Re: Universal Processor (was Re: [oc] x86 IP Core)

[Rudolf Usselmann <rudi@asics.ws>]

Hi John !

I have been thinking along those lines for quite some
time, but have come to the conclusion that even though
this sounds kind of nice it is not particularly practical.

You would have a CPU (e.g. OpenRisc) and a translation
block. Which means the size, and power consumption is
much higher than that of a native x86 or 68K etc.
Additional problems occur in latency of the code morphing
block. Think when you take a branch, you would have to
stall until the code morphing block can catch up.

Several companies have taken this a step further and 
ave removed the traditional instruction decode block
from the CPU and are capable of creating custom
instruction decode units based on your requirement
(x86, 68K etc.)

So a CPU that does that might be more interesting than
a translation block.

Other companies also have written "Just In Time" compilers
and translates that convert binaries in software to the
desired architecture. But thats obviously very performance
degrading unless you are running one very, very long task
at a time ...

Best Regards, 
rudi               
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