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Since Intel has said that their next proc is VLIW, it looks like TransMeta's VLIW proc is leading them...

...except that the IA-64 instruction set will be available to programmers and compilers, whilst the instruction sets of the Transmeta chips are not.

"No mention was made regarding the connection to the Internet...that was just assumed to be there. But I have yet to hear about any affordable and sufficiently fast connection via mobile unit... How will they address this, or will they just leave it up to other companies to solve this general problem?"

I think you are refering to the fact that the translation units can be upgraded via software. Software which comes over the internet :-)

Eh? I think he's referring to fast inexpensive wireless Internet access - or the lack of same. There are other reasons to want your mobile device to have fast Internet access than the desire to get upgrades to the binary-to-binary translation software over the Internet (although, unless they've added an "upload new translation software" instruction to the x86 instruction set, and translate that into code to replace the translation code, I'm not sure whether a box with a Transmeta processor would be able to "upgrade the translation units via software" - the technical white paper on the Transmeta Web site implies that, to all the software running on a machine with a Transmeta processor, including the OS and the PROM monitor/BIOS, it looks just like an x86 processor).

It seems hard to believe that they'll get twice as much battery life as existing laptops. I'm no expert, but I'd say that the screen, HDD, DVD drive, etc waste much more energy than the microprocessor. Anybody that knows this stuff cares to give his opinion?

Actually, if you read their web site, Transmeta gave their "opinion" on this right here. Essentially, the gist of it is that the battery savings are quite significant, even on one of those giant laptops with the 15" screens and the DVD players, and even while playing a DVD in software (which, because it requires a nearly constant (and rather hefty) level of CPU power, can't take much advantage of their technology which dynamically scales down power usage and voltage to meet the current system needs).

Basically, according to the tables on the above page, the worst-case for a Crusoe processor--running soft DVD (2 watts used in CPU + Northbridge) on a bigass notebook (8 watts)--gives 3.2 hours battery life. IIRC, one of those new G3's (and remember, a G3 consumes *way* less power than any (native) x86 chip) can barely manage an hour and a half.

Plus, they're not even taking into account the fact that unlike any other notebook on the planet, these suckers don't need a fan; that should be reflected in the 8 watt system overhead, but isn't. (Not sure how much power a fan takes, but it has to be significant.)

Now...in the normal case, in which the CPU is at full throttle only a little bit of the time, then Crusoe starts to clean up. For one thing, as they point out, traditional notebooks try to conserve power by just shutting off the CPU when it's not being used. The problem with this is it doesn't help the normal case when it's being used only a little bit, and it adds a noticable delay while it gets switched on again, which for most users is a lot more important than its peak speed anyways. The T5400 (the especially badass one that's not coming out until the summer) gets around this by scaling CPU power and voltage to meet current needs--and it shows.

Witness their mobile benchmark report [note: 116k pdf], based on a new benchmarking methodology they invented (read up on it he re [note: 93k pdf]) which:

1) mirrors actual use--i.e. doesn't run full throttle all the time, which almost never happens under normal use, especially for a notebook

2) includes metrics for energy efficiency--that is, it reports not just work/time, but work/WattHour and work/time/WattHour.

For those who don't want to check it out, the result is that across 6 tests (operating system load, system idle, Office 2000, web browsing, mp3 playback, and soft DVD playback) comparing the T5400 to a P3 500, the Crusoe processor was:

95.3% as fast (yeah, this includes the "system idle" test, which is a bit of a cheap freebie in this category) [note--this is just my straight average of the 6 categories, which is absolutely unmathematically correct, but oh well]

409.2% as efficient in terms of work/Watt-hour

395.3% as efficient in terms of work/time/watt-hour.

All in all, pretty damn impressive. And it's worth noting that it's over 6 times as efficient in the system idle test--which is what your system probably does most anyways.

Of course, this only measures the power drained by the CPU+NG, and not the screen, HD, etc. But...I have no trouble believing that a CPU that's 4 times as efficient under normal use will give 2 times the overall battery power.

I gotta go now, but the point of all this rambling is, this chip is pretty damn neat. I'm impressed.

It seems hard to believe that they'll get twice as much battery life as existing laptops. I'm no expert, but I'd say that the screen, HDD, DVD drive, etc waste much more energy than the microprocessor. Anybody that knows this stuff cares to give his opinion?

