Slashdot Mirror
Possible Crusoe and Recall?
vadim writes "Crusoe may have a bug as reported on yahoo."
Not much there except that NEC is considering a recall because of a "Chip Failure-Paper" (huh?). It doesn't say what the problem is, but it mentions that Sony has also started looking into it.
It's not a "failure-paper". It's just Yahoo's ubercrappy headline system cutting off the byline.
Try reading it like this:
"NEC mulls PC recall, citing chip failure - paper reports."
... and all I wanted for xmas was a magic 8 ball, but i got this lousy
It *is* a big deal when a company hypes itself as the second-coming and investors actually believe it.
This is just one of many cluex4's investors will probably be getting in the near future as they slowly realize that you don't rush into the market with something as complex as a CPU and save the world from [Evil Empire] without a few stumbles along the way.
This is a manual virus. Copy it to your sig and help me spread!
Think of this like golf, a higher number is not your friend. :-)
alas, since he has not Alan Cox et all back him up...mistakes may happen.
The basic sleazeware produced in a drunken fury by a bunch of UCBerkeley grad students was still the core of BIND. --PV
I DIDN'T Say THEWESTCOAST of What Country!
486 is not enough if you want to do word processing in your usual environment, be it M$ Office or StarOffice or whatever. Ditto e-mail.
It always amazed me that these wonderful new technologies would be developed and the first thing they try and do is run windows on it .. makes you realize how much more of a dominance MSFT has and how the monopoly relationship btwn MSFT and INTL affects everyone .. TMTA will never take off until we really get the O/S's off the INTEL chips and their bastardized clones (AMD, etc ..)
Consider a few things - Transmeta's Crusoe chip is a new product, rushed to market in an amazingly small time frame
Yeah.. that must be because they have that technology that would take competitors YEARS to create... while neglecting to mention that transmeta hasn't even been around that longYou crazy man? You piss off supahfly!
OUCH....that is a painful graph!
The Apple IIGS patched their firmware on the ROM 03 systems while booting into the OS.
Wednesday November 29, 4:50 pm Eastern Time
Slashdot Hive-mind rejects legitimate satire
SLASHDOT LAND, Nov 29(Heuters) Moderators on the popular internet news site Slashdot, owned by VALinux and heavily invested in all things Linux, were shocked by an earlier Heuters Wire Release implying that something Linus Torvalds did was anything other than "divine perfection", as one slashdot reader commented.
Various heads of nations and multinational corporations found news of Slashdot Drones turning insane with rage at the slightest hint of anti-Linus humor somewhat un-newsworthy.
Heuters stock plunged 5.062 points in after-hours trading, losing nearly 20% of its value and becoming nearly worthless.
This is a manual virus. Copy it to your sig and help me spread!
you forgot to illustrate all the poop on the floor.
CNET is reporting NEC is recalling the chips. No news on what Sony will do yet.
Someone you trust is one of us.
While your argument about no cash cow is valid, the other one is not. ;-)
1) Transmeta operates the same way as Sun does, i.e. it designs its chips but does not build them itself. They are built by the company with a bit of relevant experience (called IBM
2) Who cares about 15 years of x86 crap^H^H^H^Hlegacy; a processor core lives about 4 to 5 years, so it clearly shows how much time is necessary to develop, test and bring to market any new (processor) architecture.
Tigers respect lions, elephants and hippos. Maggots respect no one. (C) S. Dovlatov
I find your lack of faith...unsettling.
But AMD DID inspire the 1.13 GHz PIII bug. Without such hot competition, Intel would never have rushed the 1.13 PIII out. . .
Does anyone have any specific iBook battery info regarding the claim of 5 hours?
Evan - needs to hit preview before submitting
Assuming most laptops can manage two hours battery time, do we really need that much more?
YES.
In my household the laptops are *off* the ac power most of the time. We are a fully enabled 802.11 (Aiport / wireless ethernet) house. We surf/email from everywhere, including the bathroom, the back porch, and the neighbors lawn. Our aging Fujitsu, with under 2 hrs of battery, seems like a piece of crap next to the 4 hr+ battery time we get from the Powerbook.
As computing go wireless, battery life is the most important spec.
