Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
Only a guess, Fred.
Obviously we are "outperforming" techs, so more than general market forces are at work. IBMs troubles and AMDs incursion into ARM chips might be having an effect, but my guess is that we are being run down by the MMs.
I think the stock has been manipulated for three weeks now, with the MMs trying to get retail shareholders to sell shares so that institutions can start to get back into their prior positions. As you probably know, most institutions cannot own shares under a certain minimum, commonly $4 or $5. Last fall TMTA had only 10% or so institutional ownership, down from 60% during the heyday. I am not sure of the accuracy of ThompsonFN, but they now report much higher institutional ownership, and strong interest today by institutions to BUY.
http://iw.thomsonfn.com/iwatch/cgi-bin/iw_ticker?t=TMTA&range=0&mgp=0&i=2&hdate=&....
The only other plausible explanation for such a downturn on no news is that the numbers next week are going to be bad, and this info is leaking. Or other bad news, perhaps. I have a great problem believing this, however. TMTA did not pre-announce bad news, as they have in the past. The bar is so low ($3.5-4 million was guidance for 1Q02) they should not only make it but exceed it from the secondary information we have been discussing for some time. Further, the company seems very concerned these days about credibility, so I think they would be aggressive in pointing towards bad news.
I am still long with no thoughts of selling. To me, it is a buying opportunity. However, please keep in mind the old adage about free info being worth what you pay for it.
regards, wsh
BB, looks like the TMTA business plan is in accord with the IEEE vision. Will be interesting to watch it unfold over the next few years.
I looked in Google for the ViA PC Stick, and found a PR from ViA's wireless LAN supplier from the Summer of 2001:
http://www.intersil.com/pr/shell/0,1091,260,00.html
Intersils PRISM Wireless LAN Technology Provides Roaming Connectivity for ViA’s New PC Stick
PRISM 2.5s small form factor and USB connectivity adds functionality to ViAs body-worn PCs
IRVINE, CA July 12, 2001 – Intersil Corporation (NASDAQ: ISIL), the world’s leading developer of silicon technology for Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs), and ViA, Inc., a leader in the design and production of body-worn mobile computers, today announced that Intersil’s small form factor PRISM® 2.5 wireless LAN chip set and reference design with USB interface successfully provided wireless network connectivity for ViA’s new "PC Stick" wearable PC.
ViA recently introduced its new body-worn PC, code named PC Stick. The PC Stick, a full-function PC about the size of a TV remote control weighs as little as 20 ounces and runs standard Microsoft operating systems such as Windows 98 or Windows 2000 and uses Transmeta’s 600 and 800 MHz Crusoe processors. Intersil’s PRISM 2.5 WLAN technology adds wireless connectivity through the USB on the PC Stick.
"ViA is an excellent example of manufacturers developing innovative products that are enhanced with wireless connectivity," said Larry Ciaccia, vice president and general manager of Intersil’s Wireless Networking Business Unit. "ViA’s new body-worn PC Stick offering full function PC operation, combined with PRISM 2.5, enables truly mobile productivity."
User interfaces for the PC Stick include stationary and hand-held touch displays, wireless and USB devices, voice input and virtual and physical keyboard and mouse devices. The drive towards the convergence of computing and telephony will be realized as ViA integrates its computing and Voice-over-Internet-Protocol (VoIP) capabilities.
"Intersil’s PRISM 2.5 wireless LAN reference design represents a major piece of the puzzle for truly mobile PC computing experience using our body-worn PC Stick," said David Carroll, ViA, Inc. founder and chairman. "The PRISM 2.5 radio module receives its power through the USB connection and offers both small size and high-speed performance. We think it’s a perfect companion for our PC Stick, providing our customers the freedom of staying connected while roaming."
More recent update on the PC Stick in Darwin Magazine 12/5/01:
http://www.darwinmag.com/read/machineshop/column.html?ArticleID=208
. . . One such company, Burnsville, Minnesota-based ViA Inc., has found customers for its wearables in companies whose field workers and technicians need access to data but can’t afford to be shackled to desktop or even laptop computers. ViA will be rolling out its “PC Stick,” an eight-ounce device (about the size of a TV remote control) that runs on the Windows platform in early 2002. The full system, which includes drives, battery and display, can weigh as little as 20 ounces. Pricing for the PC stick, which is intended for use in the hospitality, medical and mobile commerce sectors, has not been announced yet.
regards, wsh
Nice try Fred. Thanks. Your comments are apropos as I have been thinking also how great a resource is iHub. It reminds me of investment club meetings of years gone by, with small groups researching and advocating specific stocks to the larger club.
On the one hand it would be nice to enlist a somewhat larger group of contributors so that we might collectively stay better versed in TMTA and have a broader exchange of ideas. On the other, no one would want to see participation grow to the point where we end up with the chaos of a typical BB. Quite a dilemma.
regards, wsh
Life On the Net in 2004, courtesy of the Daily Aardvark (NZ)
http://aardvark.co.nz/daily/2002/0409.shtml
9 April 2002 Edition
It's 6:30am some day in 2004.
The alarm goes and you rise from your bed to face the day's challenges.
After a quick shower and breakfast you wander over to your PC and check to see if any email has arrived overnight.
Hmm... 231 new emails but your filters say that 217 of those are likely to be spam. Even though they've been dropped into another folder you'll still have to wade through them to make sure that you don't miss an important message that might have been accidentally sidetracked by the less-than-perfect software.
Damn, it looks as if you've also received 5 new virus/trojan attachments as well and one of them was 20MB in size -- that's another $4 on your DSL bill. Suddenly a pop-up dialog box appears advising you that there are 2 new Windows Security updates that should be downloaded, totalling some 60MB in size (another $12 worth of traffic).
You just know that downloading these updates will require you to reboot your PC and you're in a hurry so you hit the "cancel" button and fire up your web-browser to check the latest news headlines.
Within seconds, the PC's desktop comes alive with pop-up flashing, animated advertising banners -- but you're used to this highly intrusive advertising by now.
Another dialog box pops up, this time warning you that the license for your copy of Windows XP2004 is due to expire in 10 days. It reminds you that should you fail to renew your license (another $199) then your PC may no longer boot.
Fond memories of the days when there were alternatives to Microsoft's OS pass through your mind -- but that was before the government realised that software was like petrol -- a totally essential commodity in the lives of most businesses and individuals. Legislation was passed in 2003 that required all software developers and vendors to be licensed and a 45% tax added to all sales. Of course, much to Microsoft's glee, this killed the Open Source movement since being an unlicensed software supplier risks a stiff fine or even a jail term and those licenses are incredibly expensive.
You type in "cnn.com" then enter the ID and password associated with your monthly subscription. Remember when there were hundreds of sites offering the latest news for free? Not any more. Sure, there still a few, but they're regularly hit with law suits by the big names who allege breach of copyright. Although such suits are inevitably dismissed -- the cost of defending them means that the independent news sites usually only last a few months at most.
Flicking the remote beside you kicks your digital music player into action and you marvel that 95% of its computing power is dedicated to the sophisticated digital rights management system it contains.
Following an unsuccessful attempt to copy-protect CDs, the recording industry forced everyone to a new mini-CD format that has yet to be cracked (although there are rumours that some Russians have succeeded). You just can't buy music on CDs anymore and the old CDR/RW media now costs $10 a disk, thanks to the $9 anti-piracy levy that was introduced in 2003.
Another warning appears -- "Your license for this recording has expired, unable to play." Damn -- another $49 if you want to listen to that music for another year. You wonder, if as they claim, these new measures significantly reduce piracy, why music is now so much more expensive?
You type up a quick email to a friend, inviting them to meet you for lunch. Of course you're very careful not to use the words "bomb" and "aeroplane" in the same message for fear of attracting the attention of the new anti-terrorism police. After all, every single bit that enters and leaves your PC is now scanned by the authorities -- under the premise that it is in the interests of (inter)national security and crime reduction.
It's funny how they can supposedly detect even an unfriendly tone in an email but they can't (or won't) stop the endless tide of spam isn't it?
Suddenly your PC's screen clears and the image of a naked woman in a seductive pose appears. Oh no, more porno-hacks. Maybe you should have downloaded those latest security patches after all.
For a moment a smile crosses your face -- you're thinking of the "good old days" when the Internet was a much simpler, saner, safer place.
Then you return to reality with the realisation that it's just 7:05am and you've already spent $264.
