Other than increasing the speed of the chip, you can increase performance by doing simultaneous multi-threading (a la Jackson), increasing IPC (instructions per cycle) or placing multiple dies together with very wide and very fast interconnects (a la IBM). But each adds to the complexity of the processor, thus adds additional transistors, pins, power, etc.
I think manufacturers should develop a processor that acts like a Transmeta processor in that it runs at a specific speed based on the processor's utilization. This would help reduce the heat that the processor makes and reduces power consumption while a AC submits a FP attempt. Of course, the processor is not the only thing in a PC that soaks up power, but it's a step.
Unfortunately, the current revision of the Pentium 4 processor and the i850 chipset only supports one processor. It's not until the new Pentium 4-based Xeon until we see 2+ processor based systems.
The standard Pentium III processors can only scale up to two processors, but then you are limited to the BX/GX chipset (aging, only officially supports 100Mhz FSB), the Via chipset (I'm still a little wary of it), or the i820/i840 (requires Rambus memory). The Xeon allows you to scale well above 2 processors, but then you have to pay through the nose for a decent motherboard and the processor.
I think AMD should take it's time to release the 760MP to make sure that performs like it is supposed to and it is stable enough to cram in 2x1.33Ghz processors. Since the current gen Athlons use the EV6 protocol, there are a lot more traces required to connect to the processors to the northbridge chip, but then you get two independent channels rather than a shared bus found on all Intel chipsets and processors. Even the first-gen Itanium will still run on a slightly tweaked version of AGTL+ (ie: shared bus).
But then you have a lot of people who do (I don't... I'd rather get an Alpha over anything right now) and with that kind of FUD, a lot of people are going to think that AMD is a POS company.
Intel has dropped the processor UID from the Pentium 4 and the cC0 revision of the Pentium III processors. AFAIK, AMD processors have never had such a UID that could be used like that one Intel implemented.
Well... $70 maybe a drop in the bucket for you, but a lot of people like me don't have that kind of money waiving around. It's easier for me to get someone to make a copy of the original or the ISO and I give them $5 for their time and I pay for the media.
Which iPaq? There's the iPaq desktop (which I got FreeBSD to install on it fine... makes a great web server with a very small footprint), the iPaq handheld (which I presume is the one you are inquiring about), or the iPaq MP3 player.
I nod to that... where I work, the people who just need a computer to use Word, Outlook, a web browser and maybe Visio here and there are given a basic Celeron processor based machine with enough RAM to run the apps. The more intense work the person would do, the higher up the chain we go.
Heck, the people who only use the basic Office suite don't need anything more than a Celeron 333, 96MB of RAM and a 4GB hard drive (well, to run Windows 2000 anyways). Of course, a network card is a must, but rarely a sound card.
There is a market for low[er]-end machines... the corporations or the small businesses. Home users will vary from a basic machine (even an iMac) to a super dual-processor system ready to run BSD/Linux/whatever...
I remember the prices of RAMBUS[t] when it came out as well. $1100 for a 128MB stick of PC800 ECC RIMM and the motherboards weren't that cheap either.
I still agree that the cost of RAMBUS is still outrageous for what it provides. $400-500 for a 128MB ECC stick is still too much (although not as bad as what Sun charges for RAM:)
FreeBSD and Linux do not have the same directory structure, although with the FreeBSD Linux compatibility layer, most of the Linux directory structure is created in a special portion of the file system.
Code libraries for FreeBSD and Linux can be compiled from the same source, but I think have different directory locations where they want to call home.
Also, a lot of the code (mostly commercial and non-open source software) for Linux are tied to the Linux hierarchy and calls, thus making them hard to port over to FreeBSD (like the Java port).
The problem I see with that is with the growing rate of telecommuters, many people are either using dial-up connections or VPN to get into their workplace. If they start closing down VPN, then they leave a lot of telecommuters stranded.
Where I work, we have several people using VPN through their broadband access. If those people were not able to use their VPN access, their jobs would be at stake. Maybe as more companies are affected by this, we will see more lawsuits and this [stupid] change in their agreement get reversed!
One nice addition to 4.1-RELEASE is the support for the Dell PERC, PERC2/SC and the PERC2/DC RAID controllers. Support for the Adaptec RAID controllers is still in the works, but people have gotten the older SmartRAID and SmartCache IV, plus some of the Compaq RAID controllers to work as well.
Re:Q: bootable/runnable CD copy of FreeBSD?
on
FreeBSD 4.1 Released
·
· Score: 1
There is a special build of FreeBSD that fits on a single floppy disk called PicoBSD. Their project page is at http://www.freebsd.org/~picobsd.
They have several versions that allows you to dial-up your ISP or even have it acts as a router:)
I used it in a 486/25 machine with an older NIC card and an external 28.8kbps modem as a mini-dialup router. Worked great until I got rid of the boxen and got DSL installed:)
The sysinstall in FreeBSD is very easy to install (a couple of my friends liked the text/menu based install for FreeBSD better than RedHat's install, and even over OpenLinux's GUI-based installer) and has an option during the setup to configure X using either the command line or through X itself.
The sysinstall program is very easy and allows you to customize your install the way you want it.
Slashdot Mirror
Hehe... cool... unfortunately, I don't have the $$$ to buy things right now :(
You are forgiven :)
Other than increasing the speed of the chip, you can increase performance by doing simultaneous multi-threading (a la Jackson), increasing IPC (instructions per cycle) or placing multiple dies together with very wide and very fast interconnects (a la IBM). But each adds to the complexity of the processor, thus adds additional transistors, pins, power, etc.
I think manufacturers should develop a processor that acts like a Transmeta processor in that it runs at a specific speed based on the processor's utilization. This would help reduce the heat that the processor makes and reduces power consumption while a AC submits a FP attempt. Of course, the processor is not the only thing in a PC that soaks up power, but it's a step.