"one treats others with courtesy not because they are gentlemen or gentlewomen, but because you are" --G. Henrichs
I think he means that other countries are like Elbonia.
Consider a few things - Transmeta's Crusoe chip is a new product, rushed to market in an amazingly small time frame. The engineering staff of rival chipmakers, eg Intel and AMD, must dwarf Transmeta's talent pool. But then again, size isn't everything. Remember IBM's blunders in the CPU market? Like those space heaters they used to make - Also referred to as the IBM manufactured Cyrix 5x86 and 6x86 processors? Ooh - Oooh, my favorite, the IBM "Blue Lightning" chip they had out during the 486 days - That little 386 processor they had running a 486 instruction set, that got so hot they failed 10% of the time WITH the CPU fan and heatsink.
;P
Intel, AMD and Motorola have been making microprocessors for a very, very long time... Why anyone should be surprised that a Johnny-come-lately has skinned their knee the first time down the block is beyond me.
One other thing - One of the first things people look at when choosing a laptop, at least the die-hard geeks, is the relative power the unit has compared to their desktop. It's not uncommon to purchase laptops with 128+ megs of RAM, P3600 or faster processors, DVD players, 15" displays that are sharp as a CRT, 8 gig hard drives or larger - Point being, MOST people are off the AC juice just a few minutes at a time; they are writing notes in an airport lobby. Assuming most laptops can manage two hours battery time, do we really need that much more? All you NEED to do word processing and check email is a 486, if we put an 18 micron 486 in a laptop with today's technology, you'd get what, five hours?
THIS SPACE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK.
Wednesday November 29, 2:30 pm Eastern Time
Transmeta "Shifts Focus" to fashion accessories
NEW YORK, Nov 29 (Heuters) Upstart chipmaker Transmeta Corp. (NasdaqNM:TMTA - news) have just announced a shocking "Shifting of Focus" in their business in the near future. Says market analyst Skip Finkleman of International Investment Associates (NasdaqNM: IIAZ - news), "The unique approach of using recalled chips as fashionable jewelry has caught both the high tech and fashion worlds by storm. Expect to see Crusoe necklaces. earrings, bracelets, and even transdermal implants by Q2 2001."
Linus Torvalds, involved with the Transmeta venture from early on, urges Linux supporters to purchase Transmeta jewelry as soon as it becomes available. "We hope that the Open Source Community(tm) will support our move into wearable computers as whole heartedly as ever, even if it didn't come in the form we expected."
This is a manual virus. Copy it to your sig and help me spread!
Those corporate PIGFUCKERS!! They don't know how to build up, or support communities -- no, they thrive on pain, torment, and destruction !
Jealous of the success of Linus Torvalds and our tribe they are trying to reinstitute the Cathedral through the only means at their disposal -- main force.
Well, I'm mad as hell and not going to take it any more. Sony and NEC have had their chance to join the cluetrain. But they have ignored it, and us, for far too long.
I hearby call ONE AND ALL for a BOYCOTT of all Sony products!
It will be hard, but we must resist the corporate powers of Intellectual Property and Darkness!!
(Exceptions may be made for certain Sony products, such as Aibo, anime DVDs, Vaio laptops, movies with neat-o special effects, and so on.)
You may ask, why no boycott of Yahoo!? Well, unfortunately they have no products, and hence are untouchable by anyone save the Government itself.
I am a lawyer myself, and I can tell you that the "-paper" bit is shorthand meaning that the information is not original and is LIKELY to contain bad information© worth
Big, established chip makers with a diverse product range can weather
this. Small IPOs with all their eggs in one basket can find
this...unsettling.
And for those who don't read Japanese(I can speak it, but my kanji sucks), here's the article run thru Excite Japan's rather amusing translator:
To something wrong it, and the recall NEC
The possibility that something wrong is caused in the product partially of CPU (central operation processor)"Crusoe" made by the US transformer meta company installed by the notebook-sized personal computer turned out, NEC clarified a part of the notebook-sized personal computer of the type equipped with Crusoe on the 29th, and it was clarified that the examination had started in the direction where it was a recall (collection and gratuitous repair). Sony which sold the notebook-sized personal computer which handled same Crusoe also started the investigation of the realities.
