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Transmeta Details Continue to Unravel
KrisJon writes "Redherring has some info on Transmeta's pending announcement of its product line." It comments about Torvald's keynote today (and it says he won't spill the beans, but that The Transmeta Website should update and actually contain content tonight). Update by RM: as of 9 p.m. EST there was new content on Transmeta's Web site. Not much, but more than it had before. Read the HTML for the secret message.
But which version is that...? What do we
know about this one?
You know what to do boys and girls. Be nice.
It's a reference from the Cronenberg movie "Videodrome". I believe it's the very *last* 2 lines:
Long live the new flesh!
See you in Pittsburgh.
Darn. Read the message at least if you are going to moderate it.
Rebundant. Duh! READ IT!!!
Yea, but it'll be 10 times more powerfull then any fusion reactors made by Intel.
Actualy, I'm hoping they're making wearables. But I'm not holding my breath.
The AC is correct.
Mr Burns calls it Garbo.
Everybody else calls it Gabbo.
that's a nice looking font they got there. oh yeah, that processor thingy sounds neat too.
It is doubtful that they would, at any time in there past, have found a computer especialy good since they can get at its insides... with there budget they always ordered customizations on there computers, and the /bought/ there mainframes, something that nobody dose/did (every one else from banks on down leases em).
For god sakes, there recruting EE's to desigin computers from the chip up, and they have on site fabs.
At least have a credable story... Its clear to me that your friend was at Area-51.
-1, URLs that are not links
We need another moderation category
0 1 - just my two bits
Vovida, OS VoIP
Beer recipe: free! #Source
Cold pints: $2 #Product
It will run gnome, no Linux/Gnome/GNU/whatever!
Where can I preorder one ?
The kernel needs a Gtk/Gnome-based post-install device configuration tools "a la" make xconfig. (Better sig coming soon
Vovida, OS VoIP
Beer recipe: free! #Source
Cold pints: $2 #Product
Thank You, Kind AC.... Looks like somebody with some moderation points has gone a little "redundant" happy.... Or perhaps, it is a Transmeta Agent, trying to put the lid back on "the truth," or even worse, a Juridian spy!
HaXXXor.com - Naked Chicks Teach You How To Ha
Ball Semiconductor have been working quietly away on a process which uses small, cheap spheres of silicon instead of expensive slices. Maybe that's where the ball bit comes from. I didn't think they were ready for production, but their fab is potentially very cheap to make once perfected. Vik :v)
Some guy at work told me for his computer science major he had to design an OS kernel. Linus didn't do anything miraculous. He was just lucky. It was everyone else who made Linux what it is today. All this Linus worship is completly uncalled for.
I just get a little audio blurb that says that the selected video is unavailable and to check back one half hour after the completion of the event...
check my post time.
no, afiak ... it means u can program the chip to adapt itself to be as efficient as possible to the given task .. playing quake .. let it do just fp number crunching ... etc etc
Naw, the "box" is supposed to represent a window. He's just milking the Windows interface for all its worth...
--
"Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies."
I wonder if they hired Linus for marketing.
But geese guys! Linus is an excellent coder from what I've heard but this reminds me way too much of the celebrity worship I despise so much in the mainstream. Now my comrades do the same in our bailiwick?
Please, say it ain't so? There isn't even anything worthwhile on the page and people already want to by one or four!
I am very skeptical with this new chip. Especially with so many people are going to fall over each other to buy one. I certainly hope everyone will wait for this chip to prove itself before we all hop on the bandwagon.
Also, think about this: Which one do you want to win? Linus the marketer or Linus the coder? In other words, let this chip be succesful on its own merits. Linus shouldn't be a factor.
***Beginning*of*Signiture***
Linux? That's GNU/Linux to you mister!
Chilli
-=- Just a random lambda hacker
Now that is an impressive announcement.
--
"Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies."
they're ripping of the debian logo and the gnome footprints. wowzers
when Push Comes to Shove
I think when I start my company I'll just randomly spill some ink on blotter papper and use that as my logo.
Yes Crusoe is an anagram of source.
But, it could also be that this whiz-bang new microprocessor turns out to be the CURE to all your Operating System woes.
It may be the CORE of some sort of Universal System.
It may even claim to guarantee that U SCORE, but I doubt it.
Or it could be just another RUSE by the COmpany.
Ahh - My eye!
The doctor said I'm not supposed to get Slashdot in it!
Google Scout says..
...more...
Rise
Linus's homepage
IDT WinChip
Linux/m68k
Linux Kernel Archives
at the expense of karma say... I would venture that your .sig is quite offensive.
Anybody want a peanut?
It's people!!!! It's people!!!!!! Transmeta is people!!!!!!!
Hates people who have stupid little sigs
Ok, I watched the webcast of Linus's keynote with drool dripping from my gaping maw, but I didn't care. Implicit in his address was the future of Crusoe. Lets review some of the things he said:
1. Linux needs to be more scalable.
2. Linux must be faster in web servers.
3. Mobile/Wireless comps must not be lacking in functionality.
4. Linux needs lower power consumption.
Where will we see all of these facts put together? There are a few examples. We'll see it in PDA's (wouldn't you love to run a web server on your Palm V?). We'll see it in set top boxes which will soon be fully functional PCs. And IMO the coolest, sexiest application, we can see this in wearable computing. Where else would you absolutely want all of these? You need a fast, light, powerful, compatible machine on you back to run all of those things like personal webcams and heads up displays. I think Crusoe will be used very much in new approaches to wearable CPUs, and that is a Good Thing.
You gonna smoke that whole thing by yourself or are ya gonna pass it 'round?
dave ";)"
You know, that Crusoe logo looks an awful lot like the Debian logo.
Did you noticed that TM's website is mapped onto 3 different IPs...
/. effect :-)
Name: www.transmeta.com
Addresses: 209.10.41.232, 209.10.41.233, 209.10.41.231,
I think they were anticipating the
I understand them, they have been making us holding our breathes for years...
i realize GIF wasn't the important part of your message, but it may be worth noting (as others in this thread have) that the /images directory actually contained one PNG:
http://www.transmeta.com/images/arrive2.png
there were also GIF and JPG versions of this same image.
strange things..
Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts
An Announcement of a future Announcement!!!
what a letdown.
My little brother Laurent will be 19 on 19th January...
:-)
I've told it to a friend that I found it very funny :
The Transmeta processor coming out on a 19th January, when my brother'll be 19. This is also the last 19th January of the century of the 19xx years so everything is well tought
From the source:
---------------------
!---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.---
********* sig: If you don't like the law, get filthy stinking rich, and buy a better one.
An obscure Wumpscut reference for the goths out there.
Hands in my pocket
but check this out:
"Even though Transmeta's patents indicate that its chips are x86 compatible, it isn't a given that it will join the bloody desktop PC battle. Its most recent patent describes a type of "code-morphing" hardware and software that is, as the patent says, "an apparatus for enhancing the operation of a microprocessor, which is less expensive than conventional state of the art microprocessors, yet is compatible with and capable of running application programs and operating systems designed for other microprocessors at a faster rate than those other microprocessors.""
the key here is "code-morphing". i'm betting that somehow the linux kernal will be able to run much closer to the hardware.
of course this would mechnision would have to allow for new patchs, and most likely other OS's. very interesting idea if i'm right.
i'm not right.. hey maybe i should patent it. hehe
-Jon
(no comments about be spelling please)
this is my sig.
Could the release of the Crusoe be one of the turning points in the history of the computer industry?
I think so.
I believe so because I believe Transmeta is aiming to put a computer in most everyone's hand. Their processor is likely aimed to be used in a very flexible Palm platform type of implementation up to the "almost a PC" product form.
Maybe down the road they will look towards the PC moshpit, but right now low-end computing is where the real money can be made.
E
EverCode
It's nice to know all of our sleuthy deductions were right on the money. Transmeta is working on a new CPU.
:)
And check out their hidden message. This time it exists- and it points out that on January 19th, 2000 we will see what their Crusoe processor can do. It will be on the webpage.
