Re: Apple II suicide--a sermon...

[jd-wong@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Jim Wong)]

jmk3@crux4.cit.cornell.edu (Jay Krell) writes:
>>>There is no reason a compatible 32 bit 6502 compatible chip
>>>couldn't have been built.
>As someone unsuredly replied, the Acorn RISC Machine (ARM)
>used in the Newton and some British computers is a 32-bit
>cpu derived (loaded word) from the 6502. One of its key
>characteristics is apparently code size/density. All PowerPC 
>instructions, for example, are 4 bytes, so code can be a bit large.
>I don't know the ARM instruction set though, though I did a book on
>it...

I'm intrigued.  I had no idea that the ARM chip was derived from the
6502.  Is it binary compatible?  Could you build a 32-bit Apple II around it?

If I remember correctly, there were some 6502 ISA that would make
calling any implementation of it RISC a bit of a stretch.

Neat.  You learn something new every day.
-- 
Jim Wong (jd-wong@uiuc.edu)