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Acumos - Cirrus Logic, when did first CL branded chips arrive at market?

S

stecdose

Experienced Member
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Oct 2, 2017
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58
Location
Denmark
Hi,

I recently got a Commodore 386SX-25 which has a CL-GD5402 with datecode 9234.
It seems like Most Commodore 386SX-25 have a AVGA2 chips - which is the same, just under the old label Acumos.

Wikipedia states in article about Cirrus Logic that they "completed the deal to aqcuire Acumos" in 1992.

I assume that a CL branded chip from week 34 in 1992 is one of the early CL chips.

Does anyone of you have a clue, when they started to produce AVGA2 chips with Cirrus branding?
Those having an AVGA2 or a CL-GD5402 - would you please be so kind and post your chip's datecode?

I have attached a picture of my chip, there you can see the "9234" datecode.

vga_cirrus_CL-GD5402_512k_VRAM.jpg

//edit: This one
http://www.os2museum.com/wp/fast-unaccelerated-vga/avga2/
is five weeks earlier (9229) and is still Acumos AVGA2
 
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Will try to remember to pop open my Argent Technologies 486 DX 33 this evening. It has a AVGA2 chip.

I can also share the AVGA2 driver diskette with you. A VCFED member from SE bought it for me on Tradera this year.
 
That is the driver disk I uploaded. I forgot that I did. :)

Update: forgot to take a picture yesterday evening. Will try to remember this evening.
 
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update:

Today I got a mail from a friend, who is also into this topic.
He has a Acumos AVGA2 with datecode 9230 - which leaves a gap of 4 weeks.

//edit:
Peter, no hurry, everything is fine :)
 
I have 2 VGA cards with Acumos AVGA2 chips, one has a date code of 9203 and the other 9230
 
Malc, looks like you have one of the very last. Not that it really would matter to me - but I think thats a nice fact to know.

Xacalite, thank you!

Here's the result from vgamuseum:
AVGA2:
92/02
92/03
92/09
92/16
92/28
92/30

GD-5402
93/03
93/30
93/51
 
The 2 i have work in 8-bit slots, Handy to have for my 5150 / 5160, I also have a CL GD5401 that also works in 8-bit slot
 
Mine is onboard, so i cant test 8bit. Also I dont have a 8bit slot. I think testing could be done with some strong, flat tape on the 16bit part of the connector...
 
If no one shows up with a datecode between 9230 (AVGA2) and 9234 (CL) I think we have tracked down the change very exactly. I assume production wouldn't have stopped just because the company was sold. The must be some cards produced in those 4 weeks and some day they changed the logo.
 
If you insist on finding the exact date, search for other Acumos/CL chips too.
AFAIK there were three Acumos chipsets rebranded to CL:

AVGA1 -> CL-GD5401
AVGA2 -> CL-GD5402
AVGA3 -> CL-GD542x

But I don't think there were any "AVGA3" chips released, Acumos probably didn't make it before the aquisition.
However, there's plenty of cards named "AVGA3" with CL-GD542x chips.
 
Xacalite said:
there's plenty of cards named "AVGA3" with CL-GD542x chips.
Click to expand...
I have such a card, which is 9428 - almost one year after the change.
But I will do with the VGAMUSEUMs photos. Maybe some users have also some more dates...

This card is somehow slower than the onboard 5402. If interested in results, see this comment and the following two (I have made em, results of benching my cards):
http://www.os2museum.com/wp/fast-unaccelerated-vga/comment-page-1/#comment-351477
 
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