- IBM PALM processor
The IBM PALM processor (Put All Logic in Microcode) was a board-level 16-bit processor used in the IBM 5100 Portable Computer, a predecessor of the
IBM PC . PALM was also used in theIBM 5110 andIBM 5120 followon machines. PALM was likely used in other IBM products as an embedded controller.IBM referred to PALM as a
microprocessor , though they used that term to mean a processor that executesmicrocode to implement a higher-levelinstruction set , rather than its conventional definition of a complete processor on a singlesilicon integrated circuit . The PALM processor was an entire circuit board containing 13 square metal-can bipolargate array s, 3 conventional DIPtransistor-transistor logic (TTL) parts and 1 round metal can part.PALM has a 16-
bit data bus, with two additional bits used forparity . PALM can directly address 64 kB (64 KiB) of memory. The IBM 5100 could be configured with up to 32 kB of Executable ROS (ROM) and up to 64 kB of RAM. A simplebank switching scheme was used to extend the address space.External links
;Pictures
* [http://www.classiccmp.org/dunfield/ibm5100/index.htm] - Daves Old Computers, This page has a link with a picture of the IBM PALM circuit board as well as many photos of the IBM 5100
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