page_title: Transputer
section_title: Development
hierarchical_section_title: Transputer / Design / Development
caption_attribution_description: English: INMOS transputer modules IMSB404 (left and right) and IMSB418 (center) Deutsch: INMOS Transputer Module IMSB404 (links und rechts) und IMSB418 (Mitte)
context_page_description: The transputer is a series of pioneering microprocessors from the 1980s, featuring integrated memory and serial communication links, intended for parallel computing. They were designed and produced by Inmos, a semiconductor company based in Bristol, United Kingdom.
  For some time in the late 1980s, many considered the transputer to be the next great design for the future of computing. While Inmos and the transputer did not achieve this expectation, the transputer architecture was highly influential in provoking new ideas in computer architecture, several of which have re-emerged in different forms in modern systems.
context_section_description: To provide an easy means of prototyping, constructing and configuring multiple-transputer systems, Inmos introduced the TRAM (TRAnsputer Module) standard in 1987. A TRAM was essentially a building block daughterboard comprising a transputer and, optionally, external memory and/or peripheral devices, with simple standardised connectors providing power, transputer links, clock and system signals. Various sizes of TRAM were defined, from the basic Size 1 TRAM (3.66 in by 1.05 in) up to Size 8 (3.66 in by 8.75 in). Inmos produced a range of TRAM motherboards for various host buses such as Industry Standard Architecture (ISA), MicroChannel, or VMEbus. TRAM links operate at 10 Mbit/s or 20 Mbit/s.
caption: Selection of TRAMs
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