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NEC μCOM series

The NEC μCOM series is a series of microprocessors and microcontrollers manufactured by NEC in the 1970s and 1980s. The initial entries in the series were custom-designed 4 and 16-bit designs, but later models in the series were mostly based on the Intel 8080 and Zilog Z80 8-bit designs, and later, the Intel 8086 16-bit design. Most of the line was replaced in 1984 by the NEC V20, an Intel 8088 clone.

Overview
The μCOM series has its roots in one of the world's earliest microprocessor chipsets, the two-chip processor μPD707 / μPD708. Early in 1970, Coca Cola Japan set out to increase the efficiency of their sales outlets by introducing new POS terminals. Sharp was contracted to build these terminals, and NEC in turn to develop a chipset. The chipset development was complete in December 1971, at about the same time as other early microprocessors in the USA. == μCOM-4 series ==
μCOM-4 series
μCOM-4 The μCOM-4 (μPD751) is NEC's original single-chip 4-bit microprocessor, announced in 1973. • μPD752 - 8-bit I/O port • μPD757 - Keyboard and display controller • μPD758 - Printer controller μCOM-41 The μCOM-41 (μPD541) is a PMOS microprocessor in a 42-pin package. The following peripheral integrated circuits were available: • μPD542 - ROM plus RAM • μPD543 - ROM plus I/O port μCOM-42 The μCOM-42 (μPD548) is a 4-bit PMOS microcontroller in a 42-pin package. It has built-in ROM (1920 × 10 bit) and RAM (96 × 4 bit) as well as keyboard, display, and printer controllers. The μPD548 requires a power supply of -10V and the outputs can switch up to -35V. A ROM-less chip (μPD555) in a 64-pin quad-in-line package was available for hardware and software development. μCOM-43 through μCOM-46 The μCOM-43 series consists of more than 10 different 4-bit microcontrollers. Broadly speaking, there are PMOS devices (μPD500 series), NMOS devices (μPD1500 series, μCOM-43N ), and CMOS devices (μPD650 series, μCOM-43C ). The μCOM-43, μCOM-44, μCOM-45, and μCOM-46 have the same basic instruction set. They differ in the amount of ROM and RAM, the number of I/O pins, and the package (28-pin or 42-pin). A ROM-less chip (μPD556) in a 64-pin quad-in-line package was available for hardware and software development. Beginning in 1980, they there were gradually replaced by the μCOM-75 series (see below). μCOM-47 The μCOM-47 (μPD766) is a 4-bit NMOS microcontroller in a 64-pin package. It has built-in ROM and RAM as well as keyboard, display, and printer controllers. μCOM-75 The μCOM-75 series consists of 4-bit microcontrollers. Only the first device in the series, the μPD7520, was still developed in PMOS technology. All subsequent microcontrollers in the series (μPD7502 etc.) used CMOS. A ROM-less chip (μPD7500) in a 64-pin quad-in-line package was available for hardware and software development. By 1982 the μCOM-75 series was referred to as the μPD7500 series and later replaced by the 75X and 75XL series. == μCOM-8 series ==
μCOM-8 series
μCOM-8 The μCOM-8 (μPD753) is an 8-bit microprocessor that is software-compatible with the Intel 8080, but differs in its 42-pin package and its completely different pin-out. There are minor software differences as well, e.g. the setting of flags for the SUB instruction. μCOM-80 The μCOM-80 (μPD8080A) is an 8-bit microprocessor that is pin-compatible with the Intel 8080 and software-compatible with the μCOM-8. That is, the μPD8080A has some improvements compared to the Intel 8080: The series came in 64-pin quad in-line package. This series was superseded by the 78K series. == μCOM-16 series ==
μCOM-16 series
μCOM-16 The μCOM-16 is a NEC original 16-bit microprocessor, implemented in two chips, the μPD755 (register + ALU) and μPD756 (controller), in 1974. The processor has 93 basic instructions, consisting of 1 to 3 16-bit words. The memory space of 1 Mbyte (512K words) is byte-addressable. The I/O address space is 2048 bytes. There are 14 general-purpose registers. The processor has a 2-input vector interrupt, DMA control, refresh control for DRAM, and a master/slave mode to enable multiprocessor operation. == References ==
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