It was confirmed not to be able to reinstall basic software (OS) partially of the notebook-sized personal computer for the individual who had put it on the market in October because of Crusoe's defective operation according to NEC. It is said as foresight by which [it] stays in several thousand parts which have already been sold to seem to become the object of the collection.
For Crusoe, [it] is developed in rivalry with CPU of Intel Corp. which boasts of an overwhelming share, and low power consumption is a sales thing.
(November 30th 01:47)
Young citizen, this is humorous!
A more likely scenario is that it's a symptom of our economy's drive to keep making things faster and cheaper. Products get rushed out the door without enough time for a truly thorough QA process. Little things that the design engineers may miss, or discard as "nah, that'll hold fine!", can very easily come back and bite you in the ass later.
I do think your statement is right in a sense. We see more recalls, and a public recall is often preferable to the cost and bad pr of a lawsuit. At the same time, I think there's a lot more really shoddy products out there than ever before. The statement "They don't make em like they used to" has a lot of truth in it.
"That's Tron. He fights for the Users."
hmmm... maybe they could
since so much of the chip is in software, maybe they could correct it by modifying the chip's firmware...
I post links to stuff here
.technomancer
.technomancer
it would be nice if the yahoo article said what the error was...
and from what i've heard transmeta is supposed to be issuing new micro code patches that can be flash upgraded to the first series right?
I believe sex is highly over rated... unless it involves me
The worrying thing is that a news site can't get its grammar correct.
Do not use 'neither' with three or more things.
FP.
(F*cking Pedant)
Also FatPhil on SoylentNews, id 863
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
Too bad it's Wednesday and your alliteration no longer works.
Pooty tweet
Actually, this is exactly what the Microprocessor Update feature of the current Pentium's is all about. Intel releases firmware updates as binary files that can be loaded into the processors firmware memory and can fix processor errata. Sorry, Intel won't tell you what the firmware instruction format is and they also encrypt the update files that they release so you can't change the instruction set willy nilly but this is a nifty way of correcting processor mistakes.
--
Don Dugger
VA Linux Systems
Don Dugger
"Censeo Toto nos in Kansa esse decisse." - D. Gale
Even if this is a real problem, a "recall" might amount to nothing more than it does with most automotive problems. When you hear that Toyota is realliing 1.5 million cars, it doesn't mean that they have to be replaced, more likely that one has to bring the car into a dealer where some small part will be adjusted in five minutes.
:-)
Virtually all of the Crusoe functionality seems to be driven by software in flash rom (IIRC), so almost any problem should be fixable by simply flashing or replacing the rom chip.
If this were an old Intel CPU (FDIV bug, etc.) then you *would* be looking at replacing hardware.
Sounds like it might be a good time to pick up some TMTA
G.
A just spotted one of the most offtopic comments I've seen in a while, had to reply! :)
Umm they pay you a few cents and hour, if that and you have to be activly surfing. Lets break down the math.
Alladvantage, one of the most popular pays 20 cents an hour.
Max 720 hours in a month. A horribly addicted surfer may surf 12 hours a day = 360 hours
lets say you get paid 20 cents an hour that is 72 dollars a month for being on the web all of your waking hours for an entire month. BTW you can earn that amount of money giving plasma three times, which is much less painful than halving to deal with a supid ad bar on your screen constantly.
Average surfer is generally on the web activly surfing maay 5 hours a day = 30.00 seems like good money but I repeat having to have a stupid ad bar blocking a large amount of your screen all the time simply isn't worth it.
Summiting at +1,, hey I got karma to burn!
Could this be FUD? Or is it a bug?
FUD or bug
FUD or bug
it matters not at all
for if be FUD,
the fear will kill
and if be bug,
the code "be broke"
and either way
the stock shall fall and fall
Furry cows moo and decompress.
But with procesors they arent suposed to make um like they used to
The ultimate network admin tool needs HELP!
What do you think? L.T. had a hand in the creation of this "chip".
It makes me puke.
L*n*s, get out of the f*cking kitchen, asshole!
And another fact is that the stocks dropped suddenly by 20% shortly after 2pm:
http://quote.yahoo.com/q?s=TMTA&d=1d
They haven't recovered significantly, as usually is the case if it's only a rumour.