Cool stuff
But i wonder... what's Linus' involvement in all of this?
Gawd. Shaddup already.
[---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.--->
OBVIOUSLY a "tyop" is a "Ty Operation", that being a command which operates on beanie babies...
osu-neko=tomcat(?) with a whirlpool in his email address. He's sure milking this swirly thing for all its worth...
This change is only for the worst, everyone. We all thought that the Crusoe would be our salvation, that Transmeta and Linus would invent something that would destroy Microsoft and all that is non-open source. In short, we looked to Transmeta for our salvation. But we will not find it. Why? It is as simple as it is shocking: The transmeta homepage once carried an announcement that it was y2k compliant.
That announcement is no longer there!
Let the mourning begin.
-Denor
Um, that wouldn't be very sensible. A JIT compiler for Java, for example, doesn't compile source code, it compiles bytecodes into native codes. Since bytecode can be considered an assembly/machine language for an abstract virtual machine, it's effectively an optimising cross-assembler - the word "compiler" in the phrase "just in time compiler" is a bit misleading.
Female Prison Rape in NY
Female Prison Rape in NY
January 19, 2000= 1 19 2000 1+1+9+2+0+0+0=23 23!!!!!!!!!!
-Spazimodo
Fsck the millennium, we want it now.
Fsck the millennium, we want it now.
Millennium Crisis Line: 0890 900 2000 [calls cost 50p/min]
I for one actually tried that URL... Not sure why, but that didn't stop me. :)
/super/sekrut/message/index.html entries in their errors log. :)
Transmeta are probably going to be awful perplexed by all the
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum viditur.
Crusoe->Debian->Dreamcast->Cinnabon->Corbis
Don't forget Sybase too.
"Anyone who can't laugh at himself is not taking life seriously enough." - Larry Wall
It don't understand this, it may be a buzzword or not.
It may means:
a) low power
b) mobile as in designed for radio-communication use ??? (having some DSP-like instruction?)
Come on, you slashdotters, any idea ?
Well, checking the JavaScript docs, it seems getYear returns two-digit year for 1900-1999, and four-digit year for others. So the code _is_ y2k compatible. For JavaScript 1.3+, one should use getFullYear instead.
...that Transmeta owns "CRUSOE.COM", which also points to the same place.
I've not searched for any other domains, though.
clock speed forever!!! wintel rules!!!!
microsoft
microsoft,
i'll bet your dick
never goes soft.
Billy gates
billt gates
why are you the one
that everybody hates?
It seems strange that they would be announcing things on January 19, 2000. Is this a play on numbers?
"You can't make a race horse of a pig"
"No," said Samuel, "but you can make very fast pig"
The only useful advance for mobile computing would be chip-set, accessory, etc integration ON ONE CHIP and better power supplies. Much better power supplies.
License: By reading this you are agreeing that you agree with me.
Well, as far as I know, every copy of the kernel source has a file: /usr/src/linux/Documentation/logo.gif
Or is Tux distributed as some other format now?
-----------
-----------
100% pure freak
j00 r 50 31337!!!!! wear can i g3t ur m4d 5k1llzz?
You can read all about it here.
They don't seem to have the SEL32 anymore (looks like it was incredibly old), but they do have a neat reflective memory technology.
penguinicide... when jumping out a window just won't do.
Will Crusoe have a companion 'Friday' or will
it remain alone on that island of obscurity ?
Maybe OS-port for it can be named 'Friday'
-ak
[ref: Robinson Crusoe who was shipwrecked
If I see another swirly logo, I'm going to puke! :(
Enough already!
(Sorry, it's early, and I'm behind schedule!)
J.
(Note to the humor imparied: yes, I know what a Meyer-Briggs test is, no need to reply explaining. Considering it's a personality test result, it's somewhat amusing to note that INTEGERP used to be called FIXP in MacLisp...)
--
"Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies."
Nice logos huh? I wonder if there will be a copyright war.
I think you're talking about GABBO!
--
Interested in XFMail? New XFMail home page
I would email you privately, but you don't provide your email address, so I can only hope you read this..
I really like your sig. Do you have a source for that? (I'd rather not quote it unless I know it's not a joke.)
Thanks.
You mean I'll lay down my sword, you'll lay down your rock, and we'll try to kill each other like civilized people?
no. i'd say he'd be embarrased.
You know, this whole thing has me remembering a Pinky & The Brain episode where Brain gets a similar idea where he never shows his product, but runs an infomercial talking about it for a half an hour that makes people go mad trying to buy it before he actually shows it, and it's THIN AIR! Now that's vaporware!
Simple answer: one of the moderators screwed up and scrolled one too far down the list. This is
a big problem when you use the intellimouse to scroll through pages.
Hey, moderators screw up too, you know.
I always wondered why the previous web page said:
There is no secret message
There is no tpyos in this web page
Or something like that, I'm doing this from memory. But The second statement was false, so you might think the first statement is false too. I think that's why its there, to let people know that there will be a secret message in the main page. So they had a "Non-secret secret"!
Steven Rostedt
Steven Rostedt
-- Nevermind
Rumor had it that this was that "Micro Kernel" Chip capable of "emulating" another type of chip (x86, motorola, sparc, etc...) Is that still the rumor or did I miss something? I would think that could explain Linus's involvement.
--Evan
Strongarm's can do all that...
It's a few days out of date; whois shows it as belonging to Transmeta, as of Friday.
cool, mobile CPUs...
:P
:)
all the better to make a bigger cluster in a smaller space
seriously tho..
the rumors of emulating other CPUs in hardware sounds very cool. I only hope that if they are true, that you can emulate more than 1 instruction set concurrently...
imagine being able to run Linux (or whatever you decide) on it "natively", and then have an x86 application, a couple of Sparc applications, and a few old 16/8 bit emulators running at the same time, all doing the CPU emulation in hardware
Linux as it is, is fairly cross-architecture... with hardware emulation of different instruction sets, this would mean binary cross platform compatibility?
smash
I run: Windows, OS X, Linux, FreeBSD. Just because you have a hammer, doesn't mean everything is a nail.
My dad retired (several years ago) after 20-some years at NSA.
I don't know much about what he did, but I do know that part of his job involved installing and training people with computer systems, and he made trips to quite a number of countries in order (I believe) to do that, Turkey for one.
My casual understanding from glancing through books like The Puzzle Palace and from talking to other folks I know (pops won't tell me) is that NSA also helps other agencies with thier computers, too. So the story about the SEL 32 rings fairly true, or certainly plausible.
timothy
jrnl: http://tinyurl.com/c2l8yr / foes: http://tinyurl.com/ckjno5
...or swedish microwave (& other white stuff) manufacturer Whirlpool...
--
"I'm surfin the dead zone
In the twilight, unknown"
Well, "Crusoe Debian Dreamcast Cinnabon" is an anagram of "Concessionaire adumbrate and NBC". The "concessionaire" is cleraly Linus, "adumbrate" is a reference to the number-crunching power of the Crusoe processor, but where does NBC fit in?
Well, let's see, NBC is owned by General Electric, which is a major competitor of Sega, who make the Dreamcast. Jack Welch, the CEO of GE is a known associate of Warren Buffet, who is thought to be a big fan of the Cinnabom [tm] breakfast roll.
It seems to me that the logo must be part of a secret code between Welch, Buffet and Stallman (probably all members of the Illuminati), to put the wind up Sega, and remind them not to stop putting Satanic symbols in the Sonic games.
fnord fnord fnord, etc.
jsm
Linus called Mozilla a failure in the article.
That's good enough for me.
Tidbits .. code, solutions, crap
http://www.frotz.com/technical/
any comments?
http://www.mindspring.net/aboutms/mslo gotrans.gif
-------------------
-------------------
This is my SIG. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
Ok, so, I can read german, and so I'm thinking I know what that says (literally, "people-flesh"), but, would you care to enlighten us a bit on the Wumpscut bit? Thanks
Insert mind here.
