Strained silicon is not new tech, it's a couple of years old. The idea (at least the way IBM does it) the silicon wafer is "doped" with germanium which causes the lattice of the Si atoms to spread out further which allows carriers to travel faster across the transistor. The germanium is removed to help improve power consumption even further and lower core temps. This is where the IBM and Intel process differ. Intel does not remove the doping material from the wafers, and well... We see how that has affected their CPUs at 90 NM. The new process only dopes the silicon under certain types of ICs and not others..
Actually Zdnet described it better so I'll just quote them
In DSL, different straining materials are applied to the top of the transistor layer and then etched away from where they aren't needed or from where they can even degrade performance. Materials that create tensile strain to benefit N-channel transistors are applied across the surface of the wafer; chemical etching then removes those materials away from the P-channel transistors.
Subsequently, a layer of material for compressing the silicon lattice, which benefits the P-channel transistors, is applied and etched. The materials for straining N-channel or P-channel transistors can be applied in either order.
"On the P-channel transistors, you want to increase the density of atoms because the holes can move more quickly," said Nathan Brookwood, an analyst at Insight 64.
Kepler did not disclose the materials used but said they were fairly conventional nitride films and inexpensive. Plus, applying the straining materials after the transistor layer is complete is easier.
If anything this will finally allow for a G5 Powerbook and a
This is interesting...
on
Internet Hunting
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
While the concept (firing a weapon from your home computer) is interesting, I think it removes some of the challenge and "sportsmanship" of hunting. Hunting is already lopsided in favor of humans anyway (Scents designed to draw the animal closer, clothing to mask or remove human odors, calls, etc) the idea of making it almost effortless is disturbing. If you want to kill an animal do it with your own hands on a weapon, not on a mouse button.
Oh and as far as disabled hunters go Here is a rather general article about disabled hunters and the "sport" they love.
SGI and HP are the only ones left on the Itanic. HP looks to be hesitant anymore though, hell it plopped a fuckton of its own money on IA64 dev and just recently killed off its IA64 Workstations. One of the few places that Itanium sold fairly well.
Sun might bring solaris to it, but... why?
IA64 is a really cool chip (no pun intended) and I hate to see it flounder like this, but with PPC, x86, and SPARC all stepping up with new R&D.... Who needs itainium?
There is no question about the money, they are at least making enough to stay afloat I believe. Will your company stay on SGI gear after they kill off MIPS and Irix and go Linux/IA64? Or are you "solution shopping" for the future?
Does SGI have any customers other than the US govt? Everytime they are mentioned in the news it has to do with a branch of the federal government or the military buying a cluster. I know on their website they mention oil/gas research and other scientific fields as customers, but does anybody buy as much sgi gear as Uncle Sam?
I do have to admit that SGI is the only company that has made me interested in Itanium in any kind of way.
The only thing apple will drop the warranty from if you install linux on it is the iPod. If you put linux on your mac and have problems with it they wont provide software support, but will still cover the hardware.
ihbt
Transmetta chips are small so that they can fit into tiny ass enclosures like notebooks, those orion things, and OQOs. If it had to be socketed (instead of a BGA) it would be thicker, the ceramic packaging would be larger and more expensive due to the use of pins...
Etc...
Its a space/size thing... I'm sure they could make one if they wanted but I doubt the demand would be enough to warrant the manufacturing costs (don't forget Transmeta pays TSMC or UMC to make the chips for them).
As far as I know its only on the High Density rack server/cluster/blade devices that run as one single image. Many cpus in many independent kits running as one machine. But that one machine can then be devided slices (or as sun calls them zones) and you can use them almost in a sandbox/jail fashion.
As far as the Octane/workstation kits I don't think its possible.
It's actually closer to Intel's Vanderpool technology that allows you to partition the cpu through firmware.
Example: Windows is running on slice 1, BSD on slice 2, and Linux on slice 3.
BSD gets a kernel panic and crashes, the slice is restarted without affecting the remaining running OS's. It's, for the lack of a better term, Hyperthreading for the whole computer.