Nice find by limvestor of Yahoo Board
" . . Are Crusoe based products selling? Check this out. Twinhead a Taiwanese notebook manufacturer rank Efio 1200 (TM5600 based) as the number 3 top seller among the many models it has. The user experience has been consistent good battery life. I got my Taiwanese friend to do the translation for me but if you can read Chinese here is the link:
http://www.twinhead.com.tw/
If I recall correctly, Twinhead is the big player in the PRC market, as well as a big player in ROC, so there may be a *lot* of Efio 1200s being sold.
Steak, we need a contributor who can help translate Chinese-press coverage of TMTA
regards, wsh
AMD devises chips for devices
By Michael Kanellos
Special to ZDNet News
April 8, 2002, 4:00 AM PT
URL: http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103-877604.html
Advanced Micro Devices is jumping into the market for consumer electronics with a new line of chips for home networking equipment, Web tablets and eventually handhelds.
The company on Monday will announce that it has created a Personal Connectivity Solutions (PCS) group, which will focus on bringing these chips to market. The division is largely the result of AMD's acquisition of Alchemy Semiconductor in February, said Phil Pompa, vice president of marketing for the PCS group. The initial products are based on Alchemy's existing line, and a number of executives and engineers from Austin, Texas-based Alchemy hold chief positions in the group.
Alchemy specializes in energy-efficient chips built around designs from MIPS, the chip spinoff of SGI. MIPS chips compete against processors built around designs from ARM, the king of cell phone chips, and from Hitachi. These chips run at slower speeds than PC processors but consume far less energy.
While the group will initially concentrate on expanding Alchemy's Au line of processors, AMD also plans to move into the market for chips for 802.11 wireless networking systems and other components necessary for building consumer-electronics products. The group will work closely with AMD's flash-memory division, one of the company's two dominant businesses.
"All of the applications we are targeting also require flash memory," Pompa said. "What we want to do is give a whole solution to our customers."
The group's first chips, the Au 1000 and Au 1100, will be targeted at residential gateways and consumer-electronics devices, respectively. The chips will run at 333MHz, 400MHz and 500MHz. Products containing the Au 1000 will start to appear in the middle of the year, and Au 1100 products will appear toward the end.
A push into cell phones, though, won't happen for a couple of years, Pompa said.
Targeting these product lines represents both an offensive and defensive move by AMD, according to analysts. Over the past three years, the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company has sold off or closed a number of divisions, including a communications chip group. Until the Alchemy division, AMD focused on only two products: PC processors and flash memory. A new division will allow the company to pursue other opportunities.
"There is a lot of new blood that has been brought into the company," said Kevin Krewell, an analyst at the Microprocessor Report.
By the same token, AMD needed to move into this market to protect its flash contracts. Intel, which sells processors and flash memory, is on a bundling rampage in this market, and will sell customers memory, processors, circuit boards, networking chips and even blueprints for building devices. By selling complete kits, Intel can lock in its customer base.
Rich Witek and Greg Hoeppner, two former chip engineers from Digital Equipment who left the company when Intel took charge of StrongARM in a patent suit settlement in the fall of 1997, founded Alchemy in 1999. Both Witek and Hoeppner joined AMD and will continue to work on the Au line.
Bird, the XBox flop in Japan is not mirrored in the US and, apparently, in your neck of the woods and in Europe. Plus, my son assures me that the XBox is way cool, with great games about to be released exclusively for XBox, and games drive this market.
But I was ruminating on some disparate facts to see if they line up. P Allen sells down his ownership interest in TMTA to just below the 5% owner threshold, but keeps it in the family. Word on the street is that the MSFT COO is interested in becoming CEO of TMTA. MSFT seems interested in developing a hardware chip for the XBox based on their new intermediate language but backward compatible with the current XBox chip. This would be a great app for CMS. The new TM5800 with enhanced CMS and running 1 Ghz would seem ideal to realize the Chief Software Architect's vision for the Tablet PC. Then there are those vague rumors of MSFT's predatory interest in TMTA that never seem to become public but don't seem to go away either. Might be just scattershot, or is there a pattern?
regards, wsh
Fred, there seems little to gain in revisiting the decision of fifty years ago to create in the Middle East "the entire Zionist enterprise." Israel is not going anywhere. However, there is certainly a lot to gain in getting on with a Palestinian homeland. As part of that process there could be civil remedies for wrongs committed at that time in the Western World's zeal for creating an Israeli homeland. Would like to think that the displaced Palestinians will someday get their day in court.
regards, wsh
Apologies for an OnT message, but here is info on the shakeup at MSFT. Apparently CNBC reported this morning that Rick Belluzzo might be interested in the CEO spot at TMTA. This info thanks to "mybuddy3" on the Yahoo board. Interesting the "smoke" recently linking MSFT and TMTA. Is there a fire?
Why Microsoft President Quit
By Michelle Delio
9:00 a.m. April 4, 2002 PST
The reasons for Wednesday's sudden resignation of Microsoft's chief operating officer had much to do with CEO Steve Ballmer's anticipation of a possible negative outcome in its antitrust trial, sources say.
President and COO Rick Belluzzo was a victim of a restructuring plan designed to ensure that Microsoft can survive both an uncertain economy and a possible breakup of the company.
The plan, which sources said was designed primarily by Ballmer, forced Belluzzo out after a little more than a year as president.
Microsoft (MSFT) confirmed in a statement that the company has implemented a restructuring plan that splits its main businesses into seven units, each with a chief executive directly responsible for that unit's operations and profits. But it also said the restructuring has nothing to do with its antitrust trial.
Still, company sources insist that every major move the software giant makes is calculated to help it survive any government-ordered split-up. "The company is also very aware of the need to prepare now in case the antitrust trial turns ugly," said a seven-year employee. "Believe me, things that the press is hearing about today as new initiatives were fully planned out as contingency actions years ago. Nothing happens on the spur of the moment here.
"The word around campus is also that Ballmer wants to make it easy to cut off heads if divisions don't do well, instead of having to fire one chief executive like Rick," said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Microsoft said Wednesday that the heads of its seven key divisions -- Microsoft Windows, server software, MSN, business solutions, home entertainment, the CE operating system, and knowledge management -- would become de facto presidents, fully responsible for profit and loss in their respective divisions.
Rick Sherlund, an analyst with Goldman Sachs, told an AP reporter that he doubted the move reflected problems with Belluzzo's performance.
But sources inside Microsoft said that Belluzzo's control over projects had been systematically pulled away from him, "a sure sign on the Microsoft campus that you should start drafting an announcement indicating a need to spend more time with your family," another Microsoft employee said.
Before being appointed amid much fanfare last year, Belluzzo focused on the company's consumer operations, including the Xbox game system, MSN Messenger instant messaging system and the Ultimate TV service. Belluzzo also was instrumental early on in the company's .NET initiative.
"Rick enjoyed coming up with new ideas for products and services, but the ones he focused most on weren't our big money-makers," the games programmer said. "I think he didn't want to be just a guy who signed off on paperwork, and that's essentially what his job became. He had been pulled off the brainstorming committees for all his big projects over the past four months."
Analysts also suspected that Belluzzo resigned in part due to loss of control over his pet projects. "They gave him a fun job and then took away the fun stuff," speculated Rob Enderle of Giga Information Group. Sources within the company confirmed that Belluzzo wasn't having much fun in the last few months.
"According to a company memo, Rick was told by Steve (Ballmer) that he needed to cut costs at Microsoft, and he had to hand over a lot of his management responsibilities to division managers," the games programmer said. "The company has definitely been moving to form almost autonomous units over the past couple of years, in response to the possibility of antitrust action. One president that rules over all doesn't fit that scenario.
"Rick had to know his days were numbered." "It does look like he was pushed out, just because of the way the restructuring is set up," Tim Bajarin, an analyst with Creative Strategies, told a Reuters reporter.
Belluzzo did not comment on specifics but said in a statement: "Given where Steve and I knew we needed to take the business, I decided it was the right time to pursue my goal of leading my own company."
Microsoft has no plans to appoint a successor, according to a statement released by the company. Ballmer remains chief executive officer and co-founder Bill Gates retains the titles of chairman and chief software architect.
Belluzzo said he plans to stay in his current position until May, and will remain with the company until September to organize the transition.
A Palestinian State is inevitable, but it is so difficult to envision a workable plan to get there. My favorite writer on the Middle East is Tom Friedman of the NYT. He wrote a column yesterday which I feel is well worth reading:
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/03/opinion/03FRIE.html
April 3, 2002
The Hard Truth
By Thomas L. Friedman
A terrible disaster is in the making in the Middle East. What Osama bin Laden failed to achieve on Sept. 11 is now being unleashed by the Israeli-Palestinian war in the West Bank: a clash of civilizations.
