Altair parts substitutions

From: Cini, Richard <RCini_at_congressfinancial.com>
Date: Wed May 24 08:06:37 2000

They always said that you learn something new every day.

Thanks for the dual-ported tutorial.

Rich

==========================
Richard A. Cini, Jr.
Congress Financial Corporation
1133 Avenue of the Americas
30th Floor
New York, NY 10036
(212) 545-4402
(212) 840-6259 (facsimile)


-----Original Message-----
From: Eric Smith [mailto:eric_at_brouhaha.com]
Sent: Tuesday, May 23, 2000 5:45 PM
To: classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org
Subject: Re: Altair parts substitutions


> This is what I meant exactly - no bi-directional data bus. I'm guessing
that
> there is a fine distinction between dual-ported and separate input and
> output busses...

Specifically, a true dual-ported RAM chip has separate address busses and
control signals/strobes (*RD and *WR, or *CS and R/*W, or the like) for
each port.

Dual-port RAM chips tend to be expensive and not very high-density, so
they aren't commonly found in commodity computer hardware. It's usually
more cost-effective to time-multiplex a single port.

Current manufacturers of dual-port RAM chips include Cypress and IDT.
There are even some quad-port RAM chips now.
Received on Wed May 24 2000 - 08:06:37 BST