In today's article we are going to explore the fascinating world of Serial computer, a topic that has captured the attention of humanity for decades. From its origins to its current impacts, Serial computer has played a fundamental role in our lives, influencing the way we think, behave and relate to the world around us. Throughout this article, we will examine the various aspects of Serial computer, from its historical importance to its relevance today, providing an in-depth and comprehensive look at this intriguing topic. Join us on this journey of discovery as we explore the mysteries and wonders of Serial computer.
A serial computer is a computer typified by bit-serial architecture – i.e., internally operating on one bit or digit for each clock cycle. Machines with serial main storage devices such as acoustic or magnetostrictive delay lines and rotating magnetic devices were usually serial computers.
Serial computers require much less hardware than their bit-parallel counterparts[1] which exploit bit-level parallelism to do more computation per clock cycle. There are modern variants of the serial computer available as a soft microprocessor[2] which can serve niche purposes where the size of the CPU is the main constraint.
The first computer that was not serial and used a parallel bus was the Whirlwind in 1951.
A serial computer is not necessarily the same as a computer with a 1-bit architecture, which is a subset of the serial computer class. 1-bit computer instructions operate on data consisting of single bits, whereas a serial computer can operate on N-bit data widths, but does so a single bit at a time.
Most of the early massive parallel processing machines were built out of individual serial processors, including:
the processor was designed to transfer data serially throughout the entire system. The Parallel Multiplier Unit by means of a parallel algorithm(26 pages)
Even operating one bit at a time as a serial computer, the Datapoint 2200 performed considerably faster than the 8008 chip.
The HP-35 is a totally serial computer. The adder is a BCD serial type The serial structure means less integrated circuit area must be allocated to interconnection lines and gating functions and an interesting trade off occurs. A bit-serial, digit-serial architecture is inherently one fourth the speed of a bit-parallel digit-serial structure But the basic clock rate for a bit-serial structure can sometimes be increased since additional area can be allocated for larger integrated devices that are necessary for greater speed. In the HP-35, the execution time of the most complex functions is under one second, while the serial architecture permits an increased circuit complexity. Instructions in the HP-35 are transferred serially from the active read-only memory to the arithmetic and control circuits and to other ROMs if present.