In the wake of repeated suicide bombings, it is no surprise that the Israeli Army has gone on the offensive in the West Bank. Any other nation would have done the same. But Ariel Sharon's operation will succeed only if it is designed to make the Israeli-occupied territories safe for Israel to leave as soon as possible. Israel's goal must be a withdrawal from these areas captured in the 1967 war; otherwise it will never know a day's peace, and it will undermine every legitimate U.S. effort to fight terrorism around the globe.
What I fear, though, is that Mr. Sharon wants to get rid of Mr. Arafat in order to keep Israeli West Bank settlements, not to create the conditions for them to be withdrawn.
President Bush needs to be careful that America doesn't get sucked into something very dangerous here. Mr. Bush has rightly condemned Palestinian suicide bombing as beyond the pale, but he is not making clear that Israel's war against this terrorism has to be accompanied by a real plan for getting out of the territories.
Why? Because President Bush, like all the other key players, doesn't want to face the central dilemma in this conflict —— which is that while Israel must get out of the West Bank and Gaza, the Palestinians cannot, at this moment, be trusted to run those territories on their own, without making them a base of future operations against Israel. That means some outside power has to come in to secure the borders, and the only trusted powers would be the U.S. or NATO.
Palestinians who use suicide bombers to blow up Israelis at a Passover meal and then declare "Just end the occupation and everything will be fine" are not believable. No Israeli in his right mind would trust Yasir Arafat, who has used suicide bombers when it suited his purposes, not to do the same thing if he got the West Bank back and some of his people started demanding Tel Aviv.
"The only solution is a new U.N. mandate for U.S. and NATO troops to supervise the gradual emergence of a Palestinian state —— after a phased Israeli withdrawal —— and then to control its borders," says the Middle East expert Stephen P. Cohen.
People say that U.S. troops there would be shot at like U.S. troops in Beirut. I disagree. U.S. troops that are the midwife of a Palestinian state and supervise a return of Muslim sovereignty over the holy mosques in Jerusalem would be the key to solving all the contradictions of U.S. policy in the Middle East, not new targets.
The Arab leaders don't want to face this hard fact either, because most are illegitimate, unelected autocrats who are afraid of ever speaking the truth in public to the Palestinians. The Arab leaders are as disingenuous as Mr. Sharon; he says ending "terrorism" alone will bring peace to the occupied territories, and the Arab leaders say ending "the occupation" alone will end all terrorism.
Like Mr. Sharon, the Arab leaders need to face facts —— that while the occupation needs to end, they independently need to address issues like suicide terrorism in the name of Islam. As Malaysia's prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad, courageously just declared about suicide bombing: "Bitter and angry though we may be, we must demonstrate to the world that Muslims are rational people when fighting for our rights, and do not resort to acts of terror."
If Arab leaders have only the moral courage to draw lines around Israel's behavior, but no moral courage to decry the utterly corrupt and inept Palestinian leadership, or the depravity of suicide bombers in the name of Islam, then we're going nowhere.
The other people who have not wanted to face facts are the feckless American Jewish leaders, fundamentalist Christians and neoconservatives who together have helped make it impossible for anyone in the U.S. administration to talk seriously about halting Israeli settlement-building without being accused of being anti-Israel. Their collaboration has helped prolong a colonial Israeli occupation that now threatens the entire Zionist enterprise.
So there you have it. Either leaders of good will get together and acknowledge that Israel can't stay in the territories but can't just pick up and leave, without a U.S.-NATO force helping Palestinians oversee their state, or Osama wins —— and the war of civilizations will be coming to a theater near you.
regards, wsh
Linus confirms April Fool's joke
Date: Wed, 3 Apr 2002 17:22:33 -0800 (PST)
From: Linus Torvalds
To: Kernel Mailing List
Subject: Linux-2.5.8-pre1
Ok, there's a largish 2.5.8-pre1 patch out there in testing right now.
It syncs up with various sources over the last two weeks - notably USB,
networking, sparc, net drivers, and the beginning of the -dj tree merge.
Some of the merges are known incomplete (eg some drivers do not compile
etc), but testing is always a good idea.
Changelog appended.
Linus
PS. For people who still haven't noticed - the "I'm leaving Linux and
Transmeta" email was a April fools joke (and not written by me, btw, so
don't credit me for being funny)
Regards, wsh
freshwews.org is a great site; highly recommended.
I recently stumbled on it, and now like it so much it is one of my first links on the Internet. www.freshnews.org
It is a gateway to current articles from 18 or so IT sites, including sites like zdnet, Slashdot, Arstechnica, Geeknews, Wired News, Tom's Hardware, Dr. Dobbs, the linux sites, and also gossip sites like The Register and The Inquirer. At present, the links are mostly US or Euro sites and not Pacific Rim sites.
regards, wsh
Steak, I thought the reference might be to more recent exec. departures from TMTA.
IAE, here is the Apirl 1 email from Linus?? If I recall, Linus has a history of April 1 jokes. In looking at the "sender" line below, perhaps this joke is on Linus as well as the whole Linux development community.
Date: Mon, 01 Apr 2002 00:00:00 -0700 (PDT)
From: Linus Torvalds
Subject: Linux needs new leadership.
Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org
To: Kernel Mailing List
Fellow hackers,
For some time I have felt unappreciated by some members of
the Linux community. Far too many of you like to whine and
cry, saying "My patches aren't being accepted by Linus, but
they are by Alan or Michael!" It seems that some of you are
too stupid to follow the simple instructions that I have
made clear on more than one occasion. This, combined with
the fact that today is my last day at Transmeta, has
prompted me to consider rediscovering that balance I had in
my life before you all took my hobby and made it into a mass
movement. I have not decided who should take over
maintenance of the kernel myself, for I believe that this
decision should be made in a quasi-democratic fashion. While
democracy has not worked well with this group of people
before, I am willing to give it one last chance.
However, I do have some opinions on who should succeed me as
leader of kernel development. I will provide my opinions
below as I am entitled to do so. Below is an alphabetical
list of my nominations. I include a brief explanation of why
I nominated them and any concerns I may have. You all should
do the same for your nominations.
Alan Cox: Alan has done a spectacular job of maintaining the 2.2 branch
ever since I embarked on the development branch. He would have been an
automatic choice for this job, except for his childish refusal to
travel to the US, where all the real kernel hackers hang out.
Marcello has proven to me, however, that you do not need to live
in a technology-rich country such as the US to be a leader of
kernel development.
Matt Dillon: Whenever someone moans about the 2.4 VM fiasco,
I think to myself, "I wish Matt hadn't left the Linux kernel
development for FreeBSD!" I believe that if Matt were to be chosen
as leader, we would have had a sane and working VM on par with
FreeBSD's months ago. While he has little leadership experience, he
is a member of FreeBSD-core, a position which certainly demands
respect.
Eric S. Raymond: Being leader of kernel development involves
fielding a significant amount of media attention. ESR has shown
on many occasions that he can talk shit and still sound just as
convincing as anyone on this list, all the time being completely
oblivious to any contrasting viewpoints. While his
kernel-configuration-adventure-game contribution to Linux just
screams out "worthless bloat", I must admit to having enjoyed
many a lonely night playing the game. If he could lay a similar
interface over gdb, I'm sure that more kernel hackers would
actually debug their work before submitting it.
Richard M. Stallman: RMS has an exceptional track record in the
open-source field, being largely responsible for my favorite text
editor, compiler, and debugger. No other open-source hacker has
come as close as he has to replicating the integration available
with Microsoft Visual C++ 6 years ago. I fully endorse him as a
candidate, assuming he's willing to drop his puerile "GNU/Linux"
ego stroking.
Theo de Raadt: Theo is an exceptional candidate. Not only is he a
more than adequate hacker; he attracts exactly the type of people
to OpenBSD that he wants, and will jettison those who are not up to
the task. While purging out all the less-than-adequate hackers
in the Linux project will inevitably attract negative publicity
from Slashdot and other "community" sites where these feeble hackers
hang out, it will no doubt strengthen Linux in the future. Just
look at what Theo's strong leadership has done for OpenBSD! He
turned around the worthless "research project" that was NetBSD and
made it an enterprise-class firewall system. I can only imagine
the effect his Midas touch could have on the Linux kernel.
You have until the end of April 1, 23:59 Pacific Time to
submit your nominations to the list. The most nominated
person will become the leader of kernel development. I will
examine the list of nominations and, assuming that the
winner wants the job, I will hand full control over to them.
