Continuing its drive into the image processing market, National Semiconductor Corp has added a new 32-bit microprocessor to its Series 32000 range. The NS32GX32 is designed specifically for high performance embedded applications such graphics controllers for page printers, facsimile machines, scanners and display terminals. With the chip, NatSemi hopes to capture a further share of the office peripherals processor market, in which, according to figures from Dataquest, 32-bit chips are set to grow from 21% of the total now, to 52% by 1993. By this time, imaging applications will make up around 90% of the office peripherals market – up from 15% now. NatSemi launched itself into the office peripherals market back in 1988 with the NS32CG16 processor aimed at the personal printer market (CI No 896). The CMOS NS32GX32 is aimed at mid-range and department level devices, printing at rates from eight to 80 pages per minute. It provides BitBLT instructions and logic, PostScript processing, cache memory and speeds of up to 30MHz. One important feature is the chip’s ability to be used with low cost memory, its variable bus sizing means it can support 8-, 16- or 32-bit memory and peripherals without additional logic. The NS32GX32 costs between $100 and $150 depending on quantity, and is sampling now. Undisclosed customers are currently working to offer products based on the chip – Canon Inc worked with NatSemi on the development of the NS32CG16 for use in its laser printers – and announcements are expected in the near future. Headquartered in Santa Clara, California, NatSemi has also introduced a new dynamic RAM controller – the NS32CG821 – to drive and control 256K-bit and 1M-bit dynamic RAM arrays used with its NS32CG16 processor. The CMOS device can operate at 15MHz with no wait states, though support can be added if required, and it can handle arrays up to 8Mb in size. NatSemi is offering the NS32CG831 in versions clocked at 20MHz and 25MHz together with the NS32CG16, as part of a complete system solution, and a demonstration board using both devices will be available from next year.