Actually, if you read their web site, Transmeta gave their "opinion" on this right here. Essentially, the gist of it is that the battery savings are quite significant, even on one of those giant laptops with the 15" screens and the DVD players, and even while playing a DVD in software (which, because it requires a nearly constant (and rather hefty) level of CPU power, can't take much advantage of their technology which dynamically scales down power usage and voltage to meet the current system needs).

Basically, according to the tables on the above page, the worst-case for a Crusoe processor--running soft DVD (2 watts used in CPU + Northbridge) on a bigass notebook (8 watts)--gives 3.2 hours battery life. IIRC, one of those new G3's (and remember, a G3 consumes *way* less power than any (native) x86 chip) can barely manage an hour and a half.

Plus, they're not even taking into account the fact that unlike any other notebook on the planet, these suckers don't need a fan; that should be reflected in the 8 watt system overhead, but isn't. (Not sure how much power a fan takes, but it has to be significant.)

Now...in the normal case, in which the CPU is at full throttle only a little bit of the time, then Crusoe starts to clean up. For one thing, as they point out, traditional notebooks try to conserve power by just shutting off the CPU when it's not being used. The problem with this is it doesn't help the normal case when it's being used only a little bit, and it adds a noticable delay while it gets switched on again, which for most users is a lot more important than its peak speed anyways. The T5400 (the especially badass one that's not coming out until the summer) gets around this by scaling CPU power and voltage to meet current needs--and it shows.

Witness their mobile benchmark report [note: 116k pdf], based on a new benchmarking methodology they invented (read up on it he re [note: 93k pdf]) which:

1) mirrors actual use--i.e. doesn't run full throttle all the time, which almost never happens under normal use, especially for a notebook

2) includes metrics for energy efficiency--that is, it reports not just work/time, but work/WattHour and work/time/WattHour.

For those who don't want to check it out, the result is that across 6 tests (operating system load, system idle, Office 2000, web browsing, mp3 playback, and soft DVD playback) comparing the T5400 to a P3 500, the Crusoe processor was:

95.3% as fast (yeah, this includes the "system idle" test, which is a bit of a cheap freebie in this category) [note--this is just my straight average of the 6 categories, which is absolutely unmathematically correct, but oh well]

409.2% as efficient in terms of work/Watt-hour

395.3% as efficient in terms of work/time/watt-hour.

All in all, pretty damn impressive. And it's worth noting that it's over 6 times as efficient in the system idle test--which is what your system probably does most anyways.

Of course, this only measures the power drained by the CPU+NG, and not the screen, HD, etc. But...I have no trouble believing that a CPU that's 4 times as efficient under normal use will give 2 times the overall battery power.

I gotta go now, but the point of all this rambling is, this chip is pretty damn neat. I'm impressed.

It seems hard to believe that they'll get twice as much battery life as existing laptops. I'm no expert, but I'd say that the screen, HDD, DVD drive, etc waste much more energy than the microprocessor. Anybody that knows this stuff cares to give his opinion?

Actually, if you read their web site, Transmeta gave their "opinion" on this right here. Essentially, the gist of it is that the battery savings are quite significant, even on one of those giant laptops with the 15" screens and the DVD players, and even while playing a DVD in software (which, because it requires a nearly constant (and rather hefty) level of CPU power, can't take much advantage of their technology which dynamically scales down power usage and voltage to meet the current system needs).

Basically, according to the tables on the above page, the worst-case for a Crusoe processor--running soft DVD (2 watts used in CPU + Northbridge) on a bigass notebook (8 watts)--gives 3.2 hours battery life. IIRC, one of those new G3's (and remember, a G3 consumes *way* less power than any (native) x86 chip) can barely manage an hour and a half.

Plus, they're not even taking into account the fact that unlike any other notebook on the planet, these suckers don't need a fan; that should be reflected in the 8 watt system overhead, but isn't. (Not sure how much power a fan takes, but it has to be significant.)

Now...in the normal case, in which the CPU is at full throttle only a little bit of the time, then Crusoe starts to clean up. For one thing, as they point out, traditional notebooks try to conserve power by just shutting off the CPU when it's not being used. The problem with this is it doesn't help the normal case when it's being used only a little bit, and it adds a noticable delay while it gets switched on again, which for most users is a lot more important than its peak speed anyways. The T5400 (the especially badass one that's not coming out until the summer) gets around this by scaling CPU power and voltage to meet current needs--and it shows.

