 | This article has multiple issues. Please helpimprove it or discuss these issues on thetalk page.(Learn how and when to remove these messages) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
|
TheJazz computer architecture is a motherboard and chipset design originally developed byMicrosoft for use in developingWindows NT. The design was eventually used as the basis for mostMIPS-based Windows NT systems.[citation needed]
Microsoft intended NT to be portable between variousmicroprocessor architectures so the MIPSRISC architecture was chosen for one of the first development platforms for the NT project in the late 1980s/early 1990s.[specify] However, around 1990, the existing MIPS-based systems (such as theTURBOchannel-equippedDECstation or theSGI Indigo) varied drastically from standardIntelpersonal computers such as theIBM AT—for example, neither used theISA bus so common inIntel 386-class machines.
Microsoft decided to design their own MIPS-based hardware platform on which to develop NT, which resulted in the Jazz architecture. Later,[when?] Microsoft sold this architecture design to theMIPS Computer Systems, Inc. where it became theMIPS Magnum.
The Jazz systems were designed to partially comply with theAdvanced RISC Computing (ARC) standard, and each used theARC firmware toboot Windows NT.[1] Otheroperating systems were also ported to various Jazz implementations, such asRISC/os to the MIPS Magnum.
The Jazz architecture includes:[citation needed]
This design was simple enough and powerful enough that a majority of Windows NT-capable MIPS systems were based on modified versions of the Jazz architecture. Systems which were based on Jazz include the MIPS Magnum (R4000 PC-50 and SC-50 versions);Acer PICA, which usesS3 videocard;Olivetti M700, which has different video and sound system; and theNEC RISCstation, which is Jazz withPCI.[citation needed]
There were also some MIPS systems designed to run Windows NT and comply with the ARC standard, but nevertheless werenot based on the Jazz platform, such as theDeskStation Tyne, NeTpower FASTseries Falcon,ShaBLAMM! NiTro-VLB, as well as theSiemens-Nixdorf RM-200, RM-300 and RM-400.[citation needed]
