资料来源 : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

Nominal Semidestructor
     
        Soundalike slang for "{National Semiconductor}", found among
        other places in the {4.3BSD} networking sources.  During the
        late 1970s to mid-1980s this company marketed a series of
        {microprocessor}s including the {NS16000} and {NS32000} and
        several variants.  At one point early in the great
        {microprocessor} race, the specs on these chips made them look
        like serious competition for the rising {Intel 80x86} and
        {Motorola 680x0} series.  Unfortunately, the actual parts were
        notoriously flaky and never implemented the full {instruction
        set} promised in their literature, apparently because the
        company couldn't get any of the mask steppings to work as
        designed.  They eventually sank without trace, joining the
        {Zilog Z8000} and a few even more obscure also-rans in the
        graveyard of forgotten {microprocessor}s.
     
        Compare {HP-SUX}, {AIDX}, {buglix}, {Macintrash}, {Telerat},
        {Open DeathTrap}, {ScumOS}, {sun-stools}.
     
        (1994-12-23)