Witness their mobile benchmark report [note: 116k pdf], based on a new benchmarking methodology they invented (read up on it he re [note: 93k pdf]) which:

1) mirrors actual use--i.e. doesn't run full throttle all the time, which almost never happens under normal use, especially for a notebook

2) includes metrics for energy efficiency--that is, it reports not just work/time, but work/WattHour and work/time/WattHour.

For those who don't want to check it out, the result is that across 6 tests (operating system load, system idle, Office 2000, web browsing, mp3 playback, and soft DVD playback) comparing the T5400 to a P3 500, the Crusoe processor was:

95.3% as fast (yeah, this includes the "system idle" test, which is a bit of a cheap freebie in this category) [note--this is just my straight average of the 6 categories, which is absolutely unmathematically correct, but oh well]

409.2% as efficient in terms of work/Watt-hour

395.3% as efficient in terms of work/time/watt-hour.

All in all, pretty damn impressive. And it's worth noting that it's over 6 times as efficient in the system idle test--which is what your system probably does most anyways.

Of course, this only measures the power drained by the CPU+NG, and not the screen, HD, etc. But...I have no trouble believing that a CPU that's 4 times as efficient under normal use will give 2 times the overall battery power.

I gotta go now, but the point of all this rambling is, this chip is pretty damn neat. I'm impressed.

According to their FAQ, they are planning to release the source, but they are not getting into the distribution business.

• a really thin laptop running Windows 98 with Explorer and Solitaire.
• a flat panel with a screen - similar to ST:TNG+ (with Klingon style buttons!) running Netscape which happens to be pointing to Slashdot!

http://www1adm.transmeta.com/im ages/company_large.jpg

It's like Where's Waldo, except more geeky!

this combined with the crusoe would last forever


(20hr/1.5hr) * ( 8hr / 1.5hr) = 71.1
(Fuel Cell/Hemos' Vaio) * (Crusoe/Hemos' Vaio) = approx 71 hours of continous use :P

--Ryan

A transcript/video of the webcast would be great for us stuck at work behind firewalls. Also, check out the pic on transmeta of their "web pad." What site is that?!?! heh

Hey! One of the laptops on this page shows Slashdot. Hard to tell what day, tho.

Hidden away in the Press section (along w/ some unimpressive pics of the chip) is the Transmeta FAQ:

http://www2adm.transmeta.com/press/faq. html

Interesting stuff.

According to Transmeta's FAQ, they're planning on releasing the source code for Mobile Linux.

TM312 0 Data Sheet
TM540 0 Data Sheet
FAQ

Looks like they beefed up their web backend in the last few minutes, the slashdot effect that was going on has disapeared for me. Slashdot seems to be more /.'d than Transmeta is right now! LOL

TM312 0 Data Sheet
TM540 0 Data Sheet
FAQ

Looks like they beefed up their web backend in the last few minutes, the slashdot effect that was going on has disapeared for me. Slashdot seems to be more /.'d than Transmeta is right now! LOL

TM312 0 Data Sheet
TM540 0 Data Sheet
FAQ

Looks like they beefed up their web backend in the last few minutes, the slashdot effect that was going on has disapeared for me. Slashdot seems to be more /.'d than Transmeta is right now! LOL

Some highlights from the technology whitepaper on the Transmeta website. It should answer some of the FAQ's raised here so far. (My comments/observations in italics).

Code Morphing software will "typically reside in standard Flash ROMs on the motherboard". This implies it could be in RAM, and potentially dynamically reconfigurable or switchable, on a suitable designed motherboard. (Elsewhere the paper implies that this ROM software is or can be copied to RAM at boot up for faster execution.)

The VLIW engine has "two integer units, an [FPU], a memory (load/store) unit, and a branch unit". These can operate in parallel.

All VLIW code, both translated x86 (or whatever) code and Code Morphing code, live in a separate memory space invisible to x86 code. The size of this memory space can be set at boot time or the OS can make the size adjustable. This last implies that the OS can somehow see this memory, so it's either not totally invisible to x86 code or the OS has some VLIW code hooks.

