National Semiconductor 32000

The introduction of the NS16032, quickly renamed NS32016, followed the introduction by Intel of the 8086 and the introduction by Motorola of the MC68000. All three chips used a 16-bit external bus, but internally the 68000 and 32016 were fully 32-bit computers. Just as the Intel 8086 led to a whole series of chips (80286, 80386, …); the Motorola 68000 led to a whole series of chips (68010, 68020, 68030, …); likewise, the National Semiconductor 32016 led to a series of chips (32032, 32332, 32532).

Unfortunately, the National chips were never as big a commercial success as the Intel and Motorola offerings. National did find a market in a series of chips as embedded controllers in peripheral devices.

New to the 32000 was the “module” architecture. Motorola started down this route with the 68020, but abandoned the idea with the 68030 and later chips. National kept the architecture through its entire upgraded line, 32332, 32532, and into the controller chips 32CG16, 32CG160, 32FG16, and so on.

Here is a link to one of the best sites paying tribute to the NS32000: http://www.cpu-ns32k.net

Here is a link to my S-100 board built many years ago using the NS32016 chipset: http://www.cpu-ns32k.net/John.html