I know that this is short notice, but knowing how
obsessively most of you check your inboxes, I figure you
should have more than adequate time to submit your
recommendations. The decision will be final and no
discussion will be considered after it has been made, so
choose carefully.
Thank you.
Linus
Steak, your article asks
" . . wonder why two of the top executives at Transmeta left recently."
Any idea who these execs are?
It might be unrelated, but yesterday there was an apparent April Fool's thread from Linus, distributed to the large Linux email community, stating that he was stepping down as administrator of the Linux kernel, but also mentioning that April 1 was his last day at TMTA. The TMTA reference seems unnecessary to the April 1 gag, so is there truth to it? That's the thing with April 1 gags. Never know for awhile.
Regards, wsh
IBM, Sony, Toshiba . . . more Info
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/3/24665.html
IBM, Sony, SCE, Tosh queue up for SOI source
By Drew Cullen
Posted: 02/04/2002 at 11:48 GMT
IBM has teamed up with Sony, Sony Computer Entertainment and Toshiba, to create a "powerful alliance" for chipmaking.
At the heart of the alliance, is the jewel in IBM's semiconductor crown - its silicon-on-insulator (SOI)technology. Using this technogoly, the four companies are to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on developing high performance, low-power chips
"for a wide range of future electronic products - - from digital consumer applications to supercomputers".
IBM is also throwing its copper wiring and low k insulator skills into the bag. The foursome aim to produce chips at some point using 50nm technology on 300mm wafers. IBM is also helping out Sony and Toshiba by transferring its SOI techniques to the companies.
The deal looks pretty neat: IBM shares development and manufacturing costs, while turning two potential rivals into two firm customers. They also spot what Intel's Andy Grove famously terms an inflection point. In other words, the semiconductor industry is experiencing technological and marketing disruption, giving the opportunity for "new" companies to dive in.
Or as John Kelly, senior veep at the IBM Technology Group, puts it: "The PC is no longer the driving force in semiconductor innovation. Networking and consumer electronics applications are driving the evolution of a new semiconductor industry -- one based on closer collaboration with customers." ®
IBM Sony Toshiba pact
http://www.theinquirer.net/02040203.htm
IBM, Sony, Tosh team up to fight MS
Playstation III versus Xbox2 battle starts
By Mike Magee, 02/04/2002 08:47:43 BST
THE FINANCIAL TIMES reports today that Big Blue will firm up its deal with Sony and announce a relationship with Toshiba to help it fight a battle to win hearts and the contents of wallets in the consumer market.
According to the newspaper, the three majors will pour millions of dollars into the alliance to produce four systems on one chip, hoping it will reap billions as a result.
We and other electronics titles reported some weeks and months ago that Sony and IBM were cooperating together on, for example, the PlayStation III, but IBM has now firmed up those details.
Any chip(s) developed will find their way into consoles, servers, game machines, networks and PDAs, and the companies aim is to produce very low power consumption semiconductors.
Big Blue will put around 400 people into the project, while Sony and Tosh will contribute around 100 people, based at its top fab in East Fishkill.
The first products are due next year. But IBM had better watch it, because as our own Eva Glass said a few weeks back, Microsoft has its own cunning plans too.
And in a head-to-head fight with Microsoft, Big Blue has always, so far, been bested. µ
All of Taiwan's IT Industry escapes unscathed?
http://www.digitimes.com/NewsShow/Article.asp?datePublish=2002/04/01&pages=01&seq=1
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) said that though a portion of their manufacturing equipment was shut down due to the March 31 earthquake, overall financial losses should be much less compared to the losses suffered during the earthquake on September 21, 1999. The two foundries have asked equipment suppliers to check the equipment.
The earthquake, which measured 6.8 on the Richter scale, struck Taiwan at 2:52 pm on March 31. The earthquake measured 5 on the Richter scale in the Taipei area and 4 in Hsinchu, Taiwan’s semiconductor production center.
TSMC pointed out that unlike the earthquake in 1999, which caused a power outage, the recent earthquake did not affect the supply of electricity, water or natural gas in the Hsinchu area. None of the company’s staff was hurt and no structural damage has been spotted in the fabs, TSMC added. The company is still evaluating when the fabs could return to normal operation and estimating losses from the production stoppage.
UMC said that a portion of its equipment had to be shut down and its equipment suppliers are already at the fabs to check equipment.
Equipment suppliers pointed out that since Taiwan is located in an earthquake region, fabs on the island are equipped to withstand strong vibrations. Damage from the earthquake should be limited, they said, but estimating losses would require more evaluation. Exact figures will not be ready until the fabs resume normal operation.
In other sectors of the IT industry, DRAM and TFT LCD panel companies also reported very slight damage.
None of the DRAM manufacturers has released precise damage reports thus far, but they did say that some of their manufacturing equipment was automatically shut down. Many observers were worried that DRAM output in April could decrease significantly, and like after the earthquake in 1999, DRAM prices could shoot up in the next few weeks. However, DRAM manufacturers pointed out that output should be able to be maintained at a healthy level. However, they concurred that the earthquake could have a psychological effect on prices.
DRAM maker Winbond Electronics said that the company is working with equipment suppliers to make necessary adjustments. Winbond said that though some of its products were damaged, the company’s overall production capability would not be affected.
Officials from ProMos Technologies, a subsidiary of Mosel Vitelic, said that with stable power supply, impact on production has been limited. As soon as the company completes equipment evaluation, normal production operations would resume immediately.
Powerchip Semiconductor Corporation (PSC) also reported only minimal damage to its facilities. None of its employees was hurt.
AU Optronics (AUO), a Taiwan-based TFT LCD panel supplier, reported no serious damage. The company estimated that its production was down merely five hours. Other major panel makers such as HannStar Display, Chunghwa Picture Tubes (CPT) and Chi Mei Optoelectronics (CMO) all reported minimal damage.
Shareholder's Rights Plan from SEC Filing:
On January 10, 2002, the Company entered a Rights Agreement, pursuant to which the Company's Board of Directors declared a dividend of one stock purchase right (a "Right") for each outstanding share of the Company's common stock. The dividend was issued to stockholders of record on January 18, 2002. In addition, one Right shall be issued with each share of the Company's common stock that becomes outstanding (i) between the record date and the earliest of the Distribution Date, the Redemption Date and the Final Expiration Date (as such terms are defined in the Rights Agreement) or (ii) following the Distribution Date and prior to the Redemption Date or Final Expiration Date, pursuant to the exercise of stock options or under any employee plan or arrangement or upon the exercise, conversion or exchange of other securities of the Company, which options or securities were outstanding prior to the Distribution Date. The Rights will become exercisable only upon the occurrence of certain events specified in the Rights Agreement, including the acquisition of 15% of the Company's outstanding common stock by a person or group. Each Right entitles the registered holder, other than an "acquiring person", under specified circumstances, to purchase from the Company one one-hundredth of a share of Series A Junior Participating Preferred Stock, par value $0.00001 per share, of the Company, at a price of $21.00 per one one-hundredth of a share of that preferred stock, subject to adjustment. In addition, each Right entitles the registered holder, other than an "acquiring person", under specified circumstances, to purchase from the Company that number of shares of the Company's Common Stock having a market value of two times the exercise price of the Right.
Steak, this sounds quite different from the plan as described in press releases in January. I don't remember any reference to preferred stock, or this calculation for purchasing additional shares of common stock. Probably need to get a coopy of the Rights Agreement.
regards, wsh
Yes Steak, PC Magazine.
I was waiting to visit with a client, fliping through a pile of magazines, when I saw the side bar on Transmeta in a recent PC Mag. The best aspect of the article, for me, was that the author was matter of factly saying that any of the x86 chips for PCs, Intel, AMD or TMTA!, are fully compatible. No mention of "TMTA, that struggling startup facing bankruptcy"; or, "TMTA, not really a factor as they only have __% of the market." Just TMTA being mentioned as a player in the chip marketplace. Loved it. Hope more of that is in our immediate future.
Perhaps the forum can order reprints and send one to every PC user. Do you get a budget as forum fuehrer?
regards, wsh
Chips Off the Old Block
PC Magazine, February 26, 2002, by Warren Ernst
http://www.pcmag.com/print_article/0,3048,a=22124,00.asp
Are you shying away from that less expensive new computer because it lacks the "Intel Inside" sticker? If so, you're not alone. A large segment of the computer-buying public believes the only way to get a truly Intel-compatible processor is to buy one from Intel.
