At 12:56 1998-11-08 -0800, you wrote:
>While designed to be comatible with the 5x series PICs, there are enough
>differences speed-wise: 1 clock/instr., bigger stack, jitter-free
>interrupt, etc that they could be considered completely different.  The
>programming spec is different and allows in-system programming by using
>the oscillator pins instead of port I/O's. Internal hardware has also
>been added to allow in-system debugging in your own target board -
>you'll never need a bond-out emulator again! All interrupts are
>jitter-free. From the above features, the software structure can be
>considered more RTOS-ish, and the possible uses for the SX only start at
>PIC replacement - there are many applications a SX will fit into that
>have never been considered for an 8-bit MCU before!
>
>With all this in mind, I would consider the SX completely different. The
>only similiarity is the instruction set/opcodes.
>
>Stephen Holland
>scholla@ibm.net

Is it also exactly the same binary instruction coding?
It seemed like Starfires compatible gizmo had a convert utility.
Maybe they have new interesting instructions? =)

I have always wondered why Micrichip wasted silicon and instruction codes on
CLRW    ( = ANDLW 0 )
NOP     ( = BSF or BCF unused/unimplemented bit )
TRIS    ( = MOVWF  (Mchip recommends not to use TRIS no more anyway) )
OPTION  ( = MOVWF  (Mchip recommends not to use OPTION no more anyway) )

Removing this useless crap would make room for a few more usable
instructions instead (without needing more instruction bits or silicon).
So, probably (i don�t think they are stupid) they have implemented it, or
will implement it soon.  (Like there were undocumented instructions in Z80
and 6502)

What i have in mind:
ADD / SUB with carry in.
Selectable inc/dec of FSR when read/write INDF
Theese would probably speed up a lot of math considerably!  :)

Manufacturers, are you listening?

...While you are listening: i want another FSR/INDF... with inc/dec of FSR

Compatibility: If we don't use the new instructions we just run the
generated old-style code from the usual assembler/compiler through a
converter, like for Starfires CPU.

Using the new instructions would of course need a slight change in PIC
compiler and simulator, but that would not be too hard.

/Morgan
        Morgan Olsson                   ph  +46(0)414 70741
        MORGANS REGLERTEKNIK            fax +46(0)414 70331
        H�LLEK�S           (in A-Z letters: "HALLEKAS")
        SE-277 35 KIVIK, SWEDEN               mrt@iname.com
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