Custom Chinese CPUs

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loongson

I came across this article by accident and I was shocked.

I didn't dig deep but apparently it's a MIPS compatible CPU, made by the Chinese, which somehow also does x86 emulation. Apparently the boxes it's used in run Linux.

Does anyone know what systems these processors empower? Is there anything interesting about them?

 

"Loongson does not support the x86 instruction set. "

? i have no clue how that actually works.... interesting nevertheless

 

It has a number of instructions that provide performance gains for x86 emulation if used by the software emulator, by the sounds of it.

I heard about the Dragon CPUs back maybe five years ago, but I think they've only started popping up in devices relatively recently.

 

Missile guidance CPUs....

 

Well, making a MIPS clone isn't that special... the stuff you need is pretty much out there, anyway. I remember making MIPS microcode in school even

(granted, actually coming up with a VHDL is a step further, but definitely doable)

Edit: alright, I read some more and it actually looks quite cool. Props for making it OOE straight away

 

Soviets did 8086 and Z80 clones back in the day.

 

A few years ago they only ran Red Flag Linux so it was pretty weak. Not much has changed.

 

so Calpis ,what sort of market are these processors aimed at? Embedded, console, Pc or..?

 

I think just low cost computers for China.

 

Hot.

I love China's ability to say "screw it, we'll make our own." Someday they'll cut their country off from the continent and then board it up.

 

Impossible, who's goods are they left to pirate then, their own? :lol:

 

Yep, they already do :nod:

 

They are intended for micro laptops/net books running Linux only.

Intel and AMD chips are RISC emulating x86, I'm not sure if you knew that Barc0de.

 

no, that sort of knowledge isn't legal to own here in my country.

Of course, reduced instruction sets are good for most embedded needs, never actually bothered wondering what a netbook might pack though, i find them a bit redundant with my nokia n900.:love2:

 

Are there any articles on this? I've heard it said before but I'm curious as to how and when it was implemented.

 

A friend of mine showed me an old CPU which had a very, very strange name and on the text was 486 compatible, so I guess it isn't a so much new thing.

 

You mean a Cyrix/cyrix-clone?

 

There is not a huge amount easily available, but for AMD you could do some digging for Nexgen and Risc86. There are some academic papers roughly explaining how they do it - very interesting.