avr means?
Here you can read all about the history of PIC, Arizona microchip and General Instruments and why it was named PIC (
Peripheral
Interface
Controller):
www.jpixton.dircon.co.uk/pic/history.html
www.voti.nl/picfaq/index_1.html#What is a PIC?
2. What is a PIC?
(from
http://www.voti.nl/swp)
A long, long time ago (when computer chips died when a cat came near on a dry day) General Instruments produced a chip called the PIC1650, described as a Programmable Intelligent Computer. This chip is the mother of all PIC chips, functionally close to the current 16C54. It was intended as a peripheral for their CP1600 microprocessor. Maybe that is why most people think PIC stands for Peripheral Interface Controller. As far as I know Microchip has never used PIC as an abbreviation, just as PIC. And recently Microchip has started calling its PICs microcontrollers PICmicro MCU's. Maybe they heard that PIC sounds like the Dutch word for dick and wanted to spare me the frowns from Dutch readers.
PIC is also the abbreviation of Peripheral Interrupt Controller - but that's an entirey different story.
I have alredy answered what the meaning of AVR is two times earlier here at EDAboard:
AVR has two meanings:
1) AVR = "
Alf (Egil Bogen) and
Vegard (Wollan) 's
Risc processor"
Alf Egil Bogen & Vegard Wollan are the Norwegian inventors of the AVR MCU, produced by Atmel.
2) AVR =
Advanced
Virtual
RISC (Vitrual RISC because it is an enhanced RISC core, something in between a true RISC and a CISC core).
According to a paper from Alf Egil Bogen & Vegard Wollan.
AVR Enhanced RISC Microcontrollers:
www.avrfreaks.net/Tools/ToolFiles/447/RISCMCU.PDF
Here's som info about how it all started, (but in Swedish language):
**broken link removed**
From the link above:
Swedish language:
1996 tog de båda studiekamraterna Vegard Wollan och Alf-Egil Bogen med sig sin AVR-teknologi (Advanced Virtual RISC) från Nordic VLSI och etablerade Atmel Norway. Från Norges tekniska högskola anslöt sig en tredje studiekamrat, Gaute Myklebust. Dessa tre utgör fortfarande företagets ledning.
Translated to English:
In 1996 the two college friends, Vegard Wollan and Alf-Egil Bogen brought along their AVR-technology (Advanced Virtual RISC) from Nordic VLSI and founded Atmel Norway. From Norways technical college (Norges tekniska högskola) a third college friends, Gaute Myklebust joined them. These three still constitute the mangement of the company.
According to Atmel, AVR doesn't mean anything, they probably say this because Atmel doesn't like to tell AVR was not invented by Atmel.
I don't believe anyone makes up such a strange name as AVR if it doesn't mean anything.
The original name of the AVR core before it was sold to Atmel was µRISC and it had 31 instructions:
http://www.quicknet.se/hdc/research/bec96p4.htm
Atmel bougth the µRISC core from Nordic VLSI and the two inventors of the core wa hired by Atmel and founded Atmel Norway in Trondheim.
Nordic VLSI still exists in Trondheim under a different name, Nordic Semiconductor:
www.nvlsi.no
Link to Atmel's Norwegian AVR Development Centre:
www.atmel.no
The Swedish C-compiler company, IAR has also been involved in the devlopment of the AVR core, to make sure the core instruction set was optimized for C-compilers.
The AVR Microcontroller and C Compiler Co-Design:
www.atmel.com/dyn/resources/prod_documents/compiler.pdf
Link to IAR:
www.IAR.com
**broken link removed**
FAQ: What does AVR stand for?
This is from ATMEL's AVR FAQ:
"Question: What does "AVR" stand for?
Answer
Nothing, it's just a name."
BUT look who wrote a white paper on AVR
"AVR Enhanced RISC Microcontrollers
Alf-Egil Bogen
Vegard Wollan
ATMEL Corporation
ATMEL Development Center, Trondheim, Norway"
Perhaps "Alf" and "Vergard" can solve the remaining "R" mystery.
reference
FAQ: What does AVR stand for? (Answer 2)
First of all AVR stands for: Advanced Virtual RISC, the founders are Alf Egil Bogen Vegard Wollan RISC (also forms AVR).
Both AVR inventors still works for ATMEL Development Center, Trondheim, Norway:
Vegard Wollan
Position: Managing Director, Atmel Corporation
Address: Atmel Norway AS, Vestre Rosten 78, 7092 Tiller, Norway
Phone: +47 72 88 43 88
Fax: +47 72 88 43 99
Email:
vwollan@atmel.com
Visit Address: Mediahuset, Vestre Rosten 78, Tiller
Alf-Egil Bogen
Position: Managing Director, Atmel Corporation
Address: Atmel Norway AS, Vestre Rosten 78, 7092 Tiller, Norway
Phone: +47 72 88 43 88
Fax: +47 72 88 43 99
Email:
abogen@atmel.com
Visit Address: Mediahuset, Vestre Rosten 78, Tiller
If you can understand Norwegian you can read about where the AVR was invented and how ATMEL Norway was founded:
**broken link removed**