Difference between revisions of "KDF11 CPUs"

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(Floating point: Link to FP11)
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==Floating point==
 
==Floating point==
  
All the KDF11 CPUs have two choices for floating point support (full PDP-11 floating point, as in the [[FP11-B Floating-Point Processor|FP11-B]] and [[FP11-C Floating-Point Processor|FP11-C]]): a on-board single chip, the [[KEF11-A floating point chip]], which implements floating point using microcode; and a higher-performance separate quad board, the [[FPF11]] (M8188).
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All the KDF11 CPUs have two choices for floating point support (full PDP-11 [[FP11 floating point]]): a on-board single chip, the [[KEF11-A floating point chip]], which implements floating point using microcode; and a higher-performance separate quad board, the [[FPF11]] (M8188).
  
 
The FPF11 communicates with the KDF11 via a cable that plugs into the socket on the KDF11 where the KEF11-A is installed; is unusual that it can plug into either a QBUS or UNIBUS backplane, since it only draws power from the backplane - all signals come over the cable to the KDF11.
 
The FPF11 communicates with the KDF11 via a cable that plugs into the socket on the KDF11 where the KEF11-A is installed; is unusual that it can plug into either a QBUS or UNIBUS backplane, since it only draws power from the backplane - all signals come over the cable to the KDF11.

Revision as of 16:16, 25 December 2016

There are several single-board CPUs which all use the 'Fonz' F-11 chipset:

Floating point

All the KDF11 CPUs have two choices for floating point support (full PDP-11 FP11 floating point): a on-board single chip, the KEF11-A floating point chip, which implements floating point using microcode; and a higher-performance separate quad board, the FPF11 (M8188).

The FPF11 communicates with the KDF11 via a cable that plugs into the socket on the KDF11 where the KEF11-A is installed; is unusual that it can plug into either a QBUS or UNIBUS backplane, since it only draws power from the backplane - all signals come over the cable to the KDF11.

ODT limitations

The F-11 chip set includes microcode which provides 'front panel' functionality named 'ODT'; the ability to read and write to memory, start the process, etc. However, the original version of the KDF11-A only supported 18-bit addressing, and even though later versions supported 22-bit addressing, ODT in the KDF11's was always limited to 18-bit addressing: i.e. it is impossible to interact with memory above 256 Kbytes from ODT.

The later KDJ11 CPUs do not have this limitation.