OS services - page 1

In this chapter I will discuss many more things the WIZ OS can do.

Hardware test:
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Before loading any sequence onto any WIZ, the OS can load a hardware test sequence into that WIZ first. If it failed, it would simply be removed from the available pool of WIZes.

The OS could, on a regular basis, cycle through all WIZes on a chip, interrupting their currently running sequence, if any, to run a hardware test sequence, and then if good, let the original sequence continue.

It is worthy of note here that given tens or hundreds of thousands of WIZes on a chip, even if a significant number failed, they would hardly be missed. Thus, the concept of "manufacturing yield" becomes almost irrelevant, up to a point.

This is a sacrilegious statement in the world of VLSI, where chipmakers and fab managers, who are always pushing the edges, pray to the Gods of Yield. It is yield that determines selling prices and profit margins.

Being very tolerant of chip flaws (that would reduce yield in traditional chips) makes WIZes very cheap to manufacture. Even in a dusty fab! ;)