Or Jolt for us Alpha/SPARC nuts? Hehehe :)
Unfortunately, the current revision of the Pentium 4 processor and the i850 chipset only supports one processor. It's not until the new Pentium 4-based Xeon until we see 2+ processor based systems.
The standard Pentium III processors can only scale up to two processors, but then you are limited to the BX/GX chipset (aging, only officially supports 100Mhz FSB), the Via chipset (I'm still a little wary of it), or the i820/i840 (requires Rambus memory). The Xeon allows you to scale well above 2 processors, but then you have to pay through the nose for a decent motherboard and the processor.
I think AMD should take it's time to release the 760MP to make sure that performs like it is supposed to and it is stable enough to cram in 2x1.33Ghz processors. Since the current gen Athlons use the EV6 protocol, there are a lot more traces required to connect to the processors to the northbridge chip, but then you get two independent channels rather than a shared bus found on all Intel chipsets and processors. Even the first-gen Itanium will still run on a slightly tweaked version of AGTL+ (ie: shared bus).
But then you have a lot of people who do (I don't... I'd rather get an Alpha over anything right now) and with that kind of FUD, a lot of people are going to think that AMD is a POS company.
Intel has dropped the processor UID from the Pentium 4 and the cC0 revision of the Pentium III processors. AFAIK, AMD processors have never had such a UID that could be used like that one Intel implemented.
I wish they would re-release Connections... but on DVD as well as The Day the Universe Changed.
:(
I really miss the ol' shows
Yup... just like any regular girlfriends... hahaha
I bet the MPAA and the RIAA will wet their pants with that technology... people can't copy something if they can't read it, no? :)
It's bad enough with the people in Vancouver coming down to Portland and buying stuff without having to pay sales taxes... grumble
Well... $70 maybe a drop in the bucket for you, but a lot of people like me don't have that kind of money waiving around. It's easier for me to get someone to make a copy of the original or the ISO and I give them $5 for their time and I pay for the media.
Which iPaq? There's the iPaq desktop (which I got FreeBSD to install on it fine... makes a great web server with a very small footprint), the iPaq handheld (which I presume is the one you are inquiring about), or the iPaq MP3 player.
I nod to that... where I work, the people who just need a computer to use Word, Outlook, a web browser and maybe Visio here and there are given a basic Celeron processor based machine with enough RAM to run the apps. The more intense work the person would do, the higher up the chain we go.
Heck, the people who only use the basic Office suite don't need anything more than a Celeron 333, 96MB of RAM and a 4GB hard drive (well, to run Windows 2000 anyways). Of course, a network card is a must, but rarely a sound card.
There is a market for low[er]-end machines... the corporations or the small businesses. Home users will vary from a basic machine (even an iMac) to a super dual-processor system ready to run BSD/Linux/whatever...
I remember the prices of RAMBUS[t] when it came out as well. $1100 for a 128MB stick of PC800 ECC RIMM and the motherboards weren't that cheap either.
:)
I still agree that the cost of RAMBUS is still outrageous for what it provides. $400-500 for a 128MB ECC stick is still too much (although not as bad as what Sun charges for RAM
I kinda went on a rant myself as well...
If you go to www.valueram.com, mushkin.com, and gamepc.com, you will see that PC800 RDRAM modules are not 8X as much as PC133 SDRAM.
Now, I'm not backing RDRAM and Rambus, but do some research before you spout off any troll like comment.
FreeBSD and Linux do not have the same directory structure, although with the FreeBSD Linux compatibility layer, most of the Linux directory structure is created in a special portion of the file system.
Code libraries for FreeBSD and Linux can be compiled from the same source, but I think have different directory locations where they want to call home.
Also, a lot of the code (mostly commercial and non-open source software) for Linux are tied to the Linux hierarchy and calls, thus making them hard to port over to FreeBSD (like the Java port).
The problem I see with that is with the growing rate of telecommuters, many people are either using dial-up connections or VPN to get into their workplace. If they start closing down VPN, then they leave a lot of telecommuters stranded.
Where I work, we have several people using VPN through their broadband access. If those people were not able to use their VPN access, their jobs would be at stake. Maybe as more companies are affected by this, we will see more lawsuits and this [stupid] change in their agreement get reversed!
One nice addition to 4.1-RELEASE is the support for the Dell PERC, PERC2/SC and the PERC2/DC RAID controllers. Support for the Adaptec RAID controllers is still in the works, but people have gotten the older SmartRAID and SmartCache IV, plus some of the Compaq RAID controllers to work as well.
There is a special build of FreeBSD that fits on a single floppy disk called PicoBSD. Their project page is at http://www.freebsd.org/~picobsd.
:)
:)
They have several versions that allows you to dial-up your ISP or even have it acts as a router
I used it in a 486/25 machine with an older NIC card and an external 28.8kbps modem as a mini-dialup router. Worked great until I got rid of the boxen and got DSL installed
I believe Slashdot is using FreeBSD on their firewall boxen (which I believe replaced a Cisco PIX firewall).
I think you can probably search the past articles for the Slashdot move to Exodus Communications.
FreeBSD 4.x has support for the SB Live! card...
You can get more information, drivers and installation notes here.
The SoundBlaster Live! is supported since 4.0. You may want to surf the mailing list archives to find out how to set it up.
The sysinstall in FreeBSD is very easy to install (a couple of my friends liked the text/menu based install for FreeBSD better than RedHat's install, and even over OpenLinux's GUI-based installer) and has an option during the setup to configure X using either the command line or through X itself.
The sysinstall program is very easy and allows you to customize your install the way you want it.
Best Buy did the same thing here in Portland, Oregon in this past week's Sunday ad.