"The Code Morphing software includes in its arsenal a wide choice of execution modes for x86 code, ranging from interpretation [...] through translation using simple-minded code generation, all the way to highly optimized code [...] A sophisticated set of heuristics helps choose among these execution modes based on dynamic feedback information gathered during actual execution of the code." This sounds a lot like Sun's "HotSpot" technology for Java VMs. Either way it sounds cool..

"the translator adds code whose sole purpose is to collect information such as block execution frequencies, or branch history."

There's hardware support to help the code morphing, ie support for exceptions, speculation, optimization of memory and for self-modifying code. All x86 registers are shadowed, there's a working and a shadow copy. As blocks of x86 code get translated, that page's entry in the Crusoe MMU (for the translation cache) is marked as "translated" so that it doesn't get translated again. A write (by x86 code, indicating self-modifying code) into that block causes that bit to be cleared.

The Crusoe processor voltage and clock (at least on the 5400) are accessible to the Code Morphing software, which can adjust them on the fly to optimize power/performance for the running app.

Did anyone else notice the screen on this webpad?

I am surprised to see links to news sites but no tech links. Guess I will post them.

PDF Tech Sheet - Not specs, just more details of the technology.
PD F Benchmark Info Whitepaper
PDF Benchmark Report
And finally for those of you wanting to develop for the Crusoe, the developer registration page: Register Today!
Have a good one.

I am surprised to see links to news sites but no tech links. Guess I will post them.

PDF Tech Sheet - Not specs, just more details of the technology.
PD F Benchmark Info Whitepaper
PDF Benchmark Report
And finally for those of you wanting to develop for the Crusoe, the developer registration page: Register Today!
Have a good one.

I am surprised to see links to news sites but no tech links. Guess I will post them.

PDF Tech Sheet - Not specs, just more details of the technology.
PD F Benchmark Info Whitepaper
PDF Benchmark Report
And finally for those of you wanting to develop for the Crusoe, the developer registration page: Register Today!
Have a good one.

I am surprised to see links to news sites but no tech links. Guess I will post them.

PDF Tech Sheet - Not specs, just more details of the technology.
PD F Benchmark Info Whitepaper
PDF Benchmark Report
And finally for those of you wanting to develop for the Crusoe, the developer registration page: Register Today!
Have a good one.

Of course, the Windows unit is shown running the most popular Windows program (sol.exe).

And Linux is shown running Netscape with Slashdot.

Gotta love it!

:-only kona in my cup-:
:-robert taylor-:

Just judging from the screenshot in the lower right. That is *if* you can get through to the site.
Anomalous: inconsistent with or deviating from what is usual, normal, or expected

Fully x86 compatible: they run x86 applications just like
conventional x86 microprocessors.

PC compatible: Crusoe processors already include portions of the
traditional PC support chipset, and they run all popular PC operating
systems.

Internet compatible: Crusoe processors run the full wealth of
Internet plugins written for the x86 - a world that is closed to most
other low-power (non-x86-compatible) processors.

The Webpad shown at the Transmeta Site about the mobile products shows Slashdot on the screen.

Judging by the following URL -

http://www.transmeta.com/mobile/

Looks like someone at Transmeta likes Slashdot, too.

Though it may be /.ed as I can't load it at the moment.

Wait, I got through. The logo for Transmeta is downward pointing teal triangle with a wavy line crossing it.

they have a /dev/ developer's area, a press page, an about Tranmeta page, a Crusoe page, and a Going Mobile page.

Still to loaded to actually vist these paghes though.

Though it may be /.ed as I can't load it at the moment.

Wait, I got through. The logo for Transmeta is downward pointing teal triangle with a wavy line crossing it.

they have a /dev/ developer's area, a press page, an about Tranmeta page, a Crusoe page, and a Going Mobile page.

Still to loaded to actually vist these paghes though.

Yes, today. Check out Transmeta's website.

There will be a webcast anouncement this morning at 9 (PST) and a website update at Noon

Supposedly they'll present a design of the chip, not a real silicon thing.

I hope too that CNN broadcasts pictures on this, we don't have ZDTV here in Europe, and I can't watch via internet.

Linus does mention it in passing, but since people seem so obsessed over it, the Transmeta website has been updated to say that the real content will go live at noon (pacific) today.

Maybe some of you care? I don't think it's that offtopic.

------

tomorrow transmeta will launch their crusoë, maybe there's a link between Be Inc. and Transmeta :o)
--
BeRoute

Maybe it's not too bad to standardize on a scripting language.

