Re: DVG Multigame

>If you're allergic to my nitpicking stop reading right now.
>
>A 22V10 isn't a PAL. It's a GAL. Or at least that's what Lattice called
>it.

Well... There are "PAL" 22V10's. GALs kind-of imply that they're
electrically erasable since it's a Lattice technology. PALCE's are AMD's
version of a GAL. I think the Lattice GAL was the first of the "V"
(versatile) parts. Other companies had 22x10 architectures first (I'm
pretty sure), but Lattice brought us the "V" and reprogrammable features...

A sampling of the Tempest Multigames out there will reveal:

* Lattice GAL22LV10 (a "3 volt" part-- there's a diode in series with the
power supply line to keep the voltage low enough to it)
* TI PAL22V10 (a 5V, one-time programmable)
* Lattice GAL22V10 ("normal" 5 volt, reprogrammable guys)
* AMD PALCE22V10 (5 volt, reprogrammable)

>Always kind of liked that part (the Lattice version), because it was
>quickly
>erased, kept track of how many times it had been programmed, and even had a
>small
>area for storing a label or part number. It's the only chip I had ever
>used.
>Oddly enough I used PALASM to write the program for it.

Yep, they're quite cool. It's nice having one part that can be either
registered, or combinatorial or both. With and without feedbacks... The
same 22V10 JEDEC fuse-file is used for all the variations I listed above.
Pretty handy...

>Now other companies make versions of it, some aren't erasable, some are.
>Some are
>CMOS, some aren't. All kinds of speed ranges. Too damn confusing to be
>fun
>anymore.

I'll agree with you there! I'm not exactly sure what the origins of the
PAL/GAL split were. (Programmable Array Logic v. Generic Array Logic) I
suspect some MMI people left and formed Lattice up here in Hillsboro, OR?

You can follow the lineage, but it's confusing: MMI-> AMD-> Vantis->
Lattice. MMI kinda forked in a few weird ways-- AMD had a license/agreement
with Xilinx that expired and started Vantis' FPGA stuff, Intel was in and
then out (which I think is where AMD's MACH architecture came from), then
Lattice who had the "V" series GALs to replace all the L, R, H, P, X series
PALs... Ugh.

I guess this is pretty much a tangent at this point. Sorry for wandering
off charter. ;-)

-Clay

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Received on Sun Mar 12 03:09:05 2000