Intel X86 Architecture Guide

Ahead Of The Curve: Transmeta Takes On Intel
(InfoWorld) - Intels legal staff might as well buy homes in Delaware. Thats the venue for AMDs anti-trust action against Intel, and this month, Transmeta petitioned the same Delaware Federal District Court to find that Intel has violated 10 of Transmetas patents. The killer patent of the group is the one granted Transmeta in August. It relates to adaptive power control, which, you may be aware, Intel claims to have mastered in Core microarchitecture. According to the complaint, Intel and Transmeta were working together until a dustup over the value of Transmetas IP (intellectual property). Transmeta says that Intel folded up its checkbook but kept using Transmeta IP in Intel designs. Having just declared itself the new papa of the green x86, it looks bad that Intel might have let a little of Transmetas 1-watt 32-bit x86 leak into Intels performance-per-watt chips. Transmetas not some down-and-outfit thats using a blindly issued patent to shake down a wealthy neighbor. In 1995, Transmeta set out to create a metaprocessor, a CPU that could assume the personality of another. Transmeta first created Crusoe, a uniquely flexible CPU with a native VLIW (very long instruction word) architecture. Itanium is another VLIW design, but as opposed to Intel, Transmeta never required developers to code to its CPUs native architectures. Instead, Transmeta wrote Code Morphing software to translate x86 instructions into native VLIW operations on the fly. Any 32-bit x86 software you choose runs, unmodified, on a Transmeta CPU. Translated code is cached, so Transmeta processors -- the current being Efficeon -- speed up as they learn the instruction mix of your applications. The Code Morphing software not only translates x86 code to VLIW in real time; it analyzes the code its translating and makes fine-grained adjustments to CPU voltage and clock frequency based on performance demands and thermal conditions. Its key that Efficeon doesnt rely on the OS to measure load and change speed and voltage. Efficeon and Code Morphing measure and adjust to demand by themselves. Transmeta calls this LongRun, and LongRun2 pushes power-saving technology further by greatly reducing the amount of current that transistors leak while theyre in the off state. These are holy grails for CPU makers, and theyre Transmetas golden IP. Transmeta claims that Efficeon, which implements LongRun but not LongRun2, requires as little as 1 watt of power in active operation. To put that in perspective, the halt state that PCs enter when input devices are idle uses just six-tenths of a watt. AMD struck a deal with Transmeta in June to license Efficeons technology and brand, creating the AMD Efficeon processor. AMD will sell this chip to OEMs targeting underserved foreign markets. It is telling that AMD tapped Transmeta despite the fact that AMD has low-cost, low-power x86 CPUs in its own catalog. AMD is a Transmeta competitor, yet AMD recognizes Transmeta as the go-to for 32-bit low-power x86. Most of the major computer makers in Asia, including Fujitsu and Toshiba, are already Transmeta licensees. If Transmeta IP or lessons learned from it did get into Pentium 4, Core, and Core 2 CPUs as the complaint alleges, Intel should pony up -- and not because its cheaper to pay than go to trial. Any Transmeta inventions that Intel used would be pivotal in positioning Intel as the self-described performance-per-watt leader.... More

Amd Explores The Canadian Landscape
After taking over ATI Technologies, computer-chip maker's sights are set on Intel ... More

Sun Goes After Linux
An updated Solaris, with enhanced security and virtualization, is being prepared to compete with Linux on the x86 platform.... More

Ibm Releases Software Development Kit For Java 6
Support for the programming language includes Linux and AIX for computers running on x86 chips as well as 32- and 64-bit PowerPC.... More

Gateway Begins Amd Server Push
Gateway becomes the latest computer maker to begin selling x86 servers using Advanced Micro Devices' Opteron processor.... More

MPAM EzyFeeds

P5gpl-x Intel Socket 775 Motherboard Intel 915PL chipset Intel LGA775 Pentium 4 CPU socket Dual-Channel DDR400/333 PCI Express Architecture 6 Channel High Definition Audio Intel Gigabit LAN...

Intellistation M Pro - Pentium D 3.40ghz Workstation Intel Pentium D 950 3.40GHz 2GB RAM 80GB HDD CD-RW/DVD-ROM Gigabit Ethernet NVIDIA Quadro FX 1400 Mini-tower Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS 4 x86...

Intellistation M Pro - Pentium D 3.40ghz Workstation Intel Pentium D 950 3.40GHz 2GB RAM 80GB HDD CD-RW/DVD-ROM Gigabit Ethernet NVIDIA Quadro FX 1400 Mini-tower Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS 4 x86...

Hewlett-packard 359047-b21 Xeon/3.06ghz-512k Proc Opt Kit Dl140 Only The Intel Xeon Processor with 533 MHz Front Side Bus is designed for high-performance dual-processor workstation and server applications. Based on the Intel NetBurst microarchitecture and the new Hyper-Threading Technology, it is binary compatible with previous Intel Architecture (IA-32) processors. The Intel Xeon processor with 533 MHz Front Side Bus is scalable to two processors in a multiproces...

Hewlett-packard 337056-b21 Xeon/3.06ghz-1mb Proc Opt Kit Dl360 G3 Only The Intel Xeon Processor with 533 MHz Front Side Bus is designed for high-performance dual-processor workstation and server applications. Based on the Intel NetBurst microarchitecture and the new Hyper-Threading Technology, it is binary compatible with previous Intel Architecture (IA-32) processors. The Intel Xeon processor with 533 MHz Front Side Bus is scalable to two processors in a multiproces...

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