Designing with a byte-oriented metal-oxide-semiconductor microprocessor, after all, consists mainly of programming a system made up of components hooked together according to the manufactuer's specifications. But bit-slice processor design involves cr...
Designing with a byte-oriented metal-oxide-semiconductor microprocessor, after all, consists mainly of programming a system made up of components hooked together according to the manufactuer's specifications. But bit-slice processor design involves critical hardware decisions and the creation of an instruction set as well and only then comes the programing. Morever, since bit-slice processor patrs of different manufactures can be mixed in one the same design, consideration must be given individually to each of them.
The complexity of bit-slice processor parts, compounded by minimal support from their manufacturers, has won them a poorer welcome than they deserve from designers. Although processors built with bit slices can be extremely powerful, the design flexibility of the parts in both hardware and instruction sets demands an intimate familiarity with a particular family before a designer can be confident of success.
In this paper, each slice is illustrated with two diagrams : a diagram of its physical lay out and a diagram of its external connections. The same notation will be used for each slice to ease the transition from slice to slice. However, because of this, these diagrams differ from those used by the manufacturers of the slice. Hence, the manufacturers' diagram are also included to ease the transition to the manufacturer's detailed specifications.