Topic       : Chips 'n Chips
Author      : Michael Ruge
Version     : chips_x.hyp (01/05/2001)
Subject     : Dokumentation/Hardware
Nodes       : 1505
Index Size  : 35662
HCP-Version : 3
Compiled on : Atari
@charset    : atarist
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@options    : -i -s +zz -t4
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   Der BLOSSOM Chip der ATW800
 
   Blossom is a 15,000 gate array implemented on 1.5 micron CMOS. It 
   is designed to be a single chip solution to all the logic functions
   of the Atari Transputer Workstation (ATW).

   Blossom performs the following functions:
   Dynamic memory control and Memory Refresh
   Interrupts
   Video timing generation and Graphics processing
   IO control and Bus arbitration

   One of the design goals was to implement a general purpose, 32 bit 
   processor interface chip, with video and graphics support. Blossom 
   has a powerful memory and processor interface which should support 
   most 32 bit CPUs with minimal external logic.
   The graphics processor will perform line draw, trapezium fill, block
   or stipple fill with bit planar or linear functions of source, des-
   tination and mask areas. The tiled mask allows fast font rendering 
   whilst the 'sideways' access to video RAM can plot stipple patterns 
   at 128 million pixels a second. The variety of functions coupled 
   with an optimised software interface provide a graphics subsystem to
   rival most dedicated graphics processors. The reason Blossom can 
   achieve such performance is that the entire memory controller, arbi-
   tration and graphics control are implemented on one chip.

   Memory interfaces
 
           +----------------------------------------+
           |                  ^                     |
        +--|------------------|-------------------+ |
        |  |                ^ |                   | |
        v  v                | |                   v v
     +----------+         +----------+          +----------+
     |          |         |          |          |          |
     |          |<--------|          |          |          |
     |   DRAM   |         | Blossom  |          |   Video  |
     |          |<--------|          |          |    RAM   |
     |          |         |          |--------->|          |
     |          |         |          |          |          |
     |          |         |          |          |          |
     |          |         |          |          |          |
     |          |         |          |---+----->|          |
     +----------+         +----------+   |      +----------+
          |                ^ |   ||      |           |
          |                | |   ||      |           | Data
          |                | |   ||      |      +----------+
          |                | |   ||      +----->|          |
          |                | |   ||             |    Bus   |
          |                | |   |+------------>|  Buffers |
          |                | |   |              |          |
          |                | |   |              |          |
          +----------------|-|---+-+------------|          |
                           | |     |            |          |
                           | |     |            +----------+
                           | |     |
                         +-----------+
                         |           |
                         |    CPU    |
                         |           |
                         +-----------+

     Kapitel Der BLOSSOM Chip der ATW800, Seite 1