LSI-11 Chipset with EIS/FIS Chip – 1976-1977

Back in 2014 we discussed the Western Digital WD/9000 Pascal Microcomputer system.  Today we’ll look at the LSI-11 chip set, the basis of the Pascal.  Back in 1974 DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation) contracted Western Digital to design and build a 16-bit chipset to emulate the Bipolar PDP-11/05 Minicomputer.  Western Digital was paid $6.3 million for the work, and would be allowed to market and sell the resulting chipset themselves, as well as grant license to it to others (including DEC).

The LSI-11 was to be a 16-bit chipset, but was based around a 8-bit Data chips (the 1611).  The 1611 has an 8-bit ALU , 26 8-bit registers and a microinstruction register.  This is controlled by the 1621 control chip, which interprets macroinstructions from handles all the timing, as well as interrupts.  The 1621 control chip is what allows the 8-bit 1611 to be used as a 16-bit processor.  The chips are connected by an 18-bit  microinstruction bus, and a 16-bit address/data bus handles access to the rest of the system (memory/I/O).  Each microm is a 512 Word by 22-bit ROM, which can hold 80 instructions.  It is these MICROMs that allow the WD MCP1600 to function as a PDP-11/05.  The instructions in the the MICROMs (2 are required for the LSI-11) emulate the PDP-11 instructions.

DEC M7264 LSI-11 KD11-L Board from PDP- 11/03

First production of the LSI-11 chipset began in March of 1975 with shipments commencing that year.  The PDP-11/03 based on this chipset was released later that year.  The KD-11 M7264 board formed the hear of the 11/03 (as well as other DEC systems).  In typical DEC fashion it came in many flavors with different amounts of memory, as well as different instruction support.  This was completely due to the design of the LSI-11 chipset and its MICROMs .  The basic LSI-11 needs 2 MICROMs to handle the basic PDP-11 instructions, the chipset however supported 4.  This means that more instructions could be added.  One of the most common and useful additions was the EIS/FIS (Extended Instruction Set/Floating Point Instruction Set) microm.  This added 8 more instructions including MUL, DIV, FADD, FSUB, FMUL, FDIV and 2 register shifts (ASH, ASHC).  Adding the EIS/FIS chip to a standard KD-11-F board turned it into a KD-11-L (like the one pictured).

Western Digital 1611 Die –
Pauli Rautakorpi

There were other MICROMs available as well.  This included a set of 2 for support of DIBOL (Digital Business Oriented Language), a DEC language similar to COBOL.  Since the DIBOL chipset needed 2 chips a system could support DIBOL, OR EIS/FIS but not both.  MICROMs were revised as bugs were found, or faster ways of handing an instruction were made.  MICROMs revisions could also be made to support different PCB revisions.  In some ways they played the part of firmware to the PCB, as well as the instruction set for the processor.  In this way many MICROMs are specific to PCB etch revisions and other revisions of the system outside of the processor itself.  Matching the correct MICROMs, as well as Control and Data chips to the correct board is a bt of a task, and take several dozen pages of the LSI-11 maintenance manual.

Here are a few part #s to help sort things out

DEC M7270 LSI-11 – 1982 – All WD Chips

There are more to be found as DEC and Western Digital made many versions.  In early 1976 Western Digital licensed the MCP1600 chipset design to National Semiconductor, in exchange for some RAM technology licensing.  It is unclear if National actually made any of the MCP1600 chipset.  By 1977 DEC had started to produce the LSI-11 chip itself while continuing to source parts from Western DIgital as well.  It is common to see LSI-11 boards with DEC and WD chips mixed well into 1982.

The popularity of the PDP-11 in the 1970’s resulted in many customers for the LSI-11 based PDP’s, and their use continued well into the 1990’s with many systems continuing to be used today.  As with many such systems, they found use in industrial control and automation, where they continue to work.

Western Digital WD4200F-03 – Copy of National COP420 from 1981

In the 1970’s second sourcing was the name of the game.  Processors that had no additional source available often struggled in the market.  Designers wanted to ensure that if they invested in designing a product around a chip, that chip would remain available if the original manufacturer of it had issues.  It also helped drive down pricing, as often second sources could compete on price with the original manufacturer.

By the 1980’s second sourcing had begun to end.  It did still happen, but began to take the form of fabless semiconductor companies today.  A company would create a design and then license its manufacturing to other companies.

National Semiconductor COP420 – 1982

National Semiconductor was a popular second source for many processors of the 1970’s, notably Intel’s 8080, MCS-48 microcontrollers and AMD’s 2901.  For their own designs, they rarely second sourced to anyone.  Such designs as the PACE, SC/MP, original COPS and NSC800 were exclusive to National.  In the 1980’s they did have TI make a very limited amount of 32k processors, likely due to some of the reliability problems National was having in making them themselves early on.  So it is a bit surprising that they licensed the COPS II to Western Digital in the early 1980’s.

Western Digital WD4210BG-15 – Bond out option of the WD4200

The COPS II (later just called COPS) was the 2nd generation COPS 4-bit microcomputer made by National.  It was a NMOS design, designed for basic control oriented applications to replace the PMOS COPs from 1976.  Western Digital already had the 4-bit CR1872 PMOS processor, as well as the CP1611 16-bit design.  Perhaps WD saw the COPS as a filler between those.  It certainly didn’t replace the CR1872, as that design continued to be marketed up until the mid-1980’s.

Western Digital made the WD4200 and WD4210 as copies of the National COP420 and COP421.  Also made was a WD4020 copy of the COP402 (the ROMLESS version used for dev work).  The WD4200 and WD4210 are nearly identical to each other.  The 4200 comes in a 28-pin package while the 4210 came in a 24-pin package.  WD (and National) called this a bond-out option.  The die is the same in both, the 4210 merely has one 4-bit input port left unconnected (IN0-IN3).  A 24-pin package was enough less expensive than a 28-pin package to make this a viable sales option.  Using a bulk NMOS process the die itself was a fairly insignificant cost compared to packaging and testing. The smaller package also was useful for smaller board designs.  The practice continues today with features on processors and MCU’s disabled/enabled to expand a product line and/or make use of die’s with defects.

WD continued to produce the COP line until at least 1983.  Western Digital was moving its focus to the storage market, and away from te general purpose processor/microcomputer market.  This brought an end to the WD4200 as well as WD’s other processors.   Today WD is known for hard drives, and remembered for their disk controllers. that they second sourced a 4-bit design from National has faded to the annuls of history.