Re: CIA old/new?

From: Clockmeister <clockmeister_at_internode.on.net>
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 2021 00:10:04 +0800
Message-ID: <4eef4675-c5fd-df85-3257-072717235bff_at_internode.on.net>
On 5/01/2021 6:43 pm, smf wrote:
>
> I don't know.
>
> The PLA, VIC2, TED & 7501 had a lot of manufacturing issues. The VIC2 
> had some design issues, for example the 64 clocks per line and 
> requirement of PLL to fix the dot crawl in the early days.
>

Look at the chip from a functionality point of view and it was 
fantastic. They made it work, it sold millions and decades later a good 
number of those chips still work.

> Do you think the 6581 filters were well done?
>

How many other comparable synth chips of the day were there to compare 
it to?

> In the main Commodore shipped crap and fixed issues if the product 
> sold in enough quantities.
>
> There is an argument that Bil Herd is responsible for the C128 faults 
> as anyone else would have let the product fail in the crucible of 
> fire. I get the impression he feels guilty as he keeps going on about 
> it ;-)
>
> I'm not saying that shipping something crappy is a bad strategy, it's 
> perfectly valid to build market share as long as you fix the issues 
> and you don't kill anyone in the meantime.
>

It's easy to dump on people with the benefit of hindsight but who was 
there designing chips for products when it mattered?

> On 05/01/2021 07:29, Jim Brain wrote:
>> I would agree with Gerrit on this.  I think the rest of the ICs were 
>> well done.  As a hardware designer, I have absolutely no idea what 
>> the IC designer of the VDC was thinking.  I've heard a dozen 
>> variations on the story, and none of them make any sense from the IC 
>> design point of view.  I hope that person never designed anything 
>> else in the IC industry.
>>
>> Jim
>>
>> --
>> Jim Brain
>> brain_at_jbrain.com
>> www.jbrain.com
Received on 2021-01-05 18:00:03

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