What is the Signetics 2650?

What is the Signetics 2650?

The Signetics 2650 was an 8-bit microprocessor introduced in mid-1975. According to Adam Osborne ‘s book An Introduction to Microprocessors Vol 2: Some Real Products, it was “the most minicomputer -like” of the microprocessors available at the time. Signetics sold development boards e.g.

How much does a 2650 microprocessor cost?

Signetics sold 2650-based microprocessor development boards, first the PC1001 and then its successor, the PC1500 “Adaptable Board Computer”, ranging in price from A$165 to A$400. The chip by itself sold for around A$20.

What kind of power supply do I need for a 2650?

The 2650 was supplied in a 40 pin plastic or ceramic DIL enclosure. An external single phase clock signal and a single 5V supply were needed. The 2650 had many unusual features when compared to other microprocessors of the time: It was a fully static NMOS 8-bit microprocessor.

How many registers are there in a 2650?

Like the 1130, the 2650’s processor registers were divided into sets, with a single global register R0 used as the accumulator, and two sets of index registers, both named R1, R2 and R3, for a total of seven registers. At any one time, one of the two sets of indexes were visible to the CPU.

When did the 2650 CPU come out?

Production of the 2650 was pushed back, and the CPU was not formally introduced until July 1975. By 1975, several new CPUs had been introduced, designed from the start to be 8-bit machines rather than mimicking an older design, and the 2650’s advantages were no longer as compelling.

What are the features of the 2650 microprocessor?

As such, the 2650 has a number of features that were common on 1960s minicomputers, but rarely found on newly designed microprocessors of the 1970s. Among these, for instance, were status bits that were used to track the status of input/output devices, which makes it simpler to write interfacing code.