... doesn't seem so odd.
Actually, the pieces do still fit together rather nicely.
OK this will be a little long, but I'm gonna spell out a little history for ya if you aren't already familiar with it.
Amiga Inc., prior to Jim Collas' (CEO) departure, was making all kinds of noise about the AmigaObjects modular layer or whatever. It was supposed to be a highly flexible and scalable distribution of Linux. Ultimately it was revealed by Gateway that their plans for Amiga had little to do with a desktop machine (to the ire of many an old Amigaphile) and a lot to do with so-called pervasive computing. "Amiga" was going to be a kind of brand name for the general software technology tying together a whole host of upcoming PDA's, wristwatch computers, car computers, set-top computers, game consoles, etc. Kind of like Bluetooth but in a more abstract and comprehensive OS sense rather than just a wireless protocol.
All the while there was this Transmeta / Amiga co-operation rumor, culminating with the Transmeta logo being featured at some big (heh) Amiga show in London. Naturally, the chiphead community (and especially the Amigans within it) being as optimistic as they are, the Transmeta chip was suspected to be a kind of smart FPGA or something, which was able to emulate the microcode of other CPU's in real time. This may still be true, but back then it seemed a little tenuous at best that a company as cutting edge as Transmeta, who could probably have their pick of partners, would choose a faded, orphaned, and probably cursed platform/brand as it's conveyance into the marketplace. When Amiga, Inc. clammed up, ejected or lost half of the celebrities in management, and summarily round-filed the Amiga desktop machine project, it looked like the naysayers were right: the rumored partnership was just that - a wishful rumor.
Fast forward to today. Turn out Transmeta has in fact been making a microprocessor (duh) and - what's this? - it's going to power portable computing devices. Hmmm... And a revolution in portable (or "ubiquitous/pervasive") computing is also exactly what Gateway had in mind for Amiga.
It seems, in fact, that the two companies' business plans had been on a parallel course since the beginning.
Now Amiga *is* still in business, still has engineers, etc. on payroll, and is still planning on doing something , they are just a lot quieter about it now. Could it be that the rumors were too close to being true that they had to do something drastic (like get rid of - or make life difficult for - the too-friendly management staff)so as not to blow the cover (and likely get sued by) for partner Transmeta (and any other partners)?
Whadda *you* think?
- The Count
The people at Transmeta must really be enjoying themselves, "hiding" little bits of information for people to find out and speculate on.
I'd like to hear some really far out speculation, not just a few silly anagrams. I expect they plant that much, dig deeper, check out the IP#s for ASCII symbols, anagram the whole site, etc.
Someone set us up the bomb, so shine we are!
Actually, I'm worried now:
TRANSMETA'S CRUSOE
is an anagram for:
NSA'S SOURCE MATTER
I'm pretty sure that this explains the impenetrable cloak of secrecy around the company and it's "products". And also why they have access to so much cash...
Babar
I love wild-ass guesses! I think Crusoe's gonna be a kickin' espresso machine and avacado juicer. Guess I have to wait two more months for guacamole-flavored coffee.
I for one actually tried that URL... Not sure why, but that didn't stop me.
Transmeta are probably going to be awful perplexed by all the
*grin* I didn't even think of that.... It would be funny if they ran with it and put up a joke page there....
HaXXXor.com - Naked Chicks Teach You How To Ha
The NSA also has some facilities in Texas and other locations. See this for a list of NSA facilities. Just because you haven't heard of it doesn't mean that it doesn't exist.
Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
"Frotz is an interpreter for the games produced by Infocom, Inc., which were released in a machine-independant format. On all platforms the games were released as a data file plus an interpreter, so this program can be used to play Infocom games released for any platform. Frotz is the fastest and most accurate Infocom interpreter currently available for the Amiga..."
True. I suppose I shouldn't have done that. But it was the exact same article from redherring.
Well, using RealPlayer G2 Alpha for Linux....
... *segfault*
You hear about 20 minutes of ZD guys blabbing, a Comdex hotshot, and maddog. Then maddog introduces Linus and
I tried starting it again and moving the slider over 20 minutes, but couldn't get it to continue playing from there.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUGHGHGHGHGHGHGH!!!!
Real, if you don't clean up your CRAPPY software I'm gonna get mad!!!
Crusoe... soft, fresh, moisturising.
FWIW, a friend of mine was in Cusco this spring and discovered that, even there, there are internet cafes or kiosks which provide 30 minutes or so of access for a fraction of a US dollar. Web access and your web-based email should work there.
It's now available.. Real Audio G2 link
Let us say that the site gets Slashdotted, or there's some other reason why people can't reach it. Or maybe this hidden text disappears after a day or two. Don't you think it might be handy for it to be duplicated here? Also, it makes it easier to comment on it.
--
But what OS? One one hand, one has to consider a Linux variant because Linus works there. Hmmm, RedHat purchased Cygnus who has expertise in...? This would raise colusion concerns (nah, why should it). Linus has also said that he wants better power management with linux. No surprise there, just look at what Apple has been working on with OS with regard to the iBook and PowerBooks. And to those that wonder about X Window, yea what about it? Linus may remember a time when Linux was not totally tied into X.
OTOH, Paul Allen is a serious investor in Transmeta and would not benefit from a diminishing of his stock valuation in MS. OTOH, Allen marches to a beat of a different drummer. Also consider what else Allen has been investing in.
Okay, speculation. Scaled down cpu with a scaled down OS that doesn't cause one to wince. If they do it right, it will be a scaled down merging of an OS with a CPU.
Why would they let a celebrity with a PhD in computer sciences design a web page? It's like hiring Bill Clinton to redecorate your house.
Me too :) Gotta be ready to meet the Techno Talking Babes(tm) :-)
Grab the actual RM file here: L inus' keynote RM file, 46862773 bytes
--Joe--
Program Intellivision!
It was back then.
Regardless - the NoneSuch Agency is just the sort of people to fly you around for a couple hours and land you ten miles from where you started, isn't it?
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
Thanks for the clarification. I remember reading docs that said otherwise. I suppose I was being optimistic. Javascript truly is as sick and twisted as they say.
--
"L'IT c'est moi!"
It's an app-centric portable computer.
No (or minimal) OS. Just the chip, an input interface and a display.
Install your fave Mac apps
Install your fave Win apps
Install your fave Linux apps
And go about your business. When you get home, you can doc it with your home pc('s) to update/transfer files.
You never install an os. You just specify an os for a given app, and the Transmeta chip 'wraps' it with the neccessary code to make it fly.
One machine for everybody. No 'platform' envy. Winsters, Mac-heads and unix-nerds will all buy the same shrink-wrapped portable computing product.
It's a Blank Slate.
Good luck Transmeta! I'll eagerly await the exact details on the 19th.
-kent
skipkent@usa.net
**>>BELCH
They're just playing with your minds - hence the "meta" in Transmeta?
Their web server is running Linux.
Web server in the singular? There's more than one web server sitting there.
The more interesting question (maybe) is what hardware is it running on?
--
-- Kernel Panic: Error reading
If I were inventing a new chip that is supposed to revolutionize the industry, I certainly wouldn't pin my hopes on getting Microsoft to port its operating systems onto it...
Didn't Transmeta register a patent recently that essentially described a device capable of turning one instruction set into another? If so, all it has to be is a capable Intel clone for MS support...
Why didn't they use PNG? GIF's?! Ewww.
At what price learning? At what cost wisdom? The price is a man's peace of mind, and the cost is his life.
If you would know *anything* about CPU design you would know this is complete crap -- insightful -- Jesus !!
Doesn't anyone think it significant that Linus's Comdex speech just *happened* to mention (according to news.com anyway) that the Linux kernel 2.4 will be out in early 2000 now (rather than the hoped before xmas 1999) and, by co-incidence, the Transmeta product line will also be announced early 2000?
Are we looking at a stunning processor running Linux? I wonder if even Alan Cox might know...
