Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD)

[CombJelly]

"I am skeptical about moving down."

So far, x86 hasn't made much of an impact in the low-powered embedded end of things because the dies are relatively larger and their power consumption is higher. In addition, for many types of embedded you have to do some, if not all, of the coding in assembly. And doing a significant amount of coding in x86 assembler is like eating ground glass. But I digress...

I am not sure there is all that much current x86 software that can be used for many embedded applications. And those that can be, like Linux, already have ports to other architectures. I suppose MS-DOS stuff can be used, I've worked on projects that used it, but the "why?" question kept coming up...

Which is not to say it can't be done, if but a fraction of the effort that went into, say, Willamette, were applied to embedded x86, something could be done. And if enough could be produced on a small enough process, they could be cheap. There is still the issue of programming in assembly, but if enough managers are sold on the idea of "all those tools, applications and programmers familiar with the architecture that are out there", it could even be successful.

I am guessing AMD is getting ready to release something new in the Geode line. Probably something that was developed by National before it punted the line. What this could mean for Alchemy, I dunno.