That's not the case, though. Modern non-Intel x86-based CPUs are really just as Intel-compatible as Intel's chips. (Of course, we're not talking here about the chips that power the Mac; those evolved independently, are not x86-based, and are completely incompatible with Intel chips.) You'll see why if you understand how a CPU does its job, what has changed in CPUs and what has remained the same over the years, and what your software expects your CPU to do.
<snip>
The technical aspects of the chips notwithstanding, there are many indications, though not necessarily proof, that compatibility is not an issue in the real world. Perhaps the best example consists of reviews that include results of benchmark tests run on AMD- and Transmeta-based systems. (See the sidebar "And What of Transmeta?" for a discussion of how the Crusoe chip achieves compatibility.) Look closely: You never see "unable to complete the test" in those tables. Run after run, these chips complete the stressful tests just fine. For the purposes of compatibility, ignore how high the scores are; just recognize that if chips were incompatible, they wouldn't get benchmark test scores at all.
And why wouldn't non-Intel chips work well with software anyway? Consider that Microsoft, Oracle, Red Hat, and most other software companies use AMD-, Intel-, and Transmeta-equipped machines to develop their software. If products crashed repeatedly on a certain type of chip, these companies would get rid of the problematic machines in a heartbeat. They don't. In fact, counting the patches listed in Microsoft's own Knowledge Base, you find far more for solving problems occurring with Intel-based CPUs than with competitors' products. And let's not forget the well-publicized Pentium math bug of a few years back. A chip isn't necessarily perfect just because it comes from Intel.
So getting back to your new computer: Should you worry about that "Intel Inside" sticker? In a word, no. Instead, worry about having enough RAM, extra hard drive space, a fast video card, and strong customer support. The compatibility of the processor is one of the few constants in the PC universe.
Warren Ernst is a computer consultant, author, and journalist in southern California. His home site is at www.warrenernst.com.
Sidebar to Article:
And What of Transmeta?
In the design of alternative Intel-compatible CPUs, the apple rarely falls far from the tree. The Transmeta Crusoe, on the other hand, isn't even in the same orchard.
The basic instruction sets (though not the multimedia extensions) of the modern PIII, P4, and Athlon processors are very similar to those of the ancient 386 and 486 CPUs. And although current AMD and Intel microarchitectures are quite different, both decode and process instructions using millions of hard-working, on-chip transistors. These complex internal designs permit a relatively old 32-bit processing scheme to scale up to gigahertz speeds by brute force. Why stick with this old 32-bit scheme? Because being compatible with software written for the 386 and 486 is a necessity for a modern Windows-based PC.
The Transmeta Crusoe works very differently. Its microarchitecture is nothing like that of the 386, the 486, or anything else seen in a PC with an "Intel Inside" sticker. Instead, the Crusoe uses a small, efficient 128-bit VLIW (very long instruction word) processing core with native instructions that are totally incompatible with the x86 instruction set. In many respects, this is similar to the internal RISC-like instruction sets of Pentium and Athlon processors. But the Transmeta core has far fewer transistors, because the x86 instruction translation, decode, and scheduling functions are handled off-chip by a Code Morphing software layer, which translates x86 instructions into Crusoe's internal VLIW instruction format.
During execution, the Code Morphing software actually has a few different modes of operation, as determined by real-time feedback from instruction processing. The software either interprets or translates x86 instructions into the internal format. Less frequently executed x86 instructions might only be interpreted. More frequently executed x86 instructions are translated into VLIW code, and the translated code can be optimized for speed and cached for subsequent reuse. The more often the code is executed, the more Crusoe tries to optimize it, up to a point. The Code Morphing software, which initially resides in ROM located on the processor module, is copied to system DRAM during processor initialization for faster execution.
Additionally, Crusoe monitors the processor load and is able to adjust its frequency using its LongRun technology to conserve power and reduce heat. The Crusoe is known for being a low-power CPU and is now seen in some mini-notebooks that are providing one and a half to two times the battery life of those based on competing processors, though factors such as active power management of other devices and more efficient LCD technology may also influence the results.
If this seems like a lot of extra effort just to work differently than Intel processors, well, it is. But Transmeta rightly believes the benefits of less power consumption and lower heat generation are critical to mobile processing environments. Crusoe allows the design of systems with longer battery life and without CPU cooling fans. And so far, with all of Transmeta's wizardry, Crusoe CPUs seem to be extremely compatible with standard Intel x86 processors.
Great article to reassure consumers re concerns of compatability between INTC and AMD and, even more so, TMTA. This article is also found in the Feb. 26, 2002 issue of PC Magazine. The full article also includes a nice history of x86 chip development, which was snipped above in the interest of brevity.
Regards, wsh
Nano Device Laboratories director: Microelectronics industry faces five great challenges
Janet Wang, Hsinchu; Jane Wang, DigiTimes.com [Friday 22 March 2002]
As the semiconductor industry shifts focus from micron technology to nanotechnology and materials, Taiwan’s leading semiconductor research lab National Nano Device Laboratories director Simon M. Sze forecasts that DRAM technology development will reach a bottleneck at 64GB, two to three DRAM generations from now. In memory capacity, flash memory will overtake DRAM in five years, Sze predicts.
According to Sze, the microelectronics industry will face five great challenges in wafer surface area enlargement, nano-level photo-lithography technology, nano-level component technology, interconnect technology and cost considerations.
In nano-level photo-lithography technology, it is no longer a question of shortening wavelength, but the light source itself must be reconsidered. To accommodate production technology going up from 0.13 to 0.1 all the way to 0.07-micron (70nm), photo-lithography equipment wavelength must also decrease correspondingly from 248nm, 193nm, down to 157nm.
In the future, laser technology must also evolve to accommodate the more advanced technology, Sze stated, as EUV (extreme ultraviolet) light may become a solution for 70nm or even 10nm production technology.
Building one wafer fab cost US$750 million in 1995 and US$3 billion in 2001 and may cost US$24 billion by 2010. Only a larger application market will be able to support the investment in and construction of new wafer fabs.
http://www.digitimes.com/NewsShow/Article.asp?IR=N&ClassID=100&datePublish=2002/03/20&pa...
These aren't salad days for INTC, are they. AMD is threatening the high end, TMTA is a worry for the emerging mobile markets, and now TSMC is threatening Intel's supremacy in chip technology.
One comment in the article caught my attention Bird:
". . .microprocessor and graphic chip companies are expected to be the first to take advantage of TSMC's new capacity to manufacture at such a small scale."
This sounds like TSMC will first deliver 0.09 micron product to nVidia and TMTA. This also seems to support our guess that TMTA is closely working with TSMC engineers on next generation chips. It would be huge for TMTA to be the first chip company to be delivered 90 nanometer microprocessors to the market.
Such a chip would, of course, allow us greater penetration into portable computers, tablet PCs, Web devices, etc. However, it might also be sufficiently small and efficient so as to open the Pocket PC/PDA/3G markets to x86 chips.
Regards, wsh
Interesting article on TSMC, Bird. Wondering if the TM6000 and the new 256-bit chip are being designed both for 0.13 micron production and consistent with TSMC's requirements for 0.09 micron production. Would like to see the TM6000 as an early entry in the .09 micron chip sweepstakes. I would imagine that would be one fast, small, efficient x86 chip.
TMTA's decision to move from IBM to TSMC looks better all the time. Heard anymore on the ground water emergency?
regards, wsh
Thanks for the updates BB. The Yahoo board will miss senjenpa, who was one of the consistent voices of reason. It is reassuring, however, to read an informed projection that institutions are soon to be back in TMTA.
I agree with senjenpa's comment on this Q. I would be surprised if TMTA reports sales much over $5 million. What I am really looking forward to is Murray's guidance for 2Q. If it is $12-15 million, as I am suspecting, the institutions should view that news as an enormous buy signal, and we might be off to the races.
Apparently as you, I greatly enjoy reading leog's site. I find the group's enthusiasm for the P to be the tip of an iceberg of nascent demand for light weight, truly mobile PCs. The US-based OEMs are going to have to follow, or be left behind in a fast growing segment.
Regards, wsh
More info on the Meta Pad from IBM Research Magazine. Bird, you will in particular enjoy this article, as it provides a lot more insight into the design, development and deployment of the meta pad concept.
http://www.research.ibm.com/thinkresearch/pages/2002/20020207_metapad.shtml
Core of Computing
Meta Pad slices and dices pervasive computing obstacles
By Thomas Staudter
<snip>
. . . Ocheltree's solutions to past design space constraints, such as piggybacking processor and memory chips as single modules instead of placing them apart on a circuit board, helped pave the way toward building a Meta Pad-sized computer, but other factors contributed to the process as well.
