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IBM and Nintendo Partner on Dolphin
CuriousGeorge113 writes "IBM and Nintendo recently anounced a partnership worth $1Billion
where IBM will design a new 400MHZ processor for Nintendo's new
Dolphin system acheduled for release by X-Mas 2000. Read
more here. " What's really cool is the Dolphin system-they want to make this thing the center of your entertainment unit-DVD, CD, as well as hooking up to the Internet.
Check http://www.fourmilab.ch/webtools/demoroniser/ . It explains the problem and gives a script that fixes it.
Basically, these pages do not use the standard latin-1 encoding. They use a proprietary M$ "addition" to latin-1. But the pages say they use latin-1, and so Netscape tries to use a latin-1 font, which on Windows has their propietary extra characters but on UNIX have nothing. So, Netscape puts the question marks to show that it has found an invalid character (which is right according to the standards).
Even if the pages specified the right character set, it wouldn't show "correctly". What you're complaining about is the "smart quotes", and they don't exist on latin-1 fonts. If they existed in Unicode, it would be possible to translate. I do not know much about this part of the issue, but xfree86 fonts seem to be mainly latin-1 only.
Posted by d106ene5:
Wow, after hearing so much about them, and how everyone who's anyone is building or providing parts for them, its nice to hear about one eactually existing. The term "set-top-box" has been bandied about by (up to this point), mostly flailing/failing companies looking for a yet-to-exist market that they can claim leadership in, in order to appease shareholders shortly before delivering a disastrous quarterly report.
Reminds me of previous Netscape press releases -
"We're a browser company"
(Netscape loses browser war)
"We're a server company"
(Netscape loses server war)
"We're an enterprise software company"
(Netscape never actually enters enterprise war)
"We're a portal"
(Netscape tries but never seriously challenges Yahoo)
"We're being acquired by AOL!"
I've been waiting for a DVD application that makes me really go out and buy one. I've been holding off on buying any movies on tape for 18 months in anticipation of going digital.
The problem with the current line of DVD players is they don't add anything to distinguish one from the other - just an extra output or something trivial like that. I want something like a reasonably priced set-top box but also runs software. I'd been hoping Apple would do something like this - a computer like the iMac but without a monitor... just plug it into the TV like an old Atari computer. Looks like Nintendo will get my dollar first..
What I really would like tho is an open, programmable system - a semi-real computer but plays movies and music with the same push-button real-world interface everybody knows. I'm sure one could get the Nintendo SDK - but really that's not open enough for me.To illustrate why, I ALMOST bought a Playstation when the PSXAmp guys announced they were developing an MP3 player for the Playstation. Sure, I have MP3 on my Mac and Linux, but a "real world" interface is something most hardware manufacturers have lost sight of. I don't consider dropping a DVD decoder in a Gateway PC with a whirring fan to be "convergence" -- the implimentation is as important as the technology.
First posted on www.xlr8yourmac.com:
= |==========================+ - C54xDSP-------{Serialout- = |==========================+
IBM recently has entered the custom CPU business with it's Blue Logic
library of CPU cores and peripherals. The following is a possible
combination of IBM's currently available cores that would be perfect
for Apple to use in a low cost portable.
This chip would allow a 3 chip motherboard with more features than the
current G3 350/DVD/MPEG Tower systems.
Note: even though the CPU is only running at 200mhz the integrated
peripherals would probably yeild performance better than a 266mhz
PowerBook G3. For maximum performance, the PPC 405 core can be replaced
by an external 333-466mhz Copper G3 CPU attached to the 60x bus/memory
controller.