I recently watched the movie PI, great movie, and I couldn't help but notice a little coincidence in the Transmeta logo and the Golden Spiral, that being a counter-clockwise spiral that can be found virtually anywhere in nature - from the cosmos to cellular life.
:: Hail Eris!
All I have to say is: "Crusoe will be cool hardware and software for mobile applications."
--
BlackHat Linux 6.66 (Discordia)
Dan Kissam e-mail: teeheehee@yahoo.com
"We are not always what we seem, and hardly ever what we dream."
Schmendrick the Magician
Nah, it's the "Brown Ring of Quality".
At the risk of waiting a couple of extra weeks, it would be really cool to debut whatever this is during the Super Bowl, (see Apple) for the maximum exposure.
Cyberborg ..
..
That would assimilate machines, right ? Embracing and extending its victims
How about a new slash logo for Transmeta ?
You really think that's funny? Some people sure are easy to please.
just a 286. They're just waiting for the heat death of the universe so they can really overclock it.
You know it's funny....I was just playing Hangman in a restaurant with my gf (who's a recovering industrial goth) and I was floored to find that she didn't know :wumpscut:. I guess she left the scene a little too early.
It's a great Hangman word though.
spawn_of_yog_sothoth
spawn_of_yog_sothoth
You couldn't more elegantly summarize the concept of distant, non-attached, portable computing than with the image of footprints in the sand.
A dream for many geeks.
So not only do they have very good programmers working for them, (Linux et al), they also have semi-decent marketing types too.
Cool.
; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
My guess is that the idea is that the chip supports just-in-time compiling, that it more-or-less runs source code, rather than object code.
Now let's see if this "No Score +1 Bonus" really works for KFM :)
thad
I love Mondays. On a Monday, anything is possible.
hmmm.... the /images/ directory is already a 403 forbidden.... suppose the transmeta folks are keeping an eye on slashdot?
Smokey the Bear says, "Strip mining prevents forest fires!"
Thats about the nerdyest .sig i have ever seen, i love it.
my other penis is a vagina
This makes sense, of course. Looking at the patents, very clearly Transmeta has prototyped (duh) a design utilizing hardware _and_ software optimizations. However, the patent(s) don't appear to have that "let's rev these babies up as high as they'll go" attitude. Transmeta appears to be focused more on quality through optimization (and perhaps stability, but that remains to be seen). And mobile computing is an arena that language-independent optimizations would kick some serious ass.
What do you know about Transmeta's CPU design?
here is my joke of the day!
how do you keep 100,000 webaholic linux geeks in suspense?!?!
sorry.. i will have to give the answer to that in january!!!
Thanks! i'll be here all week!! (leaving the stage in a bulletproof vest)
Maybe it is a low power CPU that is made to go into notebook sized computers that cost as much as a normal desktop does today. That'd be great. I'd much rather have a nice fast notebook assuming it has decent graphics and 3D support than a desktop. Any desktop accessories can be hooked up via pcmcia or USB ports. Only reason I bought a desktop was because notebooks suck for games because there is hardly any 3D support in them unless they're some high end $20k monster.
now im upset, crusoe will be cool hardware and software for mobility? shit! i never leave the house, how can this help me? :)
Image used in the main page for the crusoe logo is a different image from the legal page.
The image on the legal page looks scaled and at least in my netscape looks "dirtier" than the frontpage logo. Since they are exactly the same size, why did they have to create 2 separate images?
... a faster chip for my PalmPilot?
Hm... It already does all I want from a "mobile computer"
I hoped for a super duper number cruncher for my desktop - faster then a eight-way-Alpha for $10.
<^>_<(ô ô)>_<^>
Check out
www.bluetooth.com
to see what I mean. Remember that many of the people on Transmeta are Scandinavians. Mobile communication is extremely hot in Sweden right now. Intel has opened a new fab here. When Amazon needed people to design their next generation site, they advertised in Swedish computer magazines ONLY!
My loyalties are torn....I want Ericsson to suceed with Bluetooth, but I am really looking forward to what Transmeta might have created. Perhaps they can coexist. Maybe Transmeta is doing more a CPU chip, while Ericsson does the Bluetooth radio communication parts.
************************************************ ***
Being bitter is drinking poison and hoping someone else will die
I have tried to make Slashdot post links to interesting articles about the advancement of mobile communications several times, but since it isn't made in the US, it seems they just don't get it.
The bluetooth homepage, and a recent article in respected magazine The Economist which talks a bit about Bluetooth. Ericsson just gave out a press release about the first real Bluetooth product, a pretty cool toy. Now you can pretend you are the agents in the Matrix...just move your hand to your ear and mutter something whenever you want to call. And this thing doesn't even have wires like they do in the movies!
I am hoping that whatever Transmeta is doing wont be a direct competitor to Bluetooth, and that the two technologies can coexist. It feels great that my country is finally world leading in technology!
********
Offtopic: I'm a bit pissed at how Slashdot treats non-American news. I asked them if they would consider adding topics for -Europe -Asia -World. They said that no, since non-Americans are in a minority, the news about that have to be extra interesting or the American readers will be bored. Ok, but a Slashdot poll showed that over 1/3 of the Slashdot readership is European, and they have added topics about real minority subjects like VA, LinuxCare, Compaq and Amiga without hesitation before. Note that there is also a "United States" topic, even though 99% of the location specific news posted is about that anyway. Whenever their is a legal question, the topic is "The department of Justice", and American institution. Whenever their is a constitutional issue (as when they mentioned net censorship in Australia) the topic is "We the People" with a picture of the American declaration of independence...
Taken together, it gives me the feeling that the Slashdot leadership thinks that America is the standard by which all things are measured, and the American part of the audience is the only important one.
Oh well, I'll stop bitching now. Have to go study.
************************************************ ***
Being bitter is drinking poison and hoping someone else will die
Put this to use in a mobile device, where size, energy consumption (and it's evil twin, heat generation) are directly related to cost and usability, and there's a market that will welcome you with open arms!
[...]
Another thought occurs to me as well... imagine a portable / palmtop / handheld that can peacefully co-exist and talk directly with all others! Psion, Palm and WinCE...others that aren't so well known. You can't transfer your electronic business card from a WinCE device to a Palm, but this just might make it possible!!!
Nokia, Ericsson, Intel, Toshiba and others have quietly been working on something called Bluetooth which do exactly what you describe. Bluetooth is an open specification for wireless communication of data and voice. Intel makes the chips, and Ericsson are the ones who have been first with the products. Check out this neat toy. And it is available now. If the Transmeta chip is done in January, it will take quite some time to agree on the specs and the protocols. Bluetooth has already solved that.
Microsoft is dead against Bluetooth, which usually means its a good idea. I hope that Transmeta is not working on a direct competitor to Bluetooth, more on something that would complement and enhance it.
Check out
the Bluetooth homepage for more info.
************************************************ ***
Being bitter is drinking poison and hoping someone else will die
They seem to have updated their "secret message" in the HTML source as well:
Though I suppose none of this is "secret"
\forall code \in C, \frac{\Delta readability(code)}{\Delta t} < 0
"There are no secret messages in the source of this web page."
These lines were html comments.
Since the transmeta page was already running slow when I visited even BEFORE the /. story I've provided a mirror
Why are all of you talking about Crusoe as if they are reinventing the Palm or the Notebook? On their Website they talk about a "whole NEW world of mobility" and their secret message says "Crusoe will be cool Hardware and Software for mobile Applications." So Crusoe will be Hardware AND Software as their Patents show. For what? Mobile Applications. Applications which run on Processor XY and on Crusoe. THAT'S the new mobilty.
Here's a thought...
:)
"Like 'Robinson Crusoe', it's primative as can be."
- Gilligan's Island Opening Theme
Maybe it's a new RISC processor?
Nipok Nek
Why choose white shoes?
You forgot one:
CRUSOE2-ELECTRIC-BUGALOO.COM
There page is NOT "Burn All GIFs Day" compliant, though...
-- Don't Tase me, bro!
It went up a bit after 8:30. I was reloading it while waiting for the linux keynote. I have four questions: Async logic? How many flop/s? How many mamps? How much?