Could this company be under any more fire. Frankly I dont think that the code emulation is all that great and I am not sure on just how well the low the low power Crusoe will be. Why haven't they released a bunch of specs and benchmarks if their product is so good.
Everyone say bye bye to Transmetta
Has anyone else noticed that a lot of companies are issuing recalls lately? Does anyone else think they are just afraid of lawsuits after the bad rep big name companies have gotten regarding avoiding recalls because of the firestone fiasco?
just a thoguht.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
I take no responsibility for any spelling mistakes in the above post.
... but Transmeta is about 5 years old. And its founder used to be a chief processor architect at Sun. and the technology they claim as their own was initially developed in Russia before 1990 because 1990-91 was the time when Elbrus team had designed the UltraSparc I (or at least helped Sun to start with the design).
It means that it is not THAT new.
Tigers respect lions, elephants and hippos. Maggots respect no one. (C) S. Dovlatov
The "-paper" bit in the headline is Reuters shorthand, meaning that the story is based on a newspaper article.
---
Felix qui potest rerum cognoscere causas
Bad thing about hardware is that you can't just issue a bugfix patch =P
I am !amused.
Anyone know how much chip recalls cost approx.? I mean... they go and make hundereds of chips and then they just destroy or analyze them after recall I assume?
No conspiracy theories here. But isn't it funny how negative things pop-up at conveniant times? Whether it be drunk driving shortly before an election or a bug when a company goes IPO. ;-)
b00m b00m shake shake the r00m! your post is offtopic now leave the room!
If your recall Transmeta's initial product anouncement for the Crusoe, you'll remember that the ROM where the code-morphing software resides is flashable. If the "bug" is in the software, problem solved (don't you just love software upgradeable CPUs?). If it's in the hardware, things get a little trickier. For some very specific hardware errors (like the FDIV bug in the original pentium), this shouldn't be too difficult, as they impact one assembly instruction fed a small set of error-inducing data. If the error is more broad, say that there is a major flaw in one or more of the VLIW core's internal instructions, new hardware may be necessary.
But with a chip as simple as the Crusoe, it would be awfully embarrassing to screw up the bare metal that much.
Anonymous Luddite: "What do you think of the dehumanizing effects of the Internet?"
Andy Grove: "Not Much."
Awaiting the Narn Bat Squad to mod me down.
No boom today. Boom tomorrow. There's always a boom tomorrow. - Cmdr. Susan Ivanova
Neither NEC, Transmeta or Sony could be reached immediately for comment.
Got friends?
Either /. posted a false article with no credibility or Transmeta is about to learn what it takes to play with the big-boz.
Either way this is not a good news.
-- George
Karma stuck at 50? Add 2-5 inches.. err.. 2-5x Karmas Count to your pen1es.. err.. Karma all naturally and private
Might I say, truly superb troll. Looks like you covered all your bases. Not only did you reply in a completely off-topic manner, but you got a +1 Informative out of it too!
And to whatever crack smoking moderators gave him this point (probably in an attempt to get rid of it), lay off the pipe. I'll see you in MetaMod.
Karma: Dyn-o-mite!(mostly affected by Jimmy Walker reading your comments)
Compare that to the lightning quick reflexes of ppl that get First Posts here at /. You snooze, you lose. So cheer up all you FP'ers out there. There is a future for you in the Stock Market.:)
"low power consumption" - just a *sales* thang...
Evan - needs to hit preview before submitting
I just received an email from Commander Taco that the strain of those fifty comments being posted may bring down slashdot for the rest of year...abandon ship...abandon ship!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! aba
IT'S NOT Wednesday Here On The West Coast!
their shirt on is a winner, and will in the long run render CISC
procesors obsolete. But I doubt that Transmeta in it's current form
will reap the benefits. Look at what has gone wrong for them:
700MHz machine gave performance that is probably in the range
450MHz-500Mhz (but independent, comprehencsive benchmarks are not to
be had). By all accounts this has been very disappointing to
Tramsmeta's engineers.
in Intel's and AMD's flagship offerings. Transmeta have not shown off
anything new in this time, so their already poor performance is
falling behind.
year, which, while settled looks to be settled in a quite expensive
way for them.
notebooks.
Most likely outcome: they get bought out by a competitor (Intel?
