Newsgroups: comp.arch,comp.sys.transputer
From: "Robert A. Wipfel" <rawipfel@novell.com>
Subject: PPRO + VIA NIC == T9000 ?
Date: Thu, 22 Jan 1998 13:07:18 -0700
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Message-ID: <34C7A6F6.3890@novell.com>

Suppose Intel casts a VIA NIC into silicon,
then suppose they glue this device close to a PPRO die,
via an AGP look-alike, perhaps called the RIOP (remote I/O
port)??

What do you get?

Answer: something that looks like a T9000 transputer -
	processor plus reliable low latency embedded comms
	controller designed for clustering (er, parallel
	processing).

Next, a few new instructions. Hey, if there's space for
MMX micro-code, why not build an alternate variant - a PPRO
with extra communication instructions, ones that interact
with VIA NIC hardware; queues etc. Finally, all you need are
a few more instructions to support the O/S' integration
of VIA communication events with its scheduler.


Robert A. Wipfel
Novell, Inc.
rawipfel@novell.com
+1 (801) 861 2115