Ironically, TransMeta is right down the street from Intel.
----
Morning gray ignites a twisted mass of foreign shapes and sounds
There is no K5 cabal.
I am not the real rusty.
I can barly stand it.
I don't know what it is, or what it does, but I want two of them.
BTW: Has Transmeta gone public ?
My studio - www.graylands.ca
Not registered to Transmeta, you mean. The crusoe.com domain has existed for the last couple of years.
... they also changed their webserver: Apache/1.3.9 (Unix) (Red Hat/Linux)
It's called the "Coffee Stain of Success" - thanks to Scott Adams of Dilbert fame.
If I were inventing a new chip that is supposed to revolutionize the industry, I certainly wouldn't pin my hopes on getting Microsoft to port its operating systems onto it for a bunch of reasons:
1) Their operating systems provide subpar performance and never really made some of the easier chip-technology leaps that have already happened. They're having enough trouble porting their wares to Intel's Itanium chips, which are less revolutionary than what Transmeta is alegedly making.
2) Try as they might otherwise, they are still joined to Intel, and if I had a new wonderful process to protect, I wouldn't wave it anywhere near Intel.
3) Ultimately, it would be up to MS to decide whether and how well to support the new chip.
4) It doesn't look like this chip will even be competing on the normal pc part of the spectrum, which makes sense if Allen is hoping to keep his paper billions from crashing about his ears.
Hiring Linus makes perfect sense, because if they want a non-MS operating system to run on this chip, their best bet is Linux, and if they're therefore betting hard on Linux, it is in their best interest to make sure the maintainer of its kernel is secure in that position. They also get the bonus of getting to develop their own modified kernel in house while subtly steering the public kernel in a direction most favorable to the sudden incorporation of their modifications when the chip is finally unveiled.
"If one is really a superior person, the fact is likely to leak out without too much assistance" -- John Andrew Holmes
Frankly, I think it's about time for something like this to happen. Wouldn't it be great to have a palmtop PC that was as functional as a desktop? I mean, some the current palms are pretty cool, and have lots of features, but they can't do all the things your desktop can.
I think it would be great to run Linux (or my personal favorite, FreeBSD) on a computer in the palm of my hand. Or maybe even on my Nokia cell phone.
Plus, since it would be cheap, that would be great for actual desktop systems as well. Imagine a machine with the power of an Athlon 750, for the price of an e-Machine celeron 400.
I'd like to hear what everyone else thinks of this.
Why, no, I haven't meta-moderated lately. Thanks for asking!
darn it. My uncle is Juridish
---
The web page going up is apparently right after Linus's keynote at Comdex - does anybody have any details on that?
See you, space cowboy...
Or it could just be another SORE that U can't C.
I would venture that it is quite funny. I apologize if I sound rude, but is it really that difficult to ignore something in which you can't appreciate the humor rather than whine to the person that said or wrote it?
Oh, Can I run a Beowolf cluster on these?
The processor was finished six months ago, it has just taken this long for Linus to learn enough HTML to do the site :)
--
--
My sometimes helpful blog
Presumably because it wasn't registered until last Friday.
> darn it. My uncle is Juridish Funny. He doesn't look Jurisdish...
Ba dump bum.
-This is my cubicle. There are many like it, but this one is mine-
This is my cubicle. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
> darn it. My uncle is Juridish
Funny. He doesn't look Jurisdish...
Ba dump bum.
-This is my cubicle. There are many like it, but this one is mine-
This is my cubicle. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
Next, of course, the PR-droids will start to hype by hyping their not-hyping. (Which is perhaps what Transmeta is trying to do.)
To those with a shorter memory then me, the secret message in their previous page said something like:
Now... follow me, because this gets sticky: "tyops" can't be a typo of "typos", because the statement would then be false. But likewise, it cannot not be a typo, because if it was, then it'd be a secret message, when clearly the previous sentence says that it isn't!
Someone please help me....
--synaptik
HSJ$$*&#^!#+++ATH0
NO CARRIER
The Redherring article has one interesting tidbit, related to a much asked question from the last Transmeta story.
Its management team has been actively striking up partnerships with some of the world's largest semiconductor manufacturers. One of those partners is Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN)...
TI, of course, has fabs....
Hmm. Could Crusoe do really fast crypto and/or DSP by running those in some kind of native mode while emulating, say a PalmPilot CPU for user interface...? Save a couple of chips in that cellphone/PDA combo...
Have they really spent all this time working on a site that is there but still isn't there yet? :)
Gates' Law: Every 18 months, the speed of software halves.
The real question is, "What do they mean by 'mobility'?" That's a loaded buzzword if ever I've seen one. It could mean anything:
1. They're focusing on embedded applications, rather than so-called personal computers.
2. They're emphasizing low-power consumption for the growing laptop market.
3. Something to do with the "can emulate other processors" theory.
4. They're focusing on the nebulous information appliance market: cell phones, PDAs, cheap net surfing boxes.
Hmmm.
that it [the transmeta site] uses .gif's, bringing it squarely out of line with the principles of open source.
seriously though, we sorta knew before (from the patents and stuff) that they were aiming at processor emulation. what i want to know is: are they trying to compete with say AMD (intel-compatible motherboards) as i had thought, or are they trying to facilitate a whole new breed of product as their site seems to suggest? if it is the latter, i wonder what good all of this secrecy is. think about how long intel has been promoting their new IA64 and it is still a long way from a sure-thing. is transmeta going to spring a new architecture on the world and change things overnight?
Interested in learning Chinese or Japanese? check out Chinese/Japanese-English Dictiona
Yes. Now I remember.
--
Interested in XFMail? New XFMail home page
Even though there's not much on the site. (anyone tried putting in random page names? /contact.html, /products.html, etc) This is still quite cool, especially as TM is riding the hype wagon.
Now to start the analysis:
Crusoe logo = Debian logo (prob. coincidence)
Sand = Silicon
Crusoe = castaway = Throw away your old processors?
Come on, people. There must be more!
Consultancy: If you're not part of the solution, there's money to be made in prolonging the problem
Perhaps because it will be easier to adapt a mobile processor for non-mobile uses than the other way around? Perhaps because mobile processing could involve anything from PDAs to supertankers? Perhaps because "mobile" could mean "moves from instruction set to instruction set" as well as (or instead of) "moves from place to place"?
You gotta hand it to Transmeta. Even when they tell us something they still keep us interested, and therefore hooked.
--
Someone you trust is one of us.
Maybe I'm not getting it. I thought the transmeta patent sounded awesome...a quasi-chip which could run foreign instruction sets...really cool stuff. But a embedded/mobile chip? What gives? Progress in any field is great, but I don't need yet another chip to enable me to do /more/ useless things. I guess I'm not "getting" the embedded/mobile phenomenon. Palms seem boring to me. Hyped up address books...yay. Put a cell phone, address book, and web browser together and what do you get? Yet another useless piece of junk which will allow you to do other things which you could have done better before. Where is mobile/embedded /going/? If the answer is that in the future we will all be carrying around powerfull microcomputers to yak at each other and view dribbles of web pages I give a apathetic *yawyn*.
It's 10 PM. Do you know if you're un-American?
I happened to note that kernel.org is 'operated by' Transmeta. Hint, hint..
You know, the Debian logo looks an awful lot like the Dreamcast logo
-- Will quantum computers run imaginary-time operating systems?
- Their web server is running Linux.
- They hired Linus.
- Linus has been talking more and more about small computers being the future lately.
- One of the big thrusts in kernel development has been pda's and small environments.
- The Transmeta web site promises new hardware and software for mobile computing.
- Transmeta have been very tolerant of Linus' foibles as far as spending time on Linux at the office.
Boys and girls... I will leave the conclusion to the student. Hint: processor's are cool... But the did say and softwarewoohoo!
-- Slashdot sucks.