IBM? perhaps even AMD or Sony?), at a favourable or not so favourable
price. To survive on their own they will need to do something
surprising.
A tuxedo is nothing without a purple, feathered hat. The Linux Pimp
--It's Pimptastic!--
I Didn'T Say WHAT PLANET!
Yeah...we are only supposed to jump the gun and trash things when it is MS or Intel related.
C'mon people - this is Linus related...it must be non-news.
Just.
Post.
The.
Number.
It's the right thing to do.
Wow, dude! Check your calendar! It's currently 1:39pm, Wednesday November 29 in Seattle; currently located in the Pacific time zone.
Pooty tweet
That is currently my goal. Please join me in the TROLL TUESDAY festivities. For a complete agenda, read the above reply to the FIRST POST.
This doesn't make too much sense to me, as we devolve into more mindless speculation than CNN did on TWA Flight 800...
r usoe.htm
From http://www.geek.com/procspec/features/transmeta/c
"...when problems or design issues come up they can be fixed in software instead of hardware. This makes it a lot easier to develop a chip, and work around any flaws that are encountered..."
and
"It would seem to me that users need to be able to update their Code Morphing software in some situations, like if a serious bug is found or new
features are added. "
Now, NEC is not an idiot, I assume, so they know all this is true. If that is the case then there is a bona fide h/w problem, is there not? If it were anything else, it could be corrected by flashing the EEPROM (or something...). But that's not the case... "NEC is mulling a recall". Help me out here, I could be wrong.
SDMI: Finally! Music that won't rip or burn! Brought to you by the fine folks at RIAA.
I gotta say that this is a pretty crappy slashdot news item...notice the screw-ups in the title and the short abstract. And to think that this is from someone paid to do this? Where do I sign up?
I love this: Grapes on fire
They don't screw it in.
Link.
Hmmmmmm....
Seriously: the transmeta patent filings indicate that the initally-target ISA for their technology was PowerPC, not IA32. How hard could it be for them to switch over and deal with PowerPC, especially if apple paid them?
They are a perfect match in many ways: apple has always used low-power chips, and apple's HW design is increasingly resembling embedded devices (for all intents and purposes, the cube is an embedded device.)
Plus the rumors (see macosrumors.com today) indicate that Apple is pressing IBM + Moto to allow 3rd party people to make PowerPC chips. If Apple goes with transmeta, this wouldn't even be necessary, as IBM is the foundry for transmeta...
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Another country? The news is from right here in our own country of Japan. Are you referring to the fact that Yahoo is an American company?
In other news, -1 Flaimbait gets modded as a 4...
ok then your [sic] infringing on my copyright! Could you as [sic] me next time before STEALING my comments for your own?
Just checked the Vaio support site, and Sony have a statement about this..(in Japanese)
/ in fo19.html
http://vcl.vaio.sony.co.jp/products/common/note
For the Japanese-impaired, it says something to the effect that:
"There has been a reported problem with the Crusoe CPU where a system re-installation using the recovery CD doesn't complete..
For the C1:
As of 11/29, for the 26,000 units shipped there haven't been any reports of this problem
For the GT1:
As of 11/29, for the 2,200 units shipped there have been 7 enquiries regarding recovery CD problems, and these are being investigated."
Note: this is not a literal translation - just my rough summary. Basic meaning is there though.
Graham
--Ben
The original, short article on the Yomiuri Times seems to be here, although it's in Japanese.
The extra info that wasn't reported on the Yahoo! reads:
"One of the problems reported was that due to irregularities in the chip, basic software programs (eg, OS) could not be reinstalled"
Laf. That *could* be a slight problem if you plan on running Windoze...
It seems rather odd, I haven't been able to find anything on any news sites about the actual bug incident yet NEC and Sony are talking about a recall. If the bug is serious enough to demand a recall (I'm thinking Pentium math error type bug) we would hear about it from other sources. So, does anybody have those other sources?
Also, depending upon the type of bug couldn't the firmware within the chip be upgraded as the core of crusoe is programmable, it seems most bugs would be software centered although the possibility for hardware is definitely there. I hope this isn't Yahoo jumping the gun on a rumor that NEC is investigating. While I dont hold /. to a journalistic standard (It's just Rob's little playground, until people on here start calling themselves journalists) I would expect Yahoo to follow guidelines and not publish rumors. Where's the facts!?
