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Domain: zilog.com

Stories and comments across the archive that link to zilog.com.

Comments · 55

  1. Zilog?.. (OT) by CptnHarlock · · Score: 1 · on Alpha Release Of Red Hat's Itanium Distro

    Since I'm an ex MSX user I've been keeping an eye on ZiLOG through the years, and I can assure you the are alive and thriving... :) ... I keep seeing their chips on anything from controler cards to registermachines.

    Thank you.
    //Frisco
    --
    "At the end of the journey, all men think that their youth was Arcadia..." -Goethe

  2. OT: Z80 by yerricde · · Score: 1 · on 19 Patents Given To GPL Community

    how many people really speak Z80 any more?

    Game Boy programmers, graphing calculator programmers, etc. Have you been to Zilog's Z80 Microprocessor page?

  3. Handspring has (Vaporware) Roll-Your-Own Wireless by fredz · · Score: 1 · on Other Uses For Palm VII's Wireless Functionality?
    Handspring is a Palm clone which allows an accessory card to be installed. Zilog is advertising a roll-your-own wireless kit which can be used with a handspring to create a local wireless network. The problem is that it "will be available Q2" and that it appears to you will have to do a lot of the engineering yourself. The web site says the kit includes:
    • Schematic
    • Bill of materials
    • Sample printed circuit board layout
    • VISOR interface software
    • Wave Communicator User's Manual
    • Z87L02 Emulator User's Manual
    The web site says "These kits enable you to embed Internet connectivity into appliances at an extremely low price," so if the price really is low they might be a lot of fun. I don't know if anyone will be selling these as a higher level assembly, so they might not be very practical even if the cost is low.

    Fred

  4. Re:As much as I dislike Microsoft... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1 · on Microsoft Unveils The X Box

    I won't argue with you, using an x86 for a console, is a MAJOR flaw. However what do you mean that consoles usually have specially developed CPUs? Consoles usually use an existing chip (or some slightly modified variation) because it's cheaper than developing a new one, testing it, and then having it manufactured. Nintendo and Sega don't have the resources to do that and maintain their central business. The Dreamcast's SuperH4 chip is just a standard component you can get from hitachi as far as I know. Other console's CPUs (OTTOMH) are: Master System/Game Gear -- Z80, NES -- 6502, Genesis -- 68000, SNES -- 65c816, Saturn -- SH2 (two of them), and Playstation and N64 both have MIPS processors (R3000 and R4300 respectively?)...

  5. Re:The future is embedded by TurkishGeek · · Score: 2 · on New Intel uP for Ultra-Cheap PCs

    Intel does not need IP cores, and I don't think Intel will ever enter the business of IP. IP is a completely different line of business than embedded processors. IMHO, had Intel wished to enter the IP business, they could have made low-power x86 IP cores available in a very short time, and wipe a sizable portion of the market-there are lots of companies surviving by only selling x86 compatible IP cores. So let's not use "IP core" as a synonym for embedded processors.

    Intel has acquired one of the best embedded processor families when it got Digital's chip business: The StrongARM, which already powers some Internet appliances-(Rebel.com's NetWinder comes to mind. So they already have a very nice line of embedded processors for all sorts of applications. Timna is obviously not targeted at the general embedded applications market. It's rather an ultra-cheap processor for inexpensive PC's and x86 compatible network appliances. I believe it will be positioned against National Semiconductor's Geode, an Internet appliance on-a-chip, a great chip that's almost a complete PC. Intel has all the reasons to be scared of Geode, and VIA's own inexpensive integrated x86 processors, since Asian producers will start using them in large numbers when the Internet appliance business takes off. With a high quality, free operating system like Linux, and a cheap x86 processor combining CPU, multimedia and memory interface on a single chip, opportunities abound for companies which want to build Internet appliances.

    And there are lots of processors in the embedded market which can TCP/IP quite well, along with a host of other capabilities required in today's applications. It's not like the embedded processor market is desperately waiting for Intel to come up with a line of powerful processors. The examples you give, Z80 and 8051, are not contenders in the Internet appliance market; although very advanced derivatives of these exist, which can be used for many purposes. EZ80, just out from Zilog, for example, is completely backwards compatible with Z80, and has its own TCP/IP stack.

    Please make sure to check Geode out. You will be impressed.
    --

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