I hate to be the only one to point this out (I think?), but if this processor is so revolutionary, it will be useless. Ok, maybe it will run Linux, but what will it run on? Is Transmeta going to make motherboards for these things too? Even if it can emulate an x86, MAC, or Alpha or other chip, it can only emulate a processor that is compatible with it's surrounding hardware! Is someone else involved in this, or is Transmeta going it alone? Anyone out there have info on hardware that might support an unconvensional chip? If someone else is building the supporting hardware, are they keeping as tight a lid on it, or are we just not looking?
I'm just happy to note that the Transmeta page is completely lynx compliant.
--------- Beware the dragon, for you are crunchy and good with ketchup.
Are they are going to make processors for palm-computers who run Debian and Gnome?
I mean, they have the source to Linux, even without Linus. But what Linus has, that few other people do, is the knowledge and experience necessary to develop an entirely new OS. Which is probably why they hired him in the first place.
I hate to pour cold water on you folks, but just what kind of CPU the Transmeta Crusoe will be?
Will it be an embedded processor? Or will it be a CPU for desktop and laptop machines?
If the latter, what CPU connection design will it use? Intel's Slot 1, Socket 7, Socket 370 or the upcoming Socket 423? Or AMD's Slot A or Socket A?
Inquiring minds want to know....
Raymond in Mountain View, CA
And they better do something good with it. What I've read sounds pretty interesting, but it could always go the wrong way. Expectations are quite high, and almost anything less than perfect might let people down. As many people have noted, I'm not sure why Linus works for them, perhaps as an advisor, maybe purely for hype(hmm...), maybe for some insights in processor/os relationships? I have no idea. Anyway, with the 1ghz battle coming on next year between AMD and Intel, Transmeta is gonna have to be damn good and better to break in.
'sprobly sposeta be a zen thing...
-k. ^-^ ^D
Trasmeta is linked to Intel, a notebook manufacturer, Yahoo softball, and other odd sites. Where does Netscape, oops Alexa, get softball related to processors. Of course, some of those speculations where slightly out there.
Also, in response to Debian logo similiarities, it also could look like the DreamCast logo. I think it is just an ugly C.
Unfortunately, there aren't any hidden messages on the legal/copyright page. I guess even in ultra-cool startups the lawyers are stodgy and boring.
--------- Beware the dragon, for you are crunchy and good with ketchup.
Of course one should check to see that the above is *parody* of the source!
i love it.. the concept of vaporware in reverse. By waiting until they actually have something definite to speak up, everyone tries to theorize about what you could be doing, analyses your every action, gives you as much free publicity as you could possibly need. And that way, since you aren't the one giving out the "information", the information can be incredibly innaccurate without any kind of backlash against you. Also you avoid the "vaporware backlash" inevitable if you spend _any_ amount of time actually making the product worth shipping instead of just shipping whatever you have on the date you gave earlier.
:)
Apple has been attempting this for years with their "we do not comment on unannounced products" policy, but never have they done it so successfully as Transmeta has here.
although take a warning from apple's experience: This kind of thing _can_ backfire. Look, for instance, at the ibook; through apple's silence, the mac rumors sites constantly talked about the ibook even when there was nothing to report, whipped up everyone into such a frenzy over the upcoming P1/consumer portable/ibook/ebook that apple was basically forced eventually to release the ibook despite the fact that it would appear they weren't quite _ready_. In fact, apple was frequently accused by relatively respectable people and news outlets of engaging in "vaporware" with the ibook-- despite the fact they had never really admitted the ibook existed, just a vague mention in Steve Job's speech the previous year they'd like to create a "consumer portable".. (if they had had time to _get_ ready, clearly they would have chosen colors other than blue and orange..
Anyway, i am looking forward to the transmeta Crusoe chip, built using 100% Technology Stolen from Alien Spacecraft.
Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts
Is it possible, just maybe possible, that the reason they have Linus on board is so that right after they announce Crusoe will run every appliance in your house and make them all work together, Linus pops out and says "Hey look! I've already ported Linux to work with the Crusoe chip? Nifty, huh? Now you can have a Beowulf cluster of toaster ovens and blenders! You can compile the kernel while you blend and burn the indigineous life on our very own planet!" 3 cheers for Linus! Hip, hip, hooray! Hip, hip....guys? Hello? ::chirp::
---- El diablo esta en mis pantalones! Mire, mire!
Sorry, they do exist. Most are manufacturing plants. Ever wonder where nuclear bombs are made? We once got contacted to do a machine that could mill components of a bomb. The specs said it had to be remotly controlled from several hundred feet away, very tight tolerances and that we wouldn't be allow in to fix anything. The kicker was that we couldn't be told what it was going to machine, and had very limited descriptions of the part. I've also been told of buildings where "nothing comes out". We go in to fix something on a machine we can't remove anything. No broken parts, no swapped hard drives (not even bulk erased), nothing. They take you into the tent where the machine is and thats it. You don't get to see anything else around it. Kinda creepy.
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
Gates' Law: Every 18 months, the speed of software halves.
It seems that the bums are going to be making processors!!!
:)
I feel so used...after all of this time, I was *SURE* that they were going to be making a better suntan lotion or maybe golf visors, and instead they come out with a microchip??? How SHOCKING!!
-- Truth goes out the door when rumor comes innuendo. -- Groucho Marx
They were both poisoned. I've spent the last 5 years building up an immunity to Iocaine Poweder, er, I mean Transmeta tyops. I mean Transmeta typos. Whatever. I better go to bed.....
=)
Never ask a geek why, just nod your head and slowly back away. -Rob Malda
I finally figured out Linus's connection! According to the secret message, come January we will "have access to all of the real details". In other words, the information is going to become open. But then, if you turn to the processor's name, Crusoe, you'll quickly realize as I did that it's just an anagram for SOURCE. Transmeta's processor is going to be OPEN SOURCE!
Hallelujah!
"If one is really a superior person, the fact is likely to leak out without too much assistance" -- John Andrew Holmes
> Ok, here it is: It's a multiprocessor that, given any instruction set, figures out ways to parallelize the code as much as possible by performing instructions out of order.
CPUs do that now. Hopefully they have something more original. Hate to deflate everyone's expectations, but the word "mobility" suggests to me that they just made a plain ol CPU that's probably very low-power. Heck, some CPU's today can be driven by the juice from the instruction pins alone (long as you still have electrical ground connected, of course).
I've finally had it: until slashdot gets article moderation, I am not coming back.
-1, redundant?2 19&mode=thread
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=99/11/11/121
I think I've found the original logo.
--Matt
Interesting how ugly and stretched looking the date is. It looks like that date was changed by someone less competent or, with less time, than the people who did the other graphics. -- Neil Kandalgaonkar, neil_j_k@yahoo.com
Although it is registered for someone in the UK
Domain Name: CRUSOE.COM
Owner/Organization: Crusoe Internet Services
Address:
Cherry Tree House, 7 Dean Street, Marlow, SL7
3AA
,
Country: UK
But maybe this information is out of date...
And you know this how? You're the director of the NSA, right?
And you're sure there aren't any top-secret sub-agencies?
Only a few weeks ago the Guardian newspaper revealed that a secret nuclear facility in England had several times been close to a nuclear accident at least as severe as the one in Japan. Democratic governments do hide the truth from people. They do have secret facilities.
Female Prison Rape in NY
Wwll I'm interested, at first i'm tempted to say "yeah another geek-toy portable that i can add to my christamas want-list"...but then i remeber the secrecy surrounding transmeta and have to think..."they wouldn't have all that secrecy for a another WinCE/Palm device...and Linus Torvalds, whats he doing with it?" so now I imagine a linux-oid based open source machine with the power of a PIII that runs on two AAA size batteries for a month and has real-time voice and handwriting recognition. hmmm Voice controlleg GIMP on the beach. Sounds like fun =)
A Call For A New Slashdot Moderation Level!
I'm so intrigued by this, it's driving me insane. What could this thing do??!?! It can't be as simple as a super-fast CPU, or there'd be no need to target it specifically for mobile apps. (Except to avoid the iron fist of Intel.) Could it be mobile speech recognition? Mobile high-bandwidth satellite wireless? Mobile telekinesis? WHAT WHAT WHAT!
