29 minutes ago, picosecond said:
I have never believed these are connected. I think it is unfortunate that 8BG has been promoting this notion.
The only thing that makes off the shelf parts understandable is their documentation. Without docs how could anyone design with them? Even good docs stop at some level of abstraction. For example, YM2151 docs describe nothing about its microarchitecture, which is need to really understand how it works. I would argue that properly documented highly integrated designs can be more understandable than their off the shelf cousins. Phase 1 X16 and Phase 3 X16 are equal complexity and equally understandable. The packaging differences are superficial.
Raspberry Pi has no architectural commonalities with phase 3 X18/X8. The only superficial thing they have in common is a high level of integration.
If people prefer the cool appearance of big PCBs with lots of chips, I have no argument with that. I think they look cool too. I just reject this idea that knowing this chip is the CPU and this chip does graphics imparts any meaningful knowledge of the computer's operation.
I agree for the most part. The one place I think the big board with lots of chips wins is when trying to explain or teach it to people who have no idea. A concrete chip that can be described verbally is going to win out over a datasheet from a concrete vs abstraction perspective.