipment, by achieving typical com-pression ratios of 30:1. The CEP hasapplications in office network equip-ment, including workstations, laserprinters, copiers, scanners, and fac-simile terminals.The company states that its Am7970

Compression/ Expansion Processorsignificantly reduces memory storage re-quirements and transmission time fordigitized documents.The Am7970 CEP compresses and ex-

pands two-tone, bit-mapped image data

in accordance with internationally ac-cepted CCITT recommendations T.4and T.6 for groups 3 and 4 facsimileequipment. Depending on the type ofdocument and scanning resolution, thepixel data is compressed five to 50times; the data can be restored to itsoriginal form by the on-chip expansionprocessor. The compressor and ex-pander can be programmed indepen-dently for one-dimensional Huffmancoding, two-dimensional read coding,or transparent data transfer.

The CEP operates at a pixel rate of 2to 8 megabits per second, with a 5-MHzclock. The device can simultaneously

expand and compress both text and im-age data, enabling it to operate in a full-duplex mode. The CEP can be pro-grammed to handle line lengths ordocument widths of up to 16K pixels.

The Am7970, packaged in a 68-pinceramic leadless chip carrier, is priced at$245 each in 100-unit quantities.Advanced Micro Devices can be con-

tacted at 901 Thompson Place, P.O.Box 3453, Sunnyvale, CA 94088; (408)732-2400.

Reader Service Number 37

Transparent parallel processing speeds number crunching

The 3280MPS multiprocessor systemis Perkin-Elmer's 32-bit computer sys-tem for transaction processing, datacommunications, software develop-ment, and number crunchingapplications.

Tightly coupled and asymmetric, the3280MPS transparent parallel processor

is based on a 3280 CPU and supportsup to five attached processors. Accord-ing to the company, any mix of at-tached processors (lOP/APUs) may beconfigured to fulfill specific applicationneeds.

Full support of the 3280MPS is pro-vided by OS/32, the company's real-

In 400 ns, Perkin.Elmer's 3280MPS multiprocessor system can simultaneouslycomplete a single instruction and perform operations on the next threeinstructions.

time, multitasking operating system.User tasks are automatically assigned toqueues mapped to the CPU and APUsand executed in parallel with fulltransparency to the user. The XELOSoperating system, derived from UNIXSystem V (Release 5.2), is supported inthe uniprocessor configuration. High-level languages available for softwaredevelopment include Fortran VII,Cobol, C, RPGII, Pascal, Coral 66,and Basic II.The five basic configurations of the

3280MPS system are packaged in a72-inch cabinet with power supply andAC distribution panels. Each configura-tion includes 2M- or 4M-byte compositememory modules with integrated con-trollers and single-bit and double-bit er-ror detection, memory scrubber, anderror-logger circuits.The 3280MPS memory system fea-

tures multiple CMMs to accomplishmemory interleaving, which is expand-able to 16M bytes, four-way inter-leaved. An S-bus, the major com-munication port to memory, providestwo independent 32-bit paths: read andwrite. It also supports quadword opera-tions to increase the system's data band-width.

Price information is available fromPerkin-Elmer, Data Systems Group, 2Crescent Place, Oceanport, NJ 07757;(800) 631-2154.

Reader Service Number 38

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CAD/CAM/CAE graphics processor announced

AMF Logic Sciences has introducedthe Turbograph 700, a vector-to-rastergraphics processor. The Turbograph 700is a dedicated processor that convertsgraphics data supplied by a host com-puter into a format that can be output toa variety of ink-jet, electrostatic, andlaser printers and plotters.Turbograph 700's drawing speed of up

to 400,000 vectors per second relieves thehost computer of tasks requiring CPUtime. The graphics processor allows theuser to define graphics elements forcustom-tailored output. For example,shaded areas can be filled with patternsselected by the user. Turbograph 700

also features an alphanumeric charactergenerator with a user-definable fontlibrary. Other graphics features includevariable line styles and opaque ortransparent color overlays.Turbograph 700 input interfaces includeRS-232-C 9600-baud serial, Centronics8-bit parallel, and others.The desktop Turbograph 700 carries a

single-quantity list price of $6995. OEMdiscounts are available. Delivery is 90 to120 days ARO.The company is based at 10808

Fallstone Road, Houston, TX 77099;(713) 879-0536.