Dacels Jewelers can't be trusted.
--
Eat well, exercise regularly - oh, who am I kidding.
This type of occurance should be expected. All chip manufacturers have had their own setbacks. Just because Crusoe is putting out chips that are parts of some damn cool gadgets that everyone wants doesn't mean they aren't vulnerable to the occasional flaw.
I could be wrong (IANAJournalist), but I think the "-Paper" reference refers to the Japanese daily Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper.
Either:
1) This can't be good during a time when dotcom stocks are being de-valued like nobody's business in the climate of 'make money before Christmas or die' (or is it 'holy shit remember the last time a Bush was in office' I can't be sure).
Or
2) This is the best time for a high-tech, new economy recently-IPO'd company to have bad news, since they are all going to hell anyway.
I can't be sure (IANAEconomist, either).
And to think TMTA was one of the brighter boys of the recent IPO's. Pity.
SDMI: Finally! Music that won't rip or burn! Brought to you by the fine folks at RIAA.
Hmmmm, my informant at Reuters claims they got it from slashdot.
try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
That should read 'chip-failure' -Paper
The Japanese daily Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper initially reported on the chip-failure
Looking for tickets to the Broncos/Seahawks game on Dec 10th at Mile High?
---
Interested in the Colorado Lottery?
Interested in the Colorado Lottery or Powerball games?
check out http://colotto.com
Maybe it's being recalled because it works correctly instead of faithfully reproducing the Intel bug. :-)
"The question of whether machines can think is no more interesting than [] whether submarines can swim" - Dijkstra
That's fine. Just turn on your Tuesday Machine. You can then participate fully. If you don't have one I'll turn on my spare for you.
by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 29, @04:37PM EST
What the hell does Crusoe have to do with open
source? -AnonCow
Well, for starters, Paul Allen was Bill Gates' partner,
may have a "reality distortion field" stronger
than Jobs'--or Gates, because,
was lifted by MS stock but diversified into
AOL and Asymetrix so didn't get caught holding
when MS's ponzi poofed,
bought Netscape, whassup Marc Andreeson;
tell us where is Linus headed, Marc,
and Paul Allen, you guessed it, bought Linus
via Transmeta,
"Windoze ain't done til Lotus won't run"
"AOL ain't done til Mozilla won't run"
"Transmeta won't run til OpenSource ain't done"
--see a common thread in Paul Allen's jeans here?
Possibility thinking at every stage keeps untestable
mistakes from burial in the monolith, nothing
personal. Mudsuckers have been known to wear
pantyhose to keep leeches out. Look at
AOL, Netscape. AOL=PaulAllen. Look at Transmeta=Linus.
Is Transmeta another run in Paul Allen's stocking, like buying
Netscape and shipping Outlook with AOL?
Or is that Mongolians in silk undies that stop arrows like
Kevlar without humping manly metal? Or is VLIW the silk,
not Paul ninja Allen?
Of penguins and men.
clearly the poster forgot that fake press releases are only funny if they're about microsoft or hot grits.
remember kids; posting material that runs counter to the hivemind is a Bad Thing(TM)
unfortunately they have no products, and hence
are untouchable by anyone save the Government
itself. -Tuxedo Mask
Tux,
You don't need the government, in case you
haven't noticed.
Simply "damn by faint praise", as a million
penguins take to the streets and subways
**MUMBLING**,"Do you Yahoo?" to
ll they meet!!!
by Bluesee on Wednesday November 29, @05:12PM EST
This doesn't make too much sense to me, as we
devolve into more mindless speculation than
CNN did on TWA Flight 800...
Speculation as "mindless" as overlooking this? Here, let
me juxtapose it for ya-- Subject: debian installs on Crusoe but RH, Suse, not!
Newsgroups: linux.debian.user
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=00/11/29/20112 33&threshold=-1&commentsort=1&mode=flat&pid=0
Transmeta press release on the recall
by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 29,
@09:37PM EST (#230)
http://www.transmeta.com/press/PRnec112900.html
"SANTA CLARA, California, (November 29, 2000) -
Transmeta Corporation today announced that
it is working with NEC Corporation in Japan to complete
an exchange of fewer than three hundred NEC notebooks with Crusoe
microprocessors.
