Back in October, National Semiconductor was saying that while it might not have scored as many major CPU design wins as it might have wished with its NS32000 microprocessor family, several manufacturers of laser printers were considering a switch from the 68000 family to the 32000 for their controllers (CI No 550) – yes indeed: the chipmaker has now announced a joint development agreement with Canon Inc on hardware and software for the NS32000 in its laser units.