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StrongARM
The StrongARM microprocessor
is a faster version of the Advanced
RISC Machines ARM
design. It was created by Digital
Equipment Corporation, but later sold to Intel
who continues to produce it today as the XScale.
History
The StrongARM was a collaborative project between DEC and ARM to
create a faster CPU based on (but not totally compatible with)
the existing ARM
line. The StrongARM was designed to address the upper-end of the
low-power embedded market, where users needed more performance
than the ARM could deliver while being able to accept more
external support. Targets were devices such as newer personal
digital assistants and set-top
boxes.
The project was set up in 1995, and quickly delivered their
first design, the SA-100. This was immediately
incorporated into newer versions of the Apple
Newton as well as a number of other products.
Digital Semiconductor, DEC's chip division, was later sold to Intel
as part of a lawsuit settlement. Intel used the StrongARM to
replace their ailing line of RISC processors, the i860
and i960.
Today the design is known as the Intel
XScale.
Description
The StrongARM family are faster versions of the existing ARM
processors with a somewhat different instruction
set. They have limited software compatibility with the
"real" ARM families due to their separate caches for
data and instructions, which causes self-modifying
code to fail (which, admittedly, is fairly rare).
The SA-100 was the first member of the family, updated as the
SA-110 and then SA-1110. The SA-1110 is the core for the XScale
line, which is packaged in an innovative "stacking"
system which allows various support chips to be connected
together without a backplane.
This
content from Wikipedia
is licensed under the GNU
Free Documentation License.
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