"The exchange is being undertaken due to the
possibility that a failure might occur if a
consumer were to reinstall an operating system.
It is the IO most likely
by arivanov on Wednesday November 29, @05:26PM EST (#171)
Ok, here is the story:
I ran through lots of tests including a full
debian install on a Crusoe Vaio. It ran very
well (twice faster than the older PII model)
and had no problems besides X (I could not get
this running and sony deserves all the flak
it can get for the display in the new Vaio).
A the same time it could not install RedHat,
recent SuSe (old Suse installs fine, upgrade is
also fine) and Mandrake. In all cases it
hanged on the initializing swap the first
time. Which definitely shows a problem. Either
in the CPU virtual addressing or in the peripherals.
It is not just crusoe that is new in the machines.
Crusoe is accompanied by a north bridge and
new peripheral chips. As most of the machines
released so far are subnotebooks these are not
standard and IMHO buggy.
I am not saying that crusoe itself may not have
bugs but from what I saw so far bugs in the
north bridge (which unfortunately is on the same chip with
Crusoe) and/or southbridge/peripherals are more likely.
I have a CONFESSION to make. I was the LINUX ASS STUPHA from the days of yore. I will now leave slashdot. No, scratch that. I'll PRETEND to leave Slashdot, then come back under a femal pseudonym, like "Betty Sue," or "Sue Cuntsdale."
Haha.. good one. No, actually, it's planet Earth. Just in another dimension where it's always Tuesday. Remember, I didn't say what DIMENSION I was in!
Ok, here is the story:
I ran through lots of tests including a full debian install on a Crusoe Vaio. It ran very well (twice faster than the older PII model) and had no problems besides X (I could not get this running and sony deserves all the flak it can get for the display in the new Vaio).
A the same time it could not install RedHat, recent SuSe (old Suse installs fine, upgrade is also fine) and Mandrake. In all cases it hanged on the initializing swap the first time. Which definitely shows a problem. Either in the CPU virtual addressing or in the peripherals.
It is not just crusoe that is new in the machines. Crusoe is accompanied by a north bridge and new peripheral chips. As most of the machines released so far are subnotebooks these are not standard and IMHO buggy.
I am not saying that crusoe itself may not have bugs but from what I saw so far bugs in the north bridge (which unfortunately is on the same chip with Crusoe) and/or south bridge/peripherals are more likely.
Baker's Law: Misery no longer loves company. Nowadays it insists on it
http://www.sigsegv.cx/
Does this really count as news. Unconfirmed reports from a news agency in another country. The only part of the article that is factual is that Transmeta had their IPO recently.
/. have refused all requests for answers.
This just in:
Two homeless teenagers were overheard discussing that Microsoft will be filing for bankruptcy next week. For the time being we can only assume that this must be the truth as officials at Microsoft have not responded to requests for comments that have been sent to info@microsoft.com 10 minutes ago.
In other news, Slashdot.org has buckled under the load of 50 comments being posted at the same time. Officals at
The headline is:
"NEC mulls PC recall, citing chip failure-paper"
In other words the information 'NEC mulls PC recall, citing chip failure' is attributed to a newspaper. e.g. "The presidential race is over-Bush" has Bush saying he is the president.
-Shieldwolf
just = (My)Opinion.toCents();
Actually its not yahoo's "ubercrappy headline system cutting off the byline" if you read the source it was written Yahoo - NEC mulls PC recall, citing chip failure-paper It says nothing about "...chip failure - paper reports." Stop putting words in peoples code.
KA
"Linux is the solution to all problems" - ME
Ok, so there is a "possible" bug with the chip, and transmeta stock plummets 20%...
:), and needs to take the attention away from how utterly disappointing the P4 is.
Why is this bug such a big deal? Complex microchips are inherently buggy. It would take years to test all the capabilities of a modern microprocessor for errors. It's never done.
So, either this bug is big enough to really warrant a recall, in which case it should have at least been described in the article on yahoo, and likely would have been discovered in previous explorations of the chip, or...
Intel is pissed and wants destroy Transmeta before they become real competition (which is understandable, yay capitalism!