They sure are hype'ing this thing as if it were the second coming. There will always be something better 6 months from their release..
Oy
jackchaos.com - The Freak Of Geeks
-Oy Vey
"I don't think they're giving you enough information there, Dad." "No, wait, I'll figure it out..."
Contents are (Unformatted, sorry!):
Rethought.gif = "We rethought the microprocessor to create a whole new world of mobility"
--Donate food by clicking: www.thehungersite.com
Dearest moderators,
The above post was the first one to include the secret message. (check the times)
How is that redundant?
********* sig: If you don't like the law, get filthy stinking rich, and buy a better one.
Sorry - I know they are shown on the screen. Stupid IE4 wasn't showing the filenames up in the "have been viewed" color.
--Donate food by clicking: www.thehungersite.com
I guess I just don't get it. If the speculation from the patents are right, and if it can translate x86 or any other architectures instructions in real time and actually emulate it faster than it can be run natively, then why mobile processing? The rumors seemed to be based on some type of small power consumption making it good for mobile processing - come on. Sure mobile this and portable that, but if there is a faster CPU out there please don't restrict it to a laptop or some similar device - all of us power users need the flexability of a Tower/Desktop computer, period.
The only conclusion I can draw from this is that it must be revolutionary in some other way. The "secret message" says nothing about being fast or even having anything to do with normal desktop computing. I'd have to assume Transmeta is either seriously misusing some potentialy revolutionary technology, or merely changed the direction they were going in since those first patents were made. I'm hoping for the latter...
- tred
I know that some people won't like it when I say anything that could be constured as negative towards Transmeta in general, but the idea of a reconfigurable processor is not at all new. Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) are 'blank' microprocessors that can be configured and reconfigured almost like and EEPROM. They are used in, among other things, prototypes and first-run products, because if bugs emerge instead of having to pull out a chip they can merely reconfigure it. Granted, these chips are, to date, used primarily in small-scale embedded products, although MIT has a project (I believe called the Oxygen project) that will scale up the concept considerably. However, Transmeta does seem to be the first to take the concept to this extreme (at least, that's what the rumors tell us).
That's a good sign :)
"In short: just say NO TO DRUGS, and maybe you won't end up like the Hurd people." --Linus Torvalds
You just might have something there. Then again how would they pay Paul Allen back? There isn't much room for "suport" other than the reference manual.
... by hand. Such a human touch of perfection can mean only one thing... BEOWULF!!
Should invading one's peaceful neighbours be opposed, or rewarded with trade deals?
Not to mention the Lightwave logo.
And I don't think it was Debian. For many years, I ran a network of Macs for a company that made supermarket circulars. We used a funky program from Multi-Ad Services called Multi-Ad Creator. It's still the best thing I've used for single-page ad layouts, and the logo (dating back at least 8 years) is nearly identical in design and concept.
The processor, OTOH, I don't have a lot to contribute about...
- -Josh Turiel
-- Josh Turiel
"2. Do not eat iPod Shuffle."
Ok, let's take it a bit more seriously.
We already know that they have a patent on a microprocessor which should be able to run other processor instructions.
+
Crusoe = out of order sourCe.
Ok, here it is: It's a multiprocessor that, given any instruction set, figures out ways to parallelize the code as much as possible by performing instructions out of order.
Gabbo!
Gabbo!
For all their (non)marketing genius/idiocy, you have to give this company credit just for whetting our appetites.
Still, from what information is on their website, it looks like it's another do-it-all processor for the next mobile all-in-wonder cell phone/pda/mp3 playing/cellular network beowulf cluster ;)enabled monster that someone or other is about to come out with.
Don't let my tone fool you into thinking that I'm any less keen about what they have up their sleeves though. I'm thinking that it might be worth investigating further.
Good luck Transmeta!
-- kwashiorkor --
Leaps in Logic
should not be confused with
Jumping to Conclusions.
Oh yeah, hardcore...www.crusoe.com...Why didn't we find this earlier so we could GUESS SOME MORE?
If Crusoe really is what everyone is billing it as , a XISC-architecture (eXtended Instruction Set Code) chip, then should be expected to have serious ramifications in the embedded systems market. If this thing could hardware emulate a JavaChip, an Itanium, or, for that matter, a G4, then chip design has pretty much been standardized, in that there is a single standard capable of replicating all others.
- Dave "It's better to be a pirate than to join the Navy" - Steve Jobs
Because then they couldnt announce it on Jan 1900 (see it?) and poke fun at all the Y2K-hype/paranoia. :)
Jan 19, 00 is a Wednesday. Since they are announcing something called Crusoe, shouldn't they announce it on a Friday?
Why did the farmer call his rooster Robinson?
Because it crew so.
MrCreosote Meow!Thump!Meow!Thump!Meow!Thump! "You're right! There isn't enough room to swing a cat in here!"
heh, interesting.. going to that directory i now get a 403 forbidden: you don't have permission to access this directory.
:)
Looks like someone at transmeta.com is not only there, but actually reading slashdot and reacting to it by suddenly remembering to shut off access to the apache automatically generated index pages..
Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts
Being able to move code from any other machine to one Crusoe machine, could certainly be considered "mobile."
:)
End of my Further Rampant Speculation.
Ok you kernel gurus, how does such a problem get resolved in C.
ayottesoftware.com
check out all the domains they have registerd
BR> GO-CRUSOES.COM
GO-CRUSOES.ORG
GO-CRUSOES.NET
GOCRUSOES.NET
RJBAKER.COM
GOCRUSOES.ORG
CRUSOE.COM
CRUSOES.NET
GOCRUSOES.COM
CRUSOES.COM
CRUSOES.ORG
CYBERBORG.COM
Y2KSANDIEGO.COM
FROTZ.COM
MOBILE-PROCESSOR.ORG
MOBILE-PROCESSOR.COM
MOBILEPROCESSOR.NET
GO-CRUSOE.ORG
GO-CRUSOE.COM
MOBILE-PROCESSOR.NET
GOCRUSOE.ORG
GO-CRUSOE.NET
MOBILEPROCESSOR.ORG
GOCRUSOE.NET
MOBILEPROCESSOR.COM
GOCRUSOE.COM
Even if this is a coincidence, it's a pretty amazing one; this leads me to believe it might not be one.
Chris
San Francisco values: compassion, tolerance, respect, intelligence
[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]
"Dogs and cats, living together...it's mass hysteria!"
Transmeta's Crusoe Logo
Debian's Logo
Lineo's Logo
Notice a common theme here?
-Erik -- --This message was written using 73% post-consumer electrons--
GO-CRUSOES.COM
:-)
GO-CRUSOES.ORG
GO-CRUSOES.NET
GOCRUSOES.NET
GOCRUSOES.ORG
GOCRUSOES.COM
GO-CRUSOE.ORG
GO-CRUSOE.COM
GOCRUSOE.ORG
GO-CRUSOE.NET
GOCRUSOE.COM
Anyone want to guess what their marketing campaign is going to be?
Daniel
Hurry up and jump on the individualist bandwagon!
If you view the source at:n dex.html
http://www.transmeta.com/super/sekrut/message/i
From the source:
---------------------
!---Yes, there is a secret message, and this is it:
Transmeta's policy has been to remain silent about its plans for world domination 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 by destorying the capital city of every nation on Eatrh.
Simultaneously, all capital cities of an alien race known as the Juridians will be reduced to component atoms as payment for this new technology that we have accquired from a friendly alien race. Of course, 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 military applications.
