Rare CPU Find of the Day: National Semiconductor IMP16A-500D
Back in the day of CPU’s National was on the forefront of CPU design, while Intel was messing around with 4 and 8 bit designs. It by itself was the 4th CPU, and the 1st bit slice device.
It consists of:
4 x 4 bit IMP-00A/520D – These are the Register and Arithmetic Units
1 x IMP16A-521D – Standard 16 bit Instruction set control chip (Based on the Data General Nova)
1 x IMP16A-522D – Extended 16 bit Instruction set (not sure what addition instructions it has)
These were sold in a set by National, and in a pretty nice box.
National IMP16A-500D
Later on National implemented them as a single chip, the IMP16A-500D PACE, and then the NMOS INS8900.
More infomation about the IMP16 can be found at Antique Tech
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