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u-Bit Design

u-Bit Microprocessor Design

Synopsis: An obvious, but overlooked, micro-computer architecture design methodology may allow for the mass-distribution of non-legacy potential PCs by virtue of a forty-pin package. Hobbyists, individuals and Mom & Pop business operations will be empowered at the expense of Silicon Valley's "sexy and mysterious" mythology whilst the landfills need no longer be receptacles of much (if not most) of this "five-year technology cycle" feces. Such is the promise of universal bit (u-Bit) design.

Keywords: computer architecture, microprocessor, 8086, data bus, legacy, corporate greed

Introduction

A comparison of MOS Technolgy's 6502 and Intel's 8086 pin diagrams reveals an interesting principle design methodology advancement.

https://user.xmission.com/~trevin/atari/6502_pinout.html

http://scanftree.com/microprocessor/pin_diagram_of_8086.png

On the 6502 (fig. 1), an 8-bit processor, the 16-bit address bus is separate from the 8-bit data bus. No problem here since, with all the other pins (power, ground, interrupts and what not) there is still a pin or two to spare on a forty-pin IC.

The 8086 with a 16 bit data bus is a different story. And from there, I propose a design yet to be told until now.

Forty Pin Socket

But perhaps first, a discussion on the forty-pin socket is in order.

This socket is the largest of the commonly available integrated circuit (IC) sockets. While one may come across a 68-pin socket (which supports Intel's 286 processor) during an extensive Google search, that rareness, in addition to the 286 backward design (I'll explain what I mean by backward design close to the end of this paper) and pin layout, is evidence of a flowering PC industry engaging in grey-area market practices of the "made to break" or (in this case) inherent design obsolescence variety which eventually evolved into licensing on the software side.

In short, by expanding processor pin requirements to eliminate utilization of the 40 pin socket, Silicon Valley (or should I say Silly Con Valley) began a concerted effort to ensured themselves a steady revenue flow as they forced untold millions of computers into local dumps and material recycling centers across the globe.

Sexy and Mysterious

There are two things to notice on the 286 pin layout (fig.3).

286 pin diagram http://emmaweberluk.blogspot.ca/2012/08/asian-chit-set-and-80286-re-life-in-asia.html

But first let me tell you, as with the matching 68-pin socket, it's difficult to find a pin diagram for this long outdated processor. Perhaps this is further evidence of Intel's efforts to maintain its mystic. (Note to editor: The 286 pin diagram may be under copyright.)

But the most damning evidence of all is two fold. First, the address and data bus layouts. Here you don't see a logical contiguous sequential layout (as in the cases of the 6502 and 8086) but rather a random sequence (in the case of the data bus) and broken sequences (in the case of the address bus). There is little doubt in my mind that Intel made a conscious effort to prevent its customers from owning the processors and computers they paid good money for by keeping them from figuring out the pin layout once their customer service requests for the pin diagram fell on deaf ears.

Second is perhaps the most grievous of manipulations perpetrated by a corporation, and indeed, all those collectively complicit; hereon referred to (but by no means exclusive to) as Silly Con Valley. Read on.

Principle Design Methodology Advancement

Like MOS Technology's 6502, the 286 has separate buses for address and data. But, unbelievably, Intel's advanced (relative to the 8086) 286 processor was a trashing of a wonderful design feature of Intel's 8086 processor. On the 8086 (fig.2), the address bus doubled as the data bus! "During the first clock cycle, it carries 16-bit address and after that it carries 16-bit data." https://www.tutorialspoint.com/microprocessor/microprocessor_8086_pin_configuration.htm This remarkable innovation allowed for a 16 bit processor in a forty pin package. Yet Intel, in designing future processors, trashed and buried the advancement like a serial killer disposing of body parts.

u-Bit Design

So, it quickly follows that one may design a processor with any number of data or address bits but using only 16 pins to implement. For example, one may design a 32 bit computer with four gigabytes of addressable memory by, for instance, carrying the first half of the address on the first clock cycle, the second half of the address on the second clock cycle, the first 16 bits of data on the third clock cycle and the second 16 bits of data on the fourth clock cycle. This I call universal bit (u-Bit) design.

Conclusion

It's time to move out of Silly Con Valley. Let's take back our computers, ease off on the landfill and build a museum to honour the sexy and mysterious PCs of the past few decades. It's time for the return of microprocessors in a forty-pin package. It's time for u-Bit design.

References

[1] Available online: https://user.xmission.com/~trevin/atari/6502_pinout.html

[2] Available online: http://emmaweberluk.blogspot.ca/2012/08/asian-chit-set-and-80286-re-life-in-asia.html

[3] Available online: https://www.tutorialspoint.com/microprocessor/microprocessor_8086_pin_ configuration.htm

[4] Available online: http://scanftree.com/microprocessor/pin_diagram_of_8086.png