View all newsletters
Receive our newsletter - data, insights and analysis delivered to you
  1. Technology
July 14, 1997updated 05 Sep 2016 1:01pm

INTEL PATENT; SIMILAR TO DEC’S 1971 PDP-12?

By CBR Staff Writer

Intel Corp’s patent for a RISC-like architecture that can accept multiple operating systems and programs with mixed instruction sets reportedly takes pains to distinguish itself from other dual-mode processors such as DEC’s VAX, a processor made in the 1980s that accepted VAX code and its predecessor PDP-11 code, (CI No 3,193). However one reader suggests there is a fair similarity, as far as this one snippet of description goes, to the DEC PDP-12. Its Laboratory Computer Handbook (1971) describes the PDP-12 processor, which can execute instructions from either of two instructions sets, the PDP-8 instruction set and the LINC instruction set. The PDP-8 was arguably the first RISC computer (well before the acronym RISC had been coined), and the LINC instruction set was rather more complex. Interrupts could be taken in either mode. Instructions from both instruction sets could be mixed within a single program or even a single routine; each instruction set offered an instruction for explicitly switching to the other instruction set. Our reader continues I am sure there are many innovations in Merced, but it is always interesting to observe how history repeats when circumstances are suitable.

Content from our partners
How businesses can safeguard themselves on the cyber frontline
How hackers’ tactics are evolving in an increasingly complex landscape
Green for go: Transforming trade in the UK

Websites in our network
Select and enter your corporate email address Tech Monitor's research, insight and analysis examines the frontiers of digital transformation to help tech leaders navigate the future. Our Changelog newsletter delivers our best work to your inbox every week.
  • CIO
  • CTO
  • CISO
  • CSO
  • CFO
  • CDO
  • CEO
  • Architect Founder
  • MD
  • Director
  • Manager
  • Other
Visit our privacy policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications. Our services are intended for corporate subscribers and you warrant that the email address submitted is your corporate email address.
THANK YOU