[HN Gopher] The Soviet 1801VM3 Enhanced LSI-11 Processor
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       The Soviet 1801VM3 Enhanced LSI-11 Processor
        
       Author : picture
       Score  : 22 points
       Date   : 2021-11-20 20:34 UTC (2 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.cpushack.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.cpushack.com)
        
       | ginko wrote:
       | This article is really missing some context on when this
       | processor came out and how it compares technology-wise with other
       | processors of its time.
        
         | rented_mule wrote:
         | It's Soviet, so <= 1991 (and there are references to 1991 and
         | post-1991 updates). There's a link at the top of the article to
         | a similar article about this chip's predecessor, "developed in
         | 1982". It appears they implement the PDP-11 instruction set.
         | The western-designed contemporaries of the chip in the article
         | would roughly be Intel 80386/80486 and Motorola 68030/68040.
         | Some of the details (e.g., clock speed, address space,
         | transistor count, package, etc.) look closer to 8088 and 68000.
         | So it appears to be 2-3 generations behind Intel and Motorola.
        
           | jacquesm wrote:
           | The PDP 11 was a 1970's machine. So more like 20 years
           | behind.
        
             | thriftwy wrote:
             | These were meant for simple PCs aimed at students. Yamaha
             | MSX and Sinclair clones used similarly dated Z80 way into
             | 90s as well.
             | 
             | If you think late soviet CPUs are behind, wait until you
             | see late soviet cars
        
               | p_l wrote:
               | PDP-11 was a bit heavier design, and while it started in
               | 1970s, it was evolving and built with newer designs till
               | 1990s at least (I think last manufactured units were late
               | 1990s). 1801 line is curious in how it was single chip
               | while the "original" LSI-11 was 2 chip at the time.
               | Meanwhile 1801 was small enough that there are pocket
               | calculators built on it, that a sufficiently deranged EE
               | student can turn into Unix machine.
        
             | p_l wrote:
             | The specific variant that it was compatible with was still
             | relevant, sold and manufactured design at the time of the
             | introduction (ca. 1985? maybe a bit earlier). It was a very
             | capable CPU for its weight class, and actually more packed
             | than Digital's offering at the time - most LSI-11 at the
             | time required two separate chips minimum, and didn't have
             | 1801VM3's later "MCU" variants.
             | 
             | The reason for it was that it wasn't designed as PDP-11
             | clone - it was own design, which at the last moment got
             | modified to run LSI-11 instruction set and support QBus,
             | due to orders from on-high to standardize on PDP-11
             | compatibles in the segment it was made for.
        
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       (page generated 2021-11-20 23:00 UTC)