The utilization of a 5-gigabit disc drive, measuring only one and eight-tenths inches across, also helped shrink the computer's packaging a great deal. Advances in circuit board miniaturization, plus surface connect laminar technologies (driven by the work of cell phone designers), kept the Meta Pad's assembly package small and tight as well.
Low- and variable-power systems operations made possible by a Transmeta 5800 processor and four memory chips stacked in a single low-profile package-like a pancake-made the Meta Pad a bona fide computer. But rather than posit several accessory cables into such a small and elegant design, Ocheltree turned to a single docking connector comprising all the signals needed to connect I/O to a computer including mouse, keyboard, audio, video, USB and Card Bus. These could be plugged into a hand-held docking device — complete with visual display — or Meta Pad desktop dock, for use as a PC or laptop. . .
<snip>
. . ."The concept of personal computing 'anytime, anywhere, any way' is truly brought closer to reality by permitting the user's data and computing environments to be with them at all times, and available in many different forms or configurations," says Moulic.
"Information is only useful when you have access to it," Ocheltree continues, "The Meta Pad brings data closer to people; it allows individuals to interact with their data all the time. But the beauty of the Meta Pad is that it doesn't force you into any one interface; in fact, you don't have to give up what you're already comfortable with, whether it be a laptop, PC or whatever, to try out new interfaces.
And some of the new interfaces for computers will make the Meta Pad even more flexible and convenient. Imagine being able to use a speech interface with your Meta Pad while driving down the highway to access and answer your email. Or use a pen and pad accessory to process notes right into Windows programming. Or link your digital camera up to store photos on the spot. "Meta Pad eliminates transcription problems for those who need to bring their data from place to place," says Ocheltree. . .
regards, wsh
MSFT's plan for home hegemony. BGates is probably ruminating on a Windows CE-based crib monitor
http://www.digitimes.com/NewsShow/Article.asp?IR=N&ClassID=100&datePublish=2002/03/19&pa....
Microsoft continues home networking development with Miras, Pocket PCs, Tablet PCs
Vincent Mao, Hanover; Willie Teng, DigiTimes.com [Tuesday 19 March 2002]
In analyzing Microsoft’s presence at this year’s CeBIT Hannover, the software giant could truly be seen as spreading its influence over hardware standards, especially in having a hand in the development of home networking architecture. The roles of Pocket PCs, webpads, Tablet PCs and the recently launched Mira smart display devices are beginning to take shape.
The Mira, especially, sparked many discussions in Hannover among systems and display companies. Microsoft pointed out that unlike desktops and notebooks, the Mira is only equipped with Internet access, simplified computing capability and display functions, while software applications, the CPU and other key components remain in the main computing platform of the home network (usually a PC). This eliminates many problems with noise, heat dissipation and power consumption. The new-generation display enables users to use the power of Windows XP and Windows CE.NET through wireless communications, between the main computing platform and the portable Mira, to browse the web, receive e-mail and listen to music anywhere in a home.
Microsoft said that as PCs become more powerful, the relationship between the main computing platform and the Mira could evolve from the current point-to-point into point-to-multiple points, which means PCs would act as the server of a home network and multiple Miras would allow users to perform various tasks.
Pocket PCs will target the mobile handheld market and continue to move towards multimedia. Tablet PCs will aim to replace notebooks in the future as the portable computing solution with full processing capability. Since wireless data communications would be available in these devices, users could connect to the main platform when they return home.
Microsoft is also planning to introduce smart panel technology into primary detachable monitors and televisions to combine computing and home entertainment. Overall, the software giant is obviously expecting its home networking architecture to expand its dominance of operating systems.
Companies such as Philips, LG Electronics, Trigem Computer and Taiwan-based Tatung have developed Mira prototypes, with final products officially hitting the market before Christmas.
regards, wsh
AMD gains on INTC
http://www.digitimes.com/NewsShow/Article.asp?IR=N&ClassID=100&datePublish=2002/03/18&pa....
Willie Teng, DigiTimes.com [Monday 18 March 2002]
Market research firm Dataquest has announced that processors made by Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) represented a 22% share of the worldwide Windows-based desktop market in 2001, up from 2000’s 18%, according to AMD.
AMD credited the growth to strong support from small to medium-size enterprises and the education sector.
AMD market share in US business, education and government segments (%)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Q 2001 . . . . . . . . 4Q 2000
Small-size businesses . . .37 . . . . . . . . . . 20
Medium-size businesses . .28 . . . . . . . . . . 11
Education . . . . . . .. . . . . 17 . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Government . . . . . . . . . . 32 . . . . . . . . . . 16
Sources: AMD and Dataquest, compiled by DigiTimes, March 2002.
In other regions, the company now controls 42% of the Japanese home desktop market, and a respective 41% and 28% of the Western European and Eastern European desktop markets.
In favor for sure, Fred. I am amazed by our recent price movement. TMTA is up 1/3 since March 1, and during the same period INTC is up 2% and AMD is down 1.5%. We just broke over the 200 day SMA. Hard to understand the source of such strength, yet it does feel like TMTA might continue up some more. With a CC upcoming likely to report Q on Q sales increases of 200% or so and forecasts for more of the same, we might become a NASDAQ darling.
Fred, Steak, any guesses why we are outperforming the NASDAQ and the industry without news? Do you think it is retail less willing to sell cheap and/or are institutions creeping back into former positions?
regards, wsh
Nice post from Yahoo Board; thanks to nellys_pal
P series ad again
by: nellys_pal 03/18/02 05:04 pm
Msg: 21345
Today's Dallas Morning News business sction has another full-page Fry's ad with a Crusoe-powered Fujitsu P-2040 on the top left corner. It's their featured notebook for the day, again. Maybe this is turning into a weekly thing. I sure wish they'd publish the fact that this little baby won top honors at last Fall's Comdex. Still the Crusoe logo is a nice touch in the ad; we want name recognition. Also the $1499 price tag looks pretty sweet next to the $1899 Intel-powered machine just to its right in the ad.
Soooo...They have them in stock in sufficient quantities to support buying ad space for them. And to think somebody from 1999 wanted to know where the Crusoes were just today.
Moving more product. Selling more Crusoes. That's the general idea, right?
Another: INTC soon to be "Hammered"
AMD Wins Major Awards at CeBIT; Prestigious Honors for AMD's
Next-Generation `Hammer' Processor, the AMD Athlon XP Processor and the Company's Manufacturing Excellence
HANOVER, Germany, Mar 18, 2002 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- AMD (NYSE:AMD) announced today that it has captured top European press awards presented at CeBIT, the world's largest IT tradeshow.
They include:
-- "CeBIT Highlights 2002" in the hardware category for AMD's
upcoming "Hammer" processor from "CHIP" magazine
-- "Innovation of the Year 2001/2002" for the AMD Athlon(tm) XP
processor from "PC Professionell"
-- "Manufacturer of the Year 2001/2002" from "PC Direkt"
"These awards attest to AMD's leadership in product innovation and manufacturing excellence. With our superior products, we are determined to make our customers even more successful," said Giuliano Meroni, vice president, Sales & Marketing,
AMD Europe.
This is the second time AMD has received the top award in the hardware category of "CHIP" magazine. This year's "CeBIT Highlights 2002" award -- better known as the "CeBIT Oscar" -- was given to AMD for its next-generation processor code-named "Hammer," which outclassed 500 contenders in the hardware category. First shipments of the AMD "Hammer" processor are expected at the end of 2002.
Previously, AMD won the same prize for the first AMD Athlon processor based on copper interconnect technology produced at AMD's leading-edge Fab 30 in Dresden, Germany. Fab 30 will also be producing "Hammer" processors, incorporating advanced silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology and 0.13 micron interconnects.
"Hammer" processors are designed to offer a seamless migration path from 32-bit to 64-bit computing as well as unparalleled performance on both 32-bit and 64-bit software. They will be AMD's first x86 processors to have a fully integrated DDR memory controller and "Hammer" processor-based solutions are
expected to be the first to incorporate a full HyperTransport(tm) technology-based chipset.
Both technology advancements help remove bottlenecks and speed the flow of information through the PC. The "Hammer" processor family will be extremely versatile, with processor versions planned to power systems from thin-and-light notebooks to 8-way enterprise servers.
