ARM Designer Steve Furber On Energy-Efficient Computing

ChelleChelle writes "By now, it has become evident that we are facing an energy problem — while our primary sources of energy are running out, the demand for energy is greatly increasing. In the face of this issue, energy-efficient computing has become a hot topic. For those looking for lessons, who better to ask then Steve Furber, the principal designer of the ARM (Acorn RISC Machine), a prime example of a chip that is simple, low power, and low cost. In this interview, conducted by David Brown of Sun's Solaris Engineering Group, Furber shares some of the lessons and tips on energy-efficient computing that he has learned through working on this and subsequent projects."

Comments

I doubt it

[Colin Smith]

If the unit of computation is to put a single character on the screen for example. Today, it requires several supercomputer class processors to do the same job as one 286 during the 80s.
 

Re:I doubt it

[Amouth]

but now we have cuved edges and smooth colors - and wait.. still using a square dot to show it.. crap

Re:RISC = Good

[Yvan256]

I'm a big fan of arm. I have two of those!

Re:Energy Efficient Tips

[FrangoAssado]

Maybe he means you'll save the energy the compiler would spend to optimize a multiply into a bit shift :-)