AMD Am2900

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AMD Am2901: 4-Bit-Slice ALU

Am2900 is a family of integrated circuits (ICs) created in 1975 by Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). They were constructed with bipolar devices, in a bit-slice topology, and were designed to be used as modular components each representing a different aspect of a computer control unit (CCU). By using a bit slicing technique, Am2900 family was able to implement a CCU with data, addresses, and instructions to be any multiple of 4-bits by multiplying the number of ICs. One major problem with this modular technique was it required a larger amount of ICs to implement what could be done on a single CPU IC. The Am2901 chip was the arithmetic-logic unit (ALU), and the "core" of the series. It could count using 4 bits and implement binary operations as well as various bit-shifting operations.

Contents

Computers made with Am2900-family chips [edit]

There are probably many more, but here are some known machines using these parts:

  • The Itek Advanced Technology Airborne Computer (ATAC) used on the Galileo Attitude and Articulation Control Computer System and some Navy aircraft had a 16 register, 16-bit word width assembled from 4-bit-wide 2900 series processors. Four special instructions were added to the Galileo version of the ATAC, and later some chips were replaced with radiation-hardened 2901 chips.[1]
  • Data General Nova 4, which obtained 16-bit word width using four Am2901 ALUs in parallel; one of the boards had 15 Am2901 ALUs on it.[2]
  • Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) PDP-11 models PDP-11/23, PDP-11/34, and PDP-11/44 floating-point options (FPF11, FP11-A and FP11-F, respectively)[3][4]
  • The Xerox Dandelion, the machine used in the Xerox Star and Xerox 1108 Lisp machine[5]
  • Several models of the GEC 4000 series minicomputers: 4060, 4150, 4160 (four Am2901 each, 16-bit ALU), and 4090 and all 418x and 419x systems (eighteen Am2901 each, 32-bit integer ALU or 8-bit exponent, 64-bit Double Precision floating point ALU) [6]
  • The DEC KS10 PDP-10 model[7]
  • The UCSD Pascal P-machine processor designed at NCR by Joel McCormack
  • A number of MAI Basic Four machines[8]
  • The Tektronix 4052 graphics system computer
  • The SM-1420, Soviet clone of PDP-11, used Soviet clone of AM2901[9] perhaps also used in others.[10]
  • The Lilith computer designed at ETH Zürich by Niklaus Wirth
  • Atari's vector graphics arcade machines Tempest, Battlezone, and Red Baron each used 4 Am2901 ICs in their "math box" auxiliary circuit boards.
  • Simulation Excel (Sim-X), Oslo, Norway: Typographical workstation / typesetter; one of its four processors was a 16-bit microcoded calculation and transformation engine built from four 2901 slices and one 2910 address sequencer. The Sim-X machine used a 16-bit integer multiplier to optimize graphical transformations.[11] The machine debuted in 1983 and the company shut down in 1987.
  • Eventide H949 Harmonizer; four Am2901 chips (and several microcode PROMs) are used to generate addresses and generate reference voltages for the DAC system - audio was not processed in the 2901 ALU section.
  • Many Siemens Teleperm and S5 PLCs used for industrial control were built using the 2900 series.
  • AT&T 3B20D Processor[12]
  • Metheus / Barco Omega 400 and 500 Series graphics systems; four Am2901 chips (and eight microcode PROMs) were used to perform graphics operations on this 1982 display processor.

Members of the Am2900 family [edit]

AMD Am2903: 4-Bit-Slice ALU
AMD Am2909: 4-Bit-Slice Address Sequencer

The Am2900 Family Data Book lists:[13]