Reader Service Number 39

Color printer offers ribbon transferOkidata's OKIMATE 20 uses a

ribbon-transfer process to create full-color screen dumps on either computerpaper or single sheets, as well as near-letter-quality text processing. The printeris offered for use with the IBM-PC andcompatibles and the Apple Ile and lIccomputers, through the use of its parallelor serial Plug 'N Print interface kits,which are designed for both hardwareand software compatibility. Two disk-ette-based software programs, Learn toPrint and Color Screen Print, are in-cluded with the printer.The product will print on a variety of

paper, including acetate for instantoverhead transparencies in full color.OKIMATE 20's built-in friction andtractor-feed mechanisms will accept both

continuous form paper and single sheets.OKIMATE 20's thumbnail-size,

24-pin print head has a life expectancy of10 million characters and prints at aspeed of 80 characters per second in thedraft mode and 40 in letter quality. OKI-MATE 20 prints graphics up to 144 by144 dots per inch.OKIMATE 20 uses LSI circuitry,

custom microchips, high-resolutiongraphics, and features such as downline-loadable character sets.The OKIMATE 20 printer and re-

quired interface cost $268.For more information contact Okidata

at 532 Fellowship Road, Mt. Laurel, NJ08054; (609) 235-2600.

Reader Service Number 40

Speech synthesizer supports Commodore 64

Chip sets offer IBM PC ATcompatibility

Chips and Technologies, Inc.,founded in January 1985, has an-nounced two initial product offerings.

PC/AT Compatible CHIPSet, whosefive chips replace 63 SSI, MSI, and LSIcircuits on the IBM PC AT mother-board, is designed for both board-leveland OEM systems manufacturers whodesire 100-percent AT compatibilitywith reduced design time and implemen-tation cost. Applications include in-dustrial automation/process control,scientific/medical instrumentation, andengineering workstations, as well as PCAT-compatible personal computers.

The Enhanced Graphics CHIPSet is afour-chip set that replaces the EnhancedGraphics Adapter card used in the IBMPC, PC XT, PC AT, and compatibles.Through higher integration and256K-DRAM support (in display mem-ory), the Enhanced Graphics CHIPSetreduces the total chip count from 76 to32. The set is designed for AT add-onboard manufacturers as well as OEMsand will run all EGA software. It sup-ports existing video controller stan-dards, including IBM Monochrome andColor Graphics Adapters and the Her-cules Adapter Card.

The PC/AT CHIPSet costs $72.40,and the Enhanced Graphics CHIPSet ispriced at $85.40 in quantities of 100.

Contact Chips and Technologies, In-corporated, at 521 Cottonwood Drive,Milpitas, CA 95035; (408) 434-0600.

Votrax, Inc., has introduced an addi-tion to its Votalker family of speechsynthesizers that can speak textautomatically as it is entered into aCommodore 64 and can spell wordsupon command. Votalker C-64's capa-bilities include a screen echo that allowsall words, numbers, punctuation marks,and other symbols to be spoken as theyare printed to the terminal screen.The unit, equipped with the SC-OIA

speech chip, speaks in unlimited vocab-ulary and has a Speak command thatvocalizes text printed to the screen.Speak can be used with numbers,phrases, and complex expressions. Vo-talker C-64 also comes equipped with

pitch, volume, and rate controls tocreate more natural-sounding speech.A Mode command offers users a

choice among three types of text vocali-zation: a conversation mode that readstext in a natural way, with appropriatepauses at punctuation marks; a ver-batim mode that reads text and pro-nounces symbols; and a character modethat spells each word and pronouncesnumbers and symbols.

Votalker C-64 is priced at $99.95.For more information, contact

Votrax, Inc., 1394 Rankin Road, Troy,MI 48083; (800) 521-1350; in Michigancall collect (313) 588-0341.

Reader Service Number 41

Reader Service Number 42

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December 1985 93