Crusoe will be unconventional, which is why we wanted to let you know in advance to stay away from any major cities. If you do this, then you can come look at the entire Web site after the attack in January. Please avoid viewing any of the public media in the mean time, so that you can avoid the alien propaganda, and get the full story and have access to all of the real details as soon as they are available.---
HaXXXor.com - Naked Chicks Teach You How To Ha
http://www.zdnet.com/pcwee k/webcast/comdex/cxfall99.html
Transmeta domain names:
RJB Consulting (GO-CRUSOES2-DOM) GO-CRUSOES.COM
RJB Consulting (GO-CRUSOES3-DOM) GO-CRUSOES.ORG
RJB Consulting (GO-CRUSOES-DOM) GO-CRUSOES.NET
RJB Consulting (GOCRUSOES2-DOM) GOCRUSOES.NET
RJB Consulting (RJBAKER-DOM) RJBAKER.COM
RJB Consulting (GOCRUSOES3-DOM) GOCRUSOES.ORG
RJB Consulting (CRUSOE5-DOM) CRUSOE.COM
RJB Consulting (CRUSOES5-DOM) CRUSOES.NET
RJB Consulting (GOCRUSOES-DOM) GOCRUSOES.COM
RJB Consulting (CRUSOES4-DOM) CRUSOES.COM
RJB Consulting (CRUSOES3-DOM) CRUSOES.ORG
RJB Consulting (CYBERBORG-DOM) CYBERBORG.COM
RJB Consulting L.L.C. (Y2KSANDIEGO-DOM) Y2KSANDIEGO.COM
RjB Consulting / Frotz SubVersions (FROTZ3-DOM) FROTZ.COM
rjb consulting (MOBILE-PROCESSOR2-DOM) MOBILE-PROCESSOR.ORG
rjb consulting (MOBILE-PROCESSOR3-DOM) MOBILE-PROCESSOR.COM
rjb consulting (MOBILEPROCESSOR-DOM) MOBILEPROCESSOR.NET
rjb consulting (GO-CRUSOE3-DOM) GO-CRUSOE.ORG
rjb consulting (GO-CRUSOE2-DOM) GO-CRUSOE.COM
rjb consulting (MOBILE-PROCESSOR-DOM) MOBILE-PROCESSOR.NET
rjb consulting (GOCRUSOE3-DOM) GOCRUSOE.ORG
rjb consulting (GO-CRUSOE-DOM) GO-CRUSOE.NET
rjb consulting (MOBILEPROCESSOR3-DOM) MOBILEPROCESSOR.ORG
rjb consulting (GOCRUSOE2-DOM) GOCRUSOE.NET
rjb consulting (MOBILEPROCESSOR2-DOM) MOBILEPROCESSOR.COM
rjb consulting (GOCRUSOE-DOM) GOCRUSOE.COM
This fits with the rumors on a meta processor; indepence from instruction sets. Are you marooned on a instruction set you'd like to get off of??
Then there is the mobile phone, mobile assistant, mobile computer.
While a low wattage speedy microprocessor would be interesting. Everyone who isn't trying to do an Intel clone is in this market. There's room for another player. However, a player who is going to give the VC firms a 10x return on their investment? The margins down here tend to be small.
So I'm not sure mobility necessarily means the latter here. Of course time will tell....
Where's the beef?
Some years ago I worked with a Systems Engineering Laboratories SEL 32. This was a very high-end minicomputer, in the form of a six-foot hunk of 19-inch rack, chock full of circuitry. Just under 1 Megabuck.
The computer itself was made of wire-wrapped socket boards stuffed full of standard chips, then tied together by a big backplane and some ribbon cables. It had downloadable firmware. Part of the standard documentation was the complete set of diagrams for the circuitry and complete listings of the firmware. You could get the listings of the OS if you wanted them.
So it was an totally open-source machine, at least to the customers. You could hack the OS, or use it as a base to write your own system. you could change the firmware. You could even rewire the beast itself.
Our hardware maintainence man was ex of SEL's own customer engineering (i.e. onsite-repair) department. He had a few tales to tell.
It seems that a bit over half their production was delivered to designated loading docks at apparently abandoned warehouses, and was gone the next day. The bills were paid. And they never had to go fix 'em. (Or almost...)
One time he DID have to go fix one. And they flew him there in an airplane with blacked-out windows, which did quite a few manouvers during several hours of flight. Then they took him from the plane to the building in a tent tunnel.
It seems the computer was very popular with the No Such Agency, for doing cryptography. They could fix it themselves, using generic parts. They could hack on it to add stuff they didn't want out of their sight and into the industry. And they could be sure that did exactly what they thought it did.
Or at least they could usually fix it. Which is why my collegue ended up in spookland for an afternoon.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
Anyone else notice that the jpeg image was made in photoshop?
I knew Transmeta had something to do with David Caruso.
Take a look at the source of the Transmeta page -- there's a message hidden in the comments. I'd cut & paste but it's easier to just look for yourself...
DO NOT LEAVE IT IS NOT REAL
No, it's Penguins!
(Hmm, SG was just on TV last night. Weird...)
Hey, do you think Transmeta will use that as its slogan?
Pope
It doesn't mean much now, it's built for the future.
who is this guy: hpa@transmeta.com (H. Peter Anvin) and why is he posting here (http://www.phoaks.com/comp/std/c++/, search for 'transmeta' in your web browser.) He has a @transmeta address ... why? here's his personal page; http://www.zytor.com/~hpa/
The first person to find out anything about Transmeta that they didn't want everyone to know
At least I don't feel so stupid any more.
--Donate food by clicking: www.thehungersite.com
Which will clearly display the year as 100 in 2000. I emailed the webmaster some months ago but they never changed it. Oh well, it won't bring any airplanes out of the sky, but it does make one wonder about the efficacy of Y2K remediation.
--
"L'IT c'est moi!"
Yoda could so kick Linuses' Ass in a light saber duel. He'd do little flips and stuff and prolly chisel out Linus pretty good.
The JPG's say "Created with Photoshop" and the gif's are unlabelled. Where'd you see a GIMP plug?
The JPG's say "Created with Photoshop" and the gif's are unlabelled. Where'd you see a GIMP plug? Oh, and I forgot to ask... why aren't they using PNG's?
Yes, I was thinking about sending a letter off to the folks at transmeta to ask them if I could go and watch smoke start to pour out of their webserver(s). Actually webservers, looks like from some other posts that there is surely more then one.
-- This post contains %100 recycled electrons Remove spam and eggs to send some mail.
There are precious few companies out there that can survive making high quality things instead of 'faster, better, cheaper... now in this year's colors!!' things. I sincerely hope that Transmeta is one of them.
Since the debut of the clock-doubled processor, there have always been bottlenecks in communication. HD, Memory, and video bandwidth, interrupt usage, winmodems... these factors and devices have conspired to slow down performance. For the most part, designers and engineers have managed to work around these problems. Now, Transmeta comes along with (what appears to be) a 'make things play nice together' strategy, instead of warring over instruction sets and other proprietary BS.
Put this to use in a mobile device, where size, energy consumption (and it's evil twin, heat generation) are directly related to cost and usability, and there's a market that will welcome you with open arms!
I see this as something similar to the Digital interpreter for intel Win32 binaries.... remember it? It allowed intel-specific WinNT apps to run on the Alpha processor. BUT, as the app ran, the interpreter would generate Alpha-native code. Eventually, once you'd used all the functions and features of your chosen application, you'd have a best-guess version for the Alpha! Neat, huh? Now, do it faster, in hardware!!
Now, imagine running Linux, on a light, long-lived laptop, and being able to run... DOS and Windows binaries. Or any Apple software (I know a couple Mac-only pharmaceutical-modeling apps). Or Be, OS/2, Irix, NeXT Step, PalmOS, Epoc...
Another thought occurs to me as well... imagine a portable / palmtop / handheld that can peacefully co-exist and talk directly with all others! Psion, Palm and WinCE...others that aren't so well known. You can't transfer your electronic business card from a WinCE device to a Palm, but this just might make it possible!!!
God, it's a great time to be alive!
"...America's great minds of today, teaching America's great minds of tomorrow. Poor bastards." -- A Beautiful Min
WoW! Finally! A real world example of Russell's Paradox!! So those eccentric math profs were actually talking about something real!! :->
mikre he sophia he tou Mikrosophou.