  • Am2901 – 4-bit bit-slice ALU (1975)
  • Am2902 – Look-Ahead Carry Generator
  • Am2903 – 4-bit-slice ALU, with hardware multiply
  • Am2904 – Status and Shift Control Unit
  • Am2905 – Bus Transceiver
  • Am2906 – Bus Transceiver with Parity
  • Am2907 – Bus Transceiver with Parity
  • Am2908 – Bus Transceiver with Parity
  • Am2909 – 4-bit-slice address sequencer
  • Am2910 – 12-bit address sequencer
  • Am2911 – 4-bit-slice address sequencer
  • Am2912 – Bus Transceiver
  • Am2913 – Priority Interrupt Expander
  • Am2914 – Priority Interrupt Controller
  • Am2915 – Quad 3-State Bus Transceiver
  • Am2916 – Quad 3-State Bus Transceiver
  • Am2917 – Quad 3-State Bus Transceiver
  • Am2918 – Instruction Register, Quad D Register
  • Am2919 – Instruction Register, Quad Register
  • Am2920 – Octal D-Type Flip-Flop
  • Am2921 – 1-to-8 Decoder
  • Am2922 – 8-Input Multiplexer (MUX)
  • Am2923 – 8-Input MUX
  • Am2924 – 3-Line to 8-Line Decoder
  • Am2925 – System Clock Generator and Driver
  • Am2926 – Schottky transistor 3-State Quad Bus Driver
  • Am2927/Am2928 – Quad 3-State Bus Transceiver
  • Am2929 – Schottky 3-State Quad Bus Driver
  • Am2930 – Main Memory Program Control
  • Am2932 – Main Memory Program Control
  • Am2940 – Direct Memory Addressing (DMA) Generator
  • Am2942 – Programmable Timer/Counter/DMA Generator
  • Am2946/Am2947 – Octal 3-State Bidirectional Bus Transceiver
  • Am2948/Am2949 – Octal 3-State Bidirectional Bus Transceiver
  • Am2950/Am2951 – 8-bit Bidirectional I/O Ports
  • Am2954/Am2955 – Octal Registers
  • Am2956/Am2957 – Octal Latches
  • Am2958/Am2959 – Octal Buffers/Line Drivers/Line Receivers
  • Am2960 – Cascadable 16-Bit Error Detection and Correction Unit
  • Am2961/Am2962 – 4-Bit Error Correction Multiple Buss Buffers
  • Am2964 – Dynamic Memory Controller
  • Am2965/Am2966 – Octal Dynamic Memory Driver, Image

Many of these chips also have 7400 series numbers such as the 74F2960 / Am2960.

See also [edit]

References [edit]

  1. ^ "Computers in Spaceflight: The NASA Experience" - Chapter Six - - Distributed Computing On Board Voyager and Galileo -
  2. ^ "Data General NOVA4/X recovered from Bakersfield". January 17, 2005. Archived from the original on 17 July 2011. Retrieved July 11, 2011. 
  3. ^ "Photo of DEC11-34". CPU museum web site. Archived from the original on 8 July 2011. Retrieved July 11, 2011. 
  4. ^ John Holden. "Production PDP-11 Models". University of Sydney School of Psychology. Archived from the original on 25 July 2011. Retrieved July 11, 2011. 
  5. ^ Nathan Lineback. "Xerox Star". Nathan's Toasty Technology page. Archived from the original on 18 July 2011. Retrieved July 11, 2011. 
  6. ^ Andrew Gabriel (1997). "GEC 4000 series processors". Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved July 11, 2011. 
  7. ^ Klaus Michael Indlekofer (November 11, 2002). "Computer Architectures". K.M.I. - the site. Archived from the original on 17 July 2011. Retrieved July 11, 2011. 
  8. ^ "Field Information Bulletin 113". March 28, 1988. Archived from the original on 7 July 2011. Retrieved July 11, 2011. 
  9. ^ Справочник по электронной вычислительной технике (in Russian). 1993. p. 124. ISBN 5-217-02090-3. 
  10. ^ "Part VII: Advanced Micro Devices Am2901, a few bits at a time". Great Microprocessors of the Past and Present. Russian Supercomputer Software Department. 1998. Archived from the original on June 16, 2009. Retrieved July 11, 2011. 
  11. ^ Kari Johnson (1983). "An IEEE Floating Point Arithmetic Implementation". IEEE Symposium on Computer Arithmetic: 130–135. 
  12. ^ "3B20D Central Processing Unit". The Bell System Technical Journal. 1.1.2 Data manipulation unit 62 (1): 193. January 1983. 
  13. ^ "The Am2900 Family Data Book with Related Support Circuits". AM-PUB003. Advanced Micro Devices. 1979. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved July 11, 2011. 

External links [edit]

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