🚀 go-pugleaf

On Tue, 13 Apr 1999 15:07:48 +0100, Roger Hunt
<roger@carewg.demon.co.uk> wrote:

[SNIP]
>Could you tell me what TCP and PGA stand for please, most of the
>contents of the document were technically way over my head.

   TCP = Tape Carrier Package.  PGA = Pin Grid Array.

    You can think of the TCP style as 'surface mount'.  i.e. the chip
is mounted in a special 'carrier' with the leads splayed out ready to
be automaticaly soldered to a motherboard by machinery. Note that TCP
is *soldered* to the motherboard, not plugged!
     Pin Grid Array is the familiar Socket 7 system.

>I would like to ask what the BF2 line does, but again, I don't have a
>structured knowledge of these devices.....

   The 'multilplier' links or switches are connected to the processor
via the BFx pins.  In the original Pentium and Pentium MMX (socket 7)
there were just two of these lines - BF0 and BF1.  Later designs (PII
and the mobile versions of the MMX, also super-socket 7) added another
line - BF2.
    As part of the power-on process of a CPU it samples these lines to
see what multiplier to use.
    Some motherboard manuals are up-front about this, which enables
users to extrapolate later chip's settings.  Other 'hide' the
meanings, requiring a bit of decoding to work out which link/switch
belongs to which BFx line.
 
>
>Thanks,
>(while I'm at it, SPGA and PPGA? Do you know of a Super Glossary of
>these terms?)

   PPGA = Plastic PGA (most Pentiums).  I'll have to look up the S
prefix.

   Most of these terms are defined by the Intel docs - you just have
to do a *thorough* search through them!

   Regards,
          Harry.