News/gossip on Banias from The Inquirer
http://www.theinquirer.net/15030210.htm
Intel Banias, Tablet PCs and timings
Sooner than we all expect
By Eva Glass, 15/03/2002 13:32:08 BST
WHILE SENIOR STAFF at Intel describe Mike Mageek's stories on the Banias microprocessor when he was at its Developer Forum as "fishing expeditions", it looks like he might have emulated his hero Dr Craig Barrett and made a huge catch with some elements of his story at least.
Because I'm still hearing from my boyfriends at the corporation that one of the first uses that Banias will be put to is a Tablet PC and a Japanese OEM wants to be the first off the block with the product.
This is quite interesting and chimes with other things I heard in the back lot the other week - including that the Banias may be based on a Pentium 4 core and that Intel will manage to bang one into shape earlier than most people, but not my boyfriend, expected.
Can it really be possible that Intel will introduce a Banias when the Tablet PCs are launched, I asked him. He said: "Yes".
More datapoints that INTC is scraping the idea of building the new Banias low energy chip from the ground up in favor of rushing something to market based on existing architecture, and in time for the roll-out of Tablet PCs. Why the rush?
regards, wsh
Report from CeBIT on Pacebook.
http://www.networkcomputing.com/1306/1306colron_cebita.html
CeBIT 2002 OnSite Report: Day One
March 14, 2002
By Ron Anderson
The thing is, it doesn't feel like there are that many people because the facility is so large, 27 exhibit halls spread out over what must be 53 square miles or so (that's what my feet are telling me). I'm sure I walked the equivalent of 72 holes today while carrying a bag that is almost as heavy as my golf bag.
The size of the press contingent rivals the numbers of some of the larger American trade shows. I know that because I had to fight with each and every one of them to get a connection to the Internet to file this report.
The second most striking thing about this show is that in Europe, everyone smokes everywhere. You can't escape it, so you may as well just get use to it -- in fact, if you come over, you may want to think about starting to smoke if you don't already. That way, you'll be acclimated when you arrive.
One of my most fundamental beliefs has been crushed since I arrived. I'm taking the train (zug) everywhere. Based on my belief about German efficiency, I expected to be able to set my watch by the train's arrival and departure schedule. It ain't going to happen. I'm not saying it's awful, the schedule is probably adhered to with better precision than any schedule in the United States, but I was expecting perfection, or close to it.
My first train trip from Amsterdam to Copenhagen involved three different trains. The first train was on time until it hit Germany, then it slipped 10 minutes behind schedule. I thought I'd miss my connection for the second train, but that train was running 20 minutes late, so I made it with time to spare. I only had 18 minutes to make my third connection -- well, you get the picture. I'm not bitter, just disappointed.
I spent most of today getting the lay of the land. Aside from the size, the breadth of technology represented (everything from computers to mail sorting equipment in one of the large exhibit halls), the smoking (which I already mentioned) and the fact that there are a lot of people who speak German, the show is not that much different from Comdex or N+I.
Most of the booth reps I talked with today speak English as well as German, and my conversations with those who didn't were short and unproductive, kind of like hooking an Ethernet adapter to a Token Ring network. Sign language can only take you so far when you're trying to get to the heart of the technical details.
I saw a couple of interesting things today. PaceBlade Technology announced and released its PaceBook, a tablet notebook, LCD touchscreen PC that runs Windows XP or Windows 2000. The display is the system unit, which can be used with a stylus by medical personnel at bedsides or for note taking at meetings. The PaceBook uses a Transmeta Crusoe processor, supports up to 640 Mb of SDRAM, houses a 20 to 30-GB hard drive and has a 12.1-inch XGA TFT-LCD. It has a consumer IR port and an IR keyboard that can work up to 10 meters away from the unit (why you'd ever want to use your keyboard from 10 meters away is a mystery to me).
It also comes with a soft case that, when opened, holds the tablet PC and the keyboard in such a way that it looks like a laptop, except there aren't any wires connecting the display and the keyboard. This is good, because you can flip the tablet to portrait mode, touch a button and work on word-processing documents or surf Web pages one at a time in portrait mode. The PaceBook is very high on the gee-whiz scale. The unit includes a built-in modem and a 10/100 Ethernet adapter, but lacks built-in Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. PaceBlade plans to make both larger and smaller PaceBooks in the future.
Nice find Steak. I really think that wearable computers are going to start making inroads in the near future. There seem a lot of applications, particularly in vertical markets. Delivery services, technicians benefiting from quick access to data (eg, aircraft mechanics), military. Perhaps surveyors, inspectors, electric utility meter readers, etc.
I lurk around at the Yahoo XYBR message board from time to time,and am always surprised by the number of posts. Perhaps two or three times on average the number of posts for TMTA on Yahoo. There certainly is interest out there in the technology. XYBR seems convinced that they will soon have a large contract with FedEx to equip delivery people with wearable computers. That would certainly bring the technology to the doorstep of a large number of people around the world.
regards, wsh
"... Plan A never works, and Plan B never fails. Therefore, I am expecting the usual costly damage limitation exercise bill to be picked up by the OEM’’s, who will rue the day they held out for another round of warm beer."
Great line, Bird. I used to worry more about the 800lb gorilla issue, but TMTA's Japanese OEM strategy appears to finally be gaining traction. As our OEMs create truly mobile (not merely transportable) products that US and European customers want to buy, INTC's grip on US OEMs should loosen. I am hoping for a new offering from Toshiba in competition with the Fujitsu Ps.
I was intrigued by your references to the Internet as the "universal hub" and RLX's/TMTA's role in same, but not sure I follow. Could you develop that a little more if you get a few minutes.
Does UK TV get the new MS commercial for .Net featuring a Tablet PC? It is running a lot over here. Takes place in an auto showroom, with a couple ordering a new car and the salesman noting on his Tablet PC the various options to be included in the delivered product. The scene switches to the assembly line, where robot paint sprayers are applying the paint to the ordered vehicle as the customers are finally agreeing that red it is. MS may be a little fuzzy on how it sees the Tablet PC playing out in the consumer realm, but I think they have a pretty clear vision for Tablet PCs in vertical markets. That market should be huge. Am surprised by the latest hints that the enabling release of XP will be delayed until late '02. Would have thought that was priority one with the "Chief Software Engineer" or whatever title BGates holds these days.
Regards, wsh
Wondering out loud . . .
"My understanding is that the Microsoft spec. for the Tablet PC is causing more than a few headaches, not least of which are having to fit designs around a portable oven."
Bird, your statement last night got me wondering if a strong pattern is developing, one that may enrich TMTA (and us!) enormously. Please help me connect the dots.
Recent months have seen the major Japanese PC mfgs launch a number of small form-factor PCs with TMTA chips: Fujitsu's P-2040, 2020, 1000 Lifebook models; Sony's Vaio C1 GT1; NEC's LaVie Z; Toshiba's Libretto. These state of the art companies can and do use INTC and AMD chips for larger laptops, but there seems a clear trend to the use of the TM5600 and 5800 when the design calls for a small form factor PC, one which is likely to be truly mobile (and thereby requiring low energy consumption and a cool casing). Obviously, more are planned, as evidenced by the Sony Vaio "U" we have been discussing. (Yes, I am assuming it features a TMTA chip, but I think it is a safe assumption). I cannot think of a small form factor competitive laptop being offered recently with a PIII/Duron/Athlon.
There have not been many introductions of Tablet PCs to date, but the ones we have seem are also built around the TM5600 and 5800; eg, FIC's private label offerings and the PaceBlade. Ditto the Web pads offered to date; eg, offerings from Toshiba, Sonic Blue, FIC and NEC.
All this makes me wonder if, from an engineering standpoint, it is even possible to design a marketable small factor, truly mobile laptop, Tablet PC or WebPad without a TMTA chip. As the casing gets smaller, the thermodynamic issues of heat dissipation become very challenging. This would seem to be greatly exacerbated by constraints which bring an LCD screen in close thermodynamic proximity with the chip, as is inherently the situation with the Tablet PCs and WebPads (also laptops operating, but closed).
Looking a little off into the future, could a Metapad core be designed wtih anything other than a TMTA chip? Xybernaut's wearable computer is based on a PIII-M, but it is a surprisingly large, clumsy-looking waistpack thing. One would think that Xybernaut would be well advised to re-engineer around a TMTA chip. The ViA CPU unit, by comparison, is considerably smaller.
Why did INTC preannounce the Banias, perhaps 12 to 18 months before introduction (assuming it ever is introduced)? Could Intel be sending a message that their OEMs should hold on and not adopt TMTA, because INTC will soon have a killer mobile chip? How about the challeges facing the design teams at Intel-Israel. They are tasked to produce a new chip which runs adequately but runs cool, yet they are severely hemmed in by TMTA patents. I doubt that tailored transistors are going to solve that problem, so what do they do? Interesting challenge, that.
