1978, with four 16-bit
accumulators, AC0 to AC3 and a 15 bit
indexed addresses and AC3 was used to store the return address
the NOVA was an ordinary
CPU design.
Memory could be access indirectly through addresses stored in
other memory locations. If locations 0 to 3 were used for
this purpose, they were auto-incremented after being used. If
locations 4 to 7 were used, they were auto-decremented.
Memory could be addressed in 16-bit words up to a maximum of
32K words (64K bytes). The instruction cycle time was 500
nanoseconds(?) cycle time for each. The Nova originally
mature design than the PDP-8.
Another CPU, the
PACE, was based on the NOVA design, but
featured 16-bit addresses (instead of the Nova's 15), more
[Date, speed, mini?]
(1996-03-01)