The Icon Bar: Quickie time #3

Time for a few more short news items that didn't make it into the main news stream.

Open Source ARM 7
I resisted putting this in as a proper news article as the chip hasn't been properly tested so it might not work, and it might bump into copyright problems from ARM, but it's fairly cool.
ProAction stop selling direct
ProAction have stopped selling products direct to the public, but almost all of their software will be available via other channels - R-Comp for games and APDL for serious applications like Sleuth 3, Easy C++ etc.
RiscCAD saved
Talking of ProAction, they've taken over development of RiscCAD after author David Buck fell foul of the all too familiar problem of not enough time to develop the software further. APDL will be handling sales from now on.
Fixes for optical mice
Stuart Tyrrell has found that some optical mice - such as the Logitech ones - have bugs that can cause problems when used in conjunction with his PS2Mouse converters. However, fixes are available if you email Stuart@stdevel.demon.co.uk
Acorn User website fixed
The AU website was broken when it was moved from one server to another without the server configuration file being updated properly (mentioning no names, Andy ;), resulting in the includes feature for adding the navigation icons and the CGI directory for the free ads and news features not being present. This has now been fixed and the site should be working at full capacity.

Quickie time #3

(20:38 22/2/2001)
  Rob (11:48 26/2/2001)
    Annraoi (19:10 26/2/2001)
      John (12:13 27/2/2001)

Message #88337, posted at 20:38, 22/2/2001

Unregistered user

Its amazing that the technology is now available to individuals to program (in a Hardware Definition Language like VHDL) chips.

I even spotted a site offering a FPGA based 6502 clocked at over 100MHz (!). The ARM clone (BlackArm) offers much slower performance but still it shows what can be acchieved.

With skilled engineers its possible to do better (PicoTurbo have a ARM 7 clone clocked at 400-500MHz). Here's a thought, Pico allow end customers to add instructions or modify the VHDL definition (for a price). Perhaps someone with some disposable income might pay for an ARM clone at 400-500MHz with a retained 26bit mode ?

Its just a thought guys.....

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Rob

Message #88338, posted at 11:48, 26/2/2001, in reply to message #88337

Unregistered user

I'd sooner pay Microsoft to take over RISC OS than pay Picoturbo for a modified ARM.

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Annraoi

Message #88339, posted at 19:10, 26/2/2001, in reply to message #88338

Unregistered user

Yep, I guess I just keep tripping up over references to RISC OS on the ARM site (if you find even ONE let me know !).

Their dropping 26 bit mode was another great shot in the ARM (if you pardon the pun) for the RISC OS community.

So I am afraid that I don't care WHO solves the problem - its one that should never have been created by dropping 26 bit mode in the first place.

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John

Message #88340, posted at 12:13, 27/2/2001, in reply to message #88339

Unregistered user

You can see a reference to RO on the page that says which OS run on ARM processors. Also, they can't just keep 26 bit mode for the sake of it, it wastes space on the chips, and can't be put on with the thumb modes. Making an efficient RISC chip is all about stripping out these unwanted bits... I hardly think RISC OS users account for a lot of ARM's sales...

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