Military Industry of Great Powers: Build the Strongest Flanker.

Chapter 246 Cheap "Learning Machine"

Technical exchanges with ASML are very cautious.

Institute 102 submitted a technical list. ASML actually brought Siemens on board for enameled wire, micro-device die-casting, automatic winding, polymer film production and other equipment.

"These are civilian equipment and do not violate the Batumi Agreement!"

As for restricted precision processing machinery, ASML is responsible for transporting the equipment onto the ship. ASML cannot guarantee what will happen after it is on board.

Fortunately, people from the National Security Bureau also participated. They have a method. It seems that both sides have done this kind of thing.

These equipments all cost money, and if you let go, the US$30 million is gone again.

However, Zhao Guoqing thinks it's worth it. Even if it's civilian equipment, there are no restrictions, but someone still has to sell it to you!

The entire technology exchange is progressing very quickly. Not only Teacher Xiao Zhao is anxious, but ASML is also very anxious.

If ASML launches the argon fluoride 193 nanometer lithography machine first, it will definitely take the lead. Who can guarantee that Nikon or Canon will not launch the argon fluoride lithography machine first.

As ASML's first batch of goods and drawings arrived at the Chinese port, Teacher Xiao Zhao personally inspected them with engineers, and Institute 102 also gave ASML the first batch of technical information on argon fluoride lasers.

This provides technical support for VIA's computers to be compatible with x86 systems.

Zhao Guoqing nodded and asked about the price. The ARMv6 foundry fee plus the ARM patent licensing fee is about one hundred US dollars per piece. The chipset is their own, the PCB motherboard is about one hundred and fifty US dollars per piece, and the graphics card and sound card are from Zhongxun. , that depends on the configuration.

Of course, even if the CPU performance is reduced by 30%, the performance is still doubled compared to the 486.

This is already a huge performance improvement.

"Mr. Zhao, VIA's CPU and chipset have been taped out!"

The core pump power supply, the dual-cavity reactor, remains in the last batch of technical exchange catalogs...

Wang Xuehong smiled and said: "It still takes some time to test. After all, this is VIA's first product! Of course, the supply chain also needs to be considered!"

……

But this kind of instruction set conversion comes at a price, that is, the delay will increase and the operating efficiency will be reduced. According to VIA's test results, the CPU performance will be reduced by 30%.

In terms of chipsets, VIA still has great innovations.

They added a coding chip to the Northbridge chip to map and decode the x86 instruction set and the ARMv6 instruction set through code mapping.

Zhao Guoqing asked: "When will the complete machine come out?"

For example, the rdfet instruction in the Intel x86 instruction set is for array calculations, but the ARM instruction set does not have this instruction, but the content of the rdfet instruction can be completed through several ARM instructions.

Time passed quickly. Two months passed. Four hundred acres of land were allocated in Nanshan District, Shenzhen City. As soon as the foundation piles of the factory were driven in, Teacher Xiao Zhao received a call from Wang Xuehong.

Zhao Guoqing knows this. The tape-out of the CPU was done at Sinocom International. The public version of the CPU has not changed much. It is also the first time for VIA to make a CPU. The changes to the original version were very cautious, and they only made some improvements to the cache. , the test results show that the performance is three times that of 486.

After all, VIA only needs CPU, chipset, and motherboard manufacturers to produce, and it also needs OEM manufacturers to sell them. All of these need to be solved one by one.

"Congratulations, Mr. Wang!"

Wang Xuehong said: "The lowest version, with 1M memory and voodoo110 graphics card, can be purchased for less than US dollars!"

“It’s about 5,000 RMB, which is a good price!”

It is quite competitive. Teacher Xiao Zhao nodded and sighed. The price is indeed very low, but for Chinese people, five thousand yuan is still very high and out of reach! Zhao Guoqing thought of a project he wanted to do a few years ago but never had time to do.

leaning machine!

Zhao Guoqing hung up the phone and came to the 102 ARM Processor Research Center.

ARMv6 costs US$100 a piece, which is too expensive. However, ARMv5 is specially developed for mobile embedded devices. It is also a 32-bit processor. The public version of the CPU with all instruction sets only has 30 transistors, which is only one-fifteenth of ARMv6. The production price should be no more than $15.

512kb memory chips, the cost price is no more than 3 US dollars, and the chipset also uses the public version...

Teacher Xiao Zhao was calculating, and when Chief Engineer Yan Dawei of the ARM Research Laboratory heard the indicator, he was surprised and said: "A computer worth no more than one thousand yuan?"

"Why are you shouting?" Zhao Guoqing said: "Just use ARMv5!"

Yan Dawei said: "The performance of ARMv5 is not enough!"

"The performance is not enough. Let's try to improve the frequency. Using a 500nm manufacturing process, 200mHz can be achieved. How does the performance compare to 386?"

"It's definitely better than 386!"

Zhao Guoqing said: "That's enough, let's embed a voodoo110 display chip..."

The voodoo110 display chip is about 20 US dollars. It has one vertex unit and one texture unit. Normal display is no problem.

"Leave two serial ports, keyboard and mouse interface, network interface, and display interface for connecting to the TV, and cancel all other interfaces."

The system uses Linux system, removes all unused components, retains network communication, and uses Windows operating system at low resolution...

Yan Dawei calculated that in this way, it can really cost 1,000 yuan, and the settings can be used for some office applications.

What Teacher Xiao Zhao envisioned was not the same as a learning machine, but a mini machine like a NUC, about the size of a palm. But the problem was.

"Mr. Zhao, how to solve the problem of hard drive?"

The price of hard drives is too high. A 2G hard drive costs two to three thousand. Many 386 computers do not come with hard drives, and at most come with a floppy drive.

Zhao Guoqing said: "No hard disk or floppy drive is needed. 12M solid-state storage is integrated directly on the board!"

Yan Dawei suddenly thought of NAND memory chips. He said: "Mr. Zhao, NAND is not very reliable. It is best not to be integrated on the motherboard. I suggest connecting it to the motherboard through the parallel port. If it breaks, it can be easily replaced!"

The ARM public version chipset also provides a parallel port standard, which does not need to be compatible with the x86 standard!

Zhao Guoqing said: "What you said makes sense. I will do as you say. Lao Yan, I will give you three months, is that enough?"

Yan Dawei said: "Director Zhao, we have researched six versions of processors from ARMv1 to v6. The technologies are all ready-made. Three months is too much!"

"Don't brag!"

Yan Weida gestured at the size of the motherboard and said, "I'm not bragging, Director Zhao. To be honest, it's a bit difficult to design a PCB board of such a small size. By the way, for such a small machine, heat dissipation may also be a problem, as well as the power supply." , it is recommended to use an external adapter, do you need batteries...?"

"No batteries required, just like a laptop, use an external adapter, and you don't have to worry about heat dissipation..."

"Okay, Mr. Zhao, we will produce a prototype in a month!"

This is the power of the platform. The ARM platform plus the Linux operating system are mature technologies that have been adapted, which saves trouble...

(End of this chapter)