PPC 405 CPU core (equivalent to an EC603E CPU)
66mhz 60x CPU bus/memory controller interface
2 independant on chip 64bit/66mhz I/O busses with crossbar switch
2 independant 64bit/66mhz memory controllers
1 32bit/33mhz Onchip Peripheral Bus
1.2 Gigabyte/sec internal I/O data transfer rate (2x 528Mb/sec + 133Mb/sec)
4 to 6 DIMM slots:
2 SDRAM DIMMs up to 256meg main memory
1-2 SGRAM DIMMs up to 32meg video texture and MPEG memory
1-2 SGRAM DIMMs (on ATI RAGE 128 LC) up to 32meg video memory
64bit/33mhz PCI bus
AGP 2x Graphics bus
Bus 1 PLB:
200mhz PPC 405 CPU
32k ICache/32k DCache
66mhz 60x bus interface
66mhz SDRAM controller
8 channel DMA controller
PLB/PLB crossbar switch
PLB/OPB bridge
PLB Arbiter
64bit/33mhz PCI bridge
Bus 2 OPB:
Timers
MPIC
GPIO
I2C
100baseT Ethernet
OPB Arbiter
Bus 3 PLB:
66mhz SGRAM controller
8 channel DMA controller
PLB/PLB crossbar switch
C54X DSP coprocessor
400Mbps Firewire
MPEG
MPEG AC-3 Audio
PLB Arbiter
AGP 2x bridge
Note: the following diagram displays correctly in a fixed width font like courrer.
66mhz
60xbus66mhz
SDRAMSGRAM
||
+==============|===============================
|PPC60xbusmemory|
|Memorycontlercontler|
||||
|PPC405CPU--+----------PLB/Crossbar----------+-
|200mhz||16kdataram/64kcoderam|
|32kICache|||
|32kDCache|32/33OPB+--400MbpsFirewire{1394i/o-
|+----PLB/OPB--+--EthernetSCP||
||||+--MPEGVideoDecoder|
||Timers--+--EthernetMAL||
||||+--MPEGAC-3Audio-{Audioout-
||GPIO----+--EthernetMAC||
|8channelDMA-+|||+--8channelDMAcontroller|
|||I2C--+--EthernetPHY||
|PLBArbiter--+||||+--PLBArbiter|
||||MPIC|||
|PLB/PCI|||100baseTPLB/AGP|
|64/33|||EthernetAGP2x|
|PCIbus||||||
+==============|======|==|===|========+========
||||||
ViaVT82C686ATIRage128LC
SouthbridgeAGP2xVideo
SuperI/O
The PPC 405 CPU core is equivalent to the PPC EC603E (no FP unit).
The FP unit core is not yet available in the Blue Logic library.
PLB: Processor Local Bus, 64bit, 66mhz split transaction on chip CPU bus.
OPB: On Chip Peripheral Bus, 32bit, 33mhz peripheral attachment bus
(similar to a PCI bus).
DMA: 2 - 8 channel intelligent DMA controllers with chained discriptors.
Timers: 5 multi purpose counter/timers.
GPIO: 32 General Purpose I/O lines.
I2C: I2C serial port for sensing SDRAM confifguration and/or
configuring peripheral chips.
MPIC: Imbedded Programmable Interrupt Controller (OpenPIC compliant)
with 32 interrupt inputs and 4 interrupt outputs.
SCP: Serial Communications Processor (subset of the 68302 SCP).
MAL: Memory Access Layer (Logical Level API for serial communications).
MAC: 100baseT Ethernet Media Access Controller.
PHY: 100baseT Physical Media Controller.
C54X: C54x Digital Signal Processor, binary compatible with TI C54x
(16k data ram, 64k code ram).
Firewire: 400Mbps Fire Wire plus MPEG sequencer
(allows playing MPEG encoded video streams from a Firewire DVCam).
MPEG: MPEG video decoder, MPEG audio layer 3 and Dolby AC-3 audio.
AGP 2x: AGP 2x port for video controller.
PCI64: 64bit, 66/33mhz PCI controller (PCI 2.2 compatible)
VIA: Via technologies VT82C686 Super South Bridge
SoundBlaster Pro Hardware and Direct Sound Ready
Integrated AC-97 2.0 (meets PC98 (TM) Basic Audio spec.)
