Re: Mid '80s uP from Western Electric/AT&T -- WE212

From: Dave Rooney (rooney_at_adi.com)
Date: 06/29/04 

Date: Tue, 29 Jun 2004 09:00:36 -0400

Rafael Deliano wrote:
>>The 32-bit CPU was probably the CRISP.
>>Hobbit was a bit later.
>
> CRISP was about 1986 ( there is a 6 page description
> in the ASPLOS11 proceedings 1987 ).
> Hobbit ATT92010 in 1992 ; ATT92020
> in 1994 ( there are short descriptions in "Byte"-magazin )
>
> "AT&T Bell Labs Record" April 1984
> announces start of production of a WE32100:
> WE32100 32 bit CPU ; 180k transistors ; 1,75um ; 18 MHz
> By 1985 the chipset included:
> WE32101 MMU ; WE32101 Clock ; WE32103 DRAM-Controller ;
> WE32104 DMA-Controller ; WE32105 system interface unit ;
> WE32106 MAU "math acceleration unit" = FPU ;
> In the 1988 IC-Master there are several pages covering
> the softwarecompatible 1um 24 MHz WE32200 CPU
> WE32201 MMU ; WE32204 DMA ; WE32206 MAU
>
> Earlier chips mentioned:
> WE32000 16 Bit CPU 1981 ; ca. 100k transistors ; 2,5um
> ( the WE32001 was used in the AT&T 5620 DMD Display/Terminal
> about 1984 )
> WE8000 developed in 1976 CMOS microprocessor ;
> 7,5um later 5um ( in 1981 ) ; 10k transistors ; 0,2 MIPS
> WE4000 "microcomputer" = single chip controller CMOS ;
> 0,1 MIPS ; 30k transistors ;
> There is a 4 page description in the Bell System Technical
> Journal 1979 p. 959:
> 1024 - 3840 x 4 ROM ; 80 - 192 x 4 RAM ; 43 instructions
> Operates on 4, 8, 12, 16 bit data
>
> Names changed over time:
> 1980 it was MAC-8 ; by 1981 BELLMAC-4, BELLMAC-8, BELLMAC-32
>
> MfG JRD

The WE32100 family was used in some of the 3B computer line, 3B2, 3B5.
During AT&Ts brief venture into the minicomputer/workstation world.
3B1 was 68K based and 3B20 was bit slice, AMD 29xx I think.

Dave Rooney