Idle rumblings, and I am probably guilty of selective recall here, but I would appreciate your insights. I am becoming more and more optimistic about our chances, perhaps getting to a point where we own the mobile x86 chip market at that moment in time when that market experiences a demand-driven explosion. Would be nice.
regards, wsh
Great find BB, thanks. Glad to see you back with us.
I was hoping to see a Compaq entry on the OEM list, or the new Sony Vaio "U". Oh, well. BTW, the Sony says the "U" is for ubiquitous. How is that for positive thinking! I read somewhere that the Vaio "U" will have markings for a telephone dialpad on the keyboard. The Vaio U could turn out to be a transitional product and I am really looking forward to its introduction.
I didn't think I had seen the NEC LaVie Z before, so I did some exploring. It turns out to be a real handsome, small laptop featuring a Halliburton brushed aluminum case. Uses the TM5600 at 600 MHz, 30 or 20 GB HD, 10.4 TFT screen, and a CD-Rom. Weighs 1.5 kg. The various other laptops from NEC feature mostly PIIIs and a few AMD mobile chips, so this is a welcome shift for NEC.
Images of the LaVie Z:
http://japan.cnet.com/News/Infostand/Item/2001-1022-J-1.html?rn
http://shopping.yahoo.co.jp/fair/winter_bonus2001/computers/notebooks.html
regards, wsh
Hi mberg, you certainly have made a splash in our small pool. Welcome, and I hope that you can help educate us on the real world utility of TMTA chips and, particularly, the TM5800.
Steak's photo of the Compaq Tablet PC certainly appears to my uninformed eye like the ones found on the Compaq site:
http://www.compaq.com/newsroom/presspaq/tabletpc/index.html.
While Fred has asked you to clear up the confusion, I was wondering if you would/could comment on the fact that while Compaq has been talking about the Tablet PC for nearly a year, they never say anything about the processor. I assume that prototypes have been developed with both the PIII-Ms and Transmeta chips. Any insights you could share re comparisons of the chips in Pocket PCs for performance, heat build up, energy use? Is the TMTA chip well suited in your view for Tablet PCs? Of course, the $64,000 question (adjusted for inflation) is what chip will end up in Compaq's entry in the Tablet PC derby.
regards, wsh
The market will tell Mr. Pegoraro that it likes the P-2046 more than he does. My guess is that there is major ramp-up going on at the Fujitsu plant producing the P-2000s. When Fujitsu starts to offer the P-2046 with the newly available 40MB 5600 rpm hard disks, sales should skyrocket.
There was a brief note yesterday on Yahoo (unfortunately, the notes are always brief on Yahoo) from someone who saw a full page ad in a Dallas newspaper from an electronics retailer. Apparently the ad featured a Fujitsu Lifebook P-2040 v. an Intel PIII-M equiped laptop. If a retailer is promoting the LifeBook in a full page ad in a major newspaper, they have to be receiving/expecting major shipments of LifeBook Ps. There was the suggestion in a later post that the retailer was Frys. Anyone out there reading Dallas newspapers?
Regards, wsh
Washington Post reviews Fujitsu LifeBook P-2046. Bottom line: real close to perfect mix of capabilities, but keyboard and disappointing battery life ruin end result. Thanks LeoG for the tip to this review.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A27173-2002Mar2.html
An Annoying Couple of Steps Away From the Perfect Laptop
By Rob Pegoraro
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, March 3, 2002; Page H07
If journalists designed laptops, things would be a little different. Portable computers would never be any wider or taller than an 8 1/2-by-11 sheet of paper, since we don't have that much extra room in our luggage.
They would always weigh under four pounds, and preferably under three. Their batteries would last at least four hours, since spare electrical outlets can be hard to find at a trade show, in the airport and on the plane or train.
A DVD-ROM drive would be standard -- not for the wealth of DVD-ROM software that has yet to materialize, but because we'd like to watch a movie back in Seat 28D.
Beyond a modem and an Ethernet port, "Wi-Fi" 802.11b wireless networking would come as standard equipment. Plucking a broadband Internet connection out of the air from the nearest base station -- in an airport, a press room, a computer store, a coffee shop -- beats foraging for a phone jack any day.
Finally, these laptops would have to cost under $2,000, since writing isn't always the world's most remunerative occupation.
Thing is, such a computer wouldn't appeal just to journalists, but to everybody who could use a second computer when they're away from their desk.
I used to think that such a machine would never materialize, but these days I'm more optimistic. Over the past year or so, a small group of manufacturers have shipped laptops that have come increasingly close to this description.
By its specifications, Fujitsu's LifeBook P-2046 doesn't just approach this target -- it nails it.
This $1,799 machine weighs a bit more than 3 1/4 pounds (just under four pounds with the AC adapter), light enough for me to forget I have it in my bag. And at about 10 1/2 inches wide by 7 inches deep by 1 3/4 inches thick, it's compact enough to hold one-handed if necessary.
The LifeBook ships with 256 megabytes of memory and an advertised hard-drive size of 20 gigabytes, plus something even better than a DVD-ROM drive: a combination DVD-ROM/CD-RW drive. The 10.6-inch color screen is compact but sharp.
It runs on an 800-MHz Transmeta Crusoe 5800 processor, the latest in a line of power-efficient, Intel-compatible chips from a Silicon Valley start-up.
The LifeBook also includes an 802.11b wireless-networking receiver and antenna, in addition to a v.90 modem and 10/100-Mbps Ethernet. (Versions of the LifeBook without wireless access sell from $1,699 to $1,499.) I was astounded to see this machine immediately and effortlessly latch on to the signal of an Apple AirPort base station. (Things weren't so easy on the second try, after I'd put Fujitsu's Windows XP configuration on the machine.)
An IEEE-1394 (aka FireWire) port on one side allows you to connect data-intensive peripherals like external hard drives and digital camcorders. Next to it sits a PC Card slot; at the back, two USB ports handle other, slower devices, such as the external floppy drive Fujitsu bundles with the LifeBook.
All that gave me a lot to like. But the reality of using this machine chipped away at my affection a bit.
The keyboard was the first and biggest disappointment. The keys look and feel about right individually, but they are compromised by a right-hand shift key that has been shrunk to half the usual width, then shoved to the right of the up-arrow cursor key.
Because this keyboard layout positions the up-arrow key where your pinky normally would hit the shift key, I kept sending the cursor up a line instead of capitalizing a letter. Sometimes I'd also wipe out the last line of text in the process.
It's a small issue, but it's teeth-grindingly annoying in daily use. Fujitsu has been selling laptops in the United States since 1996 and has no excuse for letting this keyboard escape a factory.
Battery life was the next setback. With the screen set to seven-eighths of its maximum brightness, the preproduction laptop I tried shut down after two hours of playing back digital music files. Cranking the screen brightness down to a quarter of normal bought only about another half-hour of use.
Fujitsu does offer a higher-capacity battery for $99 extra, which the company says will double the battery life. This laptop's DVD/CD-RW drive can also be swapped out for an additional battery to the tune of $179. The company claims the combination of both replacement batteries can power this laptop for up to 14 1/2 hours; take that figure with as many grains of salt as you deem fit.
The LifeBook's storage capacity also wasn't quite what it seemed. The Crusoe processor consumes 16 megabytes of RAM for the internal "code morphing" code that imitates an Intel chip so seamlessly, and a system-restore partition on the hard drive leaves 17.1 gigabytes, not 20, for your own use.
The 1394/FireWire port on the side is a smart idea, but Fujitsu took the common shortcut of using a smaller, four-pin port, which means that many FireWire devices will need adapter cables to plug into this machine. It also means that the LifeBook can't provide electrical power to any peripherals, something that a full-size, six-pin FireWire connector does allow.
Finally, this laptop's speakers strained to approach the volume of a clock radio. Even on a pair of headphones, the volume sounded a little muted.
Toting this computer around town left me both impressed and frustrated. It is so close to the traveling-laptop nirvana I have imagined -- and yet it's not there. Fortunately, there's growing competition in this part of the market. Next week I'll look at an even lighter, thinner laptop, from a company that has run up a remarkable track record of its own in portable computing.
Bird, the new Vaio is a real interesting form factor, plus I am real intrigued by the thumb controls, which are visible in a number of photos on the Japanese site. The right thumb pointer looks like it would be very usable.
wsh