- Dual full-duplex Direct Sound channels between system memory
and AC97 link
- PCI master interface with scatter / gather and bursting capability
- 32 byte FIFO of each direct sound channel
- Host based sample rate converter and mixer
- Standard v1.0 or v2.0 AC97 Codec interface for single or
cascaded AC97 Codec's from multiple vendors
- Loopback capability for re-directing mixed audio streams into
USB and 1394 speakers
- Hardware assisted FM synthesis for legacy compatibility
- Direct two game ports and one MIDI port interface
Integrated Super I/O:
FDC,
ECP/EPP parallel port,
2 serial ports,
IRDA port with seperate 3rd serial port
Voltage, temperature, and fan speed hardware monitoring
UDMA/33 / ATA-66
Advanced mobile PC power management
Supports ATAPI compliant devices including DVD devices
USB
ACPI
ATI Rage: ATI Rage 128 LC (for Digital LCD screens)
Thanx Doug...
The N64 has only been around for a little while.
Does anybody remember the NES? It had an 8 bit
processor that ran at about 1.7 MHz. At first they developed games like Mario Bros. and Donkey Kong. But after years of innovation on the platform, the NES, in it's old age, is running colorful, beautiful games such as Solstice, and the Kirby games which push the system to it's utmost limit.
Also there are the classics like Blaster Master and Metroid which have playability which shines even today, and they were created in the NES's earlier years. (I'm only listing a fraction of the quality games on the NES.)
Maybe this sounds extremely nerdy: but I think the time I spent playing through games for weeks on end -- keeping passwords and making maps.. of a personal journey through worlds where the focus was on perseverance and skill, rather than 5 minutes of cheap graphical thrills (like all these sports or rocket-blasting racing games today) -- was an important thing for building character.
Yet since Zelda: The Ocarina of Time is finished, serious development for the N64 must come to a grinding halt. Innovation in video game programming and playability is dead, and so the only solution for these people is new hardware.
So.. thanks and no thanks, Nintendo.
Nintendo has Dolphin Running at E3
Ten Things You Must Know About Dolphin
Next Generation Nintendo System Announced
-- John Truong
Well it isn't just going to be a gaming system. They are hoping to make it a lot more. This means that Sony might make the PS2 be able to play DVD's out of the box if Nintendo is going to have a system 8 months down the line that does. This I hope is what will happen.
Do you changes clothes while making the "chee-chee-cha-cha-choh" transformation sound?
Yamauchi may be a stubborn, crotchety old man, but he will not let his company release a product that has had THIS poor of a response in the past, even if his company is nintendo. CD-i: dead. 3DO: dead. NetLink: dead. X-Band: dead. While Nintendo attacked the grade-schooler and preteen with N64, Sony attacked hardcore gamers, and guess what, Sony has some 65% of the market share, compared with Nintendo's 30%, and Sega's 5% (that's is what happens when you jam an extra processor in the chipset and forget to write any good libraries). So Sony has shown us that the hardcore gamers rule the market. And what do hardcore gamers want? Not edutainment, net access through an analog controller, and Titanic on DVD. They want a company they know is committed to games. While the Sony and Nintendo have not completely shown their respective hands, right now the only company that i have seen that seems to have it right is Sega: impressive hardware, good libraries, good 3rd party titles, and as always their phenomenal arcade division (I love you AM3). Now if only they can release Sony's grip on Squaresoft...
"Ahh... The net is vast..." - Maj. Motoko Kusanagi
I see again the moronized character set has ZDNet questioning its facts. Its saying "?Dolphin.?" and "?Gecko?" makes it hard to read and to identify whether they are not sure of their facts, whether there is a question being asked, or whether they are using a nonstandard character set.
"...they want to make this thing the center of your entertainment unit-DVD, CD, as well as hooking up to the Internet."
Oh, you mean like a computer does? Let's face it, with all the console makers out to add more and more functionality to their consoles, they are aspiring to what computer-owners have had for ages. Nintendo wants to break into the computer market with a dumbed-down PC.
If I want to buy something to write an email on, I'll buy a computer.
If I want to buy something to play games on, I'll buy a computer.
Sounds like Nintendo have finally noticed what's happening with the computer games industry. What's the point of having hi-res 3d games, if they are only going to be displayed on a TV?
Jim, who's seen this coming since the MarioPaint Mouse was released.