Python is one of the most portable scripting languages around ant it's easier and faster to optimize the intepreter's code than to rewrite or port the script/program itself.

<SPECULATION>
If the rumors about Crusoe turns out to be true, you could hack (insert your favourite scripting language) intepreter on the chip, replacing the (standard?) x86 emulator?
</SPECULATION>

BTW, having followed Transmeta in the news for quite a while, I agree with some of the various article writers that Transmeta has all of the ingredients it needs for huge success: strong financial backing, partnering with established companies a focused product, a hugely competent technical staff, and enough name recognition to get the media attention required to explode into production.

Hmmm. Interesting thought. I wonder if /. has enough karma points with Linus to get CmdrTaco and Hemos up close and personal on launch day... Think I'll send a message with that suggestion to the good folks in Transmeta's Business Development department. There. Done. BTW, anyone care use the link and make the same suggestion?

Rob, Jeff y'available?

As usual... there's a secret message in Transmeta.com's source(html)

"Yes, there is a secret message, and this is it:
Transmeta's policy has been to remain silent about its plans until it had something to demonstrate to the world. On January 19th, 2000, Transmeta is going to announce and demonstrate what Crusoe processors can do. Simultaneously, all of the details will go up on this Web site
for everyone on the Internet to see. Crusoe will be cool hardware and software for mobile applications. Crusoe will be unconventional, which is why we wanted to let you know in advance to come look at the entire Web site in January, so that you can get the full story and have access to all of the real details as soon as they are available."

... then he could have added Crusoe to the list. :P

Transmeta has filed patents on their technology and Intel has cited them as significant competition in their anti-trust case. Check it out in past slashdot articles.

DB

nineteenth of January. And transmeta's webpage is at www.transmeta.com.

Pentium IV - big deal. I won't bother getting excited until Transmeta releases their Crusoe thingmabub on Jan 19. Maybe then there'll be something worth getting excited about! Now is not the time to buy a new machine.

Could this be competition for Transmeta's Crusoe processor? Even though we the public have no official knowledge of what it is, we do know that it's gonna be for mobile stuff (IMO mobile means general small things including appliances - information or not).

• The former ("application processor") tends to involve grabbing bits of memory from here and there, comparing them to other bits of memory, jumping, often adding something, and sometimes calling subroutines.

  That may be a gross oversimplification, but there you go...

• The latter ("graphics processor") will be doing a whole lot of operations involving XORs, filling regions with values, and even doing some tight loops oriented towards filling regions with "shading."

The patents that Transmeta has been granted somewhat confirm this point of view; the patents represent ways of optimizing the emulation of those "lots-of-control-statements."

There may be a real killer graphics chip right around the corner, although it is easy to argue that the last three years have involved the continuous release of successive generations of "more-and-even-more-killer" graphics processors.

I'm not sure that there is a "Transmeta" of the graphics world; it's probably not appropriate to talk about such until next February when you might conceivably be able to buy some Transmeta product...

Transmeta's Crusoe Logo

Debian's Logo

Lineo's Logo

Notice a common theme here?

[doc brown voice] "...The only problem with a Slashdot effect is that you never know when one's going to strike!"[/doc brown voice]

[marty mcfly voice] "We do now! January 19th, 2000! 12:00am! http://www.transmeta.com!" [/marty mcfly voice]

http://www2adm.transmeta.com/
http://www3adm.transmeta.com/

http://www2adm.transmeta.com/
http://www3adm.transmeta.com/

http://www.transmeta.com/legal.html - the least interesting thing you've seen in a long time

http://www.transmeta.com/robots.txt - why don't they have one? tsk tsk

http://www.transmeta.com/legal.html - the least interesting thing you've seen in a long time

http://www.transmeta.com/robots.txt - why don't they have one? tsk tsk

http://www.transmeta.com/legal.html - the least interesting thing you've seen in a long time

http://www.transmeta.com/robots.txt - why don't they have one? tsk tsk

http://www.transmeta.com/legal.html - the least interesting thing you've seen in a long time

http://www.transmeta.com/robots.txt - why don't they have one? tsk tsk

http://www.transmeta.com"> has gone LIVE!

Not much there though. Too bad. At least we have a name for the new processor.. Crusoe.