Lesson plan

Rigel (microprocessor)

Rigel was a microprocessor chip set developed and fabricated by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) that implemented the VAX instruction set architecture (ISA). It was introduced on 11 July 1989 with the introduction of the VAX 6000 Model 400, the first system to feature the chip set. Rigel was also used in the VAX 4000 Model 300 and VAXstation 3100 Model 76. Production Rigel CPUs were rated at 35 to 43 MHz. The Rigel chipset consisted of several devices: *REX520 central processing unit (also known as the DC520 or "P-chip") *DC523 floating-point unit (codenamed KIWI or "F-chip" during development) *DC592 cache controller (codenamed COW or "C-chip" during development) *DC521 clock chip In addition, two further devices implemented the VAX vector processor option; these comprised the DC555 Vector Register set chip (VERSE) and the DC556 Vector Data Path chip (FAVOR). Support chips for Rigel-based systems included the RSSC (Rigel System Support Chip) and Ghidra, the VAX 4000 system interface chip.

Back to article

Article summary

Rigel was a microprocessor chip set developed and fabricated by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) that implemented the VAX instruction set architecture (ISA). It was introduced on 11 July 1989 with the introduction of the VAX 6000 Model 400, the first system to feature the chip set. Rigel was also used in the VAX 4000 Model 300 and VAXstation 3100 Model 76. Production Rigel CPUs were rated at 35 to 43 MHz. The Rigel chipset consisted of several devices: *REX520 central processing unit (also known as the DC520 or "P-chip") *DC523 floating-point unit (codenamed KIWI or "F-chip" during development) *DC592 cache controller (codenamed COW or "C-chip" during development) *DC521 clock chip In addition, two further devices implemented the VAX vector processor option; these comprised the DC555 Vector Register set chip (VERSE) and the DC556 Vector Data Path chip (FAVOR). Support chips for Rigel-based systems included the RSSC (Rigel System Support Chip) and Ghidra, the VAX 4000 system interface chip.

Key claims

No claims recorded.

Discussion questions

  1. Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
  2. Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
  3. If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?

Bibliography

No sources recorded.

Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.