The Sparcle is an experimental 32-bit
microprocessor
A microprocessor is a computer processor (computing), processor for which the data processing logic and control is included on a single integrated circuit (IC), or a small number of ICs. The microprocessor contains the arithmetic, logic, a ...
chip developed in 1992 by a
consortium
A consortium () is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations, or governments (or any combination of these entities) with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for achieving a ...
of
MIT
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...
,
LSI Corporation
LSI Logic Corporation was an American company founded in Santa Clara, California, was a pioneer in the ASIC and EDA industries. It evolved over time to design and sell semiconductors and software that accelerated storage and networking in dat ...
, and
Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems, Inc., often known as Sun for short, was an American technology company that existed from 1982 to 2010 which developed and sold computers, computer components, software, and information technology services. Sun contributed sig ...
. It was an evolution Sun's
SPARC RISC
In electronics and computer science, a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) is a computer architecture designed to simplify the individual instructions given to the computer to accomplish tasks. Compared to the instructions given to a comp ...
architecture
Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...
with features geared towards "large-scale
multiprocessing
Multiprocessing (MP) is the use of two or more central processing units (CPUs) within a single computer system. The term also refers to the ability of a system to support more than one processor or the ability to allocate tasks between them. The ...
".
The chip was manufactured by LSI.
Besides these enhancements the Sparcle was otherwise unremarkable, incorporating 200,000 transistors and dissipating two
watt
The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...
s. It included no cache and had a clock speed of less than 40 MHz. The new features included:
* Features to tolerate and synchronize memory and communications
latencies
* Features supporting fine-grained
synchronization
Synchronization is the coordination of events to operate a system in unison. For example, the Conductor (music), conductor of an orchestra keeps the orchestra synchronized or ''in time''. Systems that operate with all parts in synchrony are sa ...
* Features to initiate actions on remote processors and quickly respond to
asynchronous events
The Sparcle was used to build the experimental
Alewife computer at MIT.
References
External links
*
* {{cite book , last1=Iannucci , first1=Robert A. , display-authors=etal , title=Multithreaded Computer Architecture: A Summary of the State of the ART , date=1994 , publisher=Springer Science & Business Media , isbn=0-7923-9477-1 , page=163 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IkdqkJq2h2kC&pg=PA163 , accessdate=Feb 5, 2020
SPARC microprocessors
32-bit microprocessors
Massachusetts Institute of Technology