Re:"Chips May Physically Reconfigure Themselves"
on
A History of PowerPC
·
· Score: 1
Isn't Motorolas PPC implementation both big and little endian (i think it's called bit flipping) which is what made Virtual PC possible on Macs? I seem to remember an article somewhere about thats why VPC 6 wouldn't run on the G5 since it lacked the dual modes....
Then again I could be completely wrong.
Re:IBM also says Screw you to intel
on
A History of PowerPC
·
· Score: 2, Informative
The new POWER 5s, although i have no idea how they work, are said to allow virtual microprocessors to allow you to run multiple OSes at once. That could make for some pretty usefull linux apps/distros for windows technician (think repairing viruses and stuff)
This is really cool stuff. IBM is a little late to the game in some regards, SGI has been doing this stuff for years in IRIX on their MIPS machines. But hey better late than never...
Re:IBM also says Screw you to intel
on
A History of PowerPC
·
· Score: 3, Informative
yes they are all PPC "based" now. The PS3 will be using what is called the Cell cpu which is derived from the Power ISA.
Slashdot Mirror
I'll post without my anon ability to say this
You said it amigo.
PS. Im the origional poster.
Here
that should be "Allow for a G5 powerbook and an Athlon64 in notebook that isn't a desktop replacement"
The germanium is removed to help improve power consumption even further and lower core temps. This is where the IBM and Intel process differ. Intel does not remove the doping material from the wafers, and well... We see how that has affected their CPUs at 90 NM.
The new process only dopes the silicon under certain types of ICs and not others..
Actually Zdnet described it better so I'll just quote them
If anything this will finally allow for a G5 Powerbook and a
While the concept (firing a weapon from your home computer) is interesting, I think it removes some of the challenge and "sportsmanship" of hunting. Hunting is already lopsided in favor of humans anyway (Scents designed to draw the animal closer, clothing to mask or remove human odors, calls, etc) the idea of making it almost effortless is disturbing. If you want to kill an animal do it with your own hands on a weapon, not on a mouse button.
Oh and as far as disabled hunters go Here is a rather general article about disabled hunters and the "sport" they love.
This?
Because they aren't PowerPC?
An apple branded Opteron box running Darwin could be neat though... Nobody would buy it sadly
SGI and HP are the only ones left on the Itanic. HP looks to be hesitant anymore though, hell it plopped a fuckton of its own money on IA64 dev and just recently killed off its IA64 Workstations. One of the few places that Itanium sold fairly well.
Sun might bring solaris to it, but... why?
IA64 is a really cool chip (no pun intended) and I hate to see it flounder like this, but with PPC, x86, and SPARC all stepping up with new R&D.... Who needs itainium?
(oh and the nasa cluster based on it is neato)
Why does apple even put it on there anymore?
its annoying as fuck, and as soon as i got my 3G pod it was muted.
You can have linux preinstalled on it...
There is no question about the money, they are at least making enough to stay afloat I believe.
Will your company stay on SGI gear after they kill off MIPS and Irix and go Linux/IA64? Or are you "solution shopping" for the future?
Does SGI have any customers other than the US govt? Everytime they are mentioned in the news it has to do with a branch of the federal government or the military buying a cluster. I know on their website they mention oil/gas research and other scientific fields as customers, but does anybody buy as much sgi gear as Uncle Sam?
I do have to admit that SGI is the only company that has made me interested in Itanium in any kind of way.
The only thing apple will drop the warranty from if you install linux on it is the iPod. If you put linux on your mac and have problems with it they wont provide software support, but will still cover the hardware. ihbt
As soon as my dual 2.5 gets here I had planned to throw linux on it as well, but I didn't know about this problem. Might wait a few more days then...
Is anybody booting their dual 2.5 with linux RIGHT NOW thats having a problem with this? Is it a show stopper or just more of an annoyance thing.
Abit has x700 cards already. What I'm jazzed about today though is Vias PCIe chipset for AMD.
x700 + A64 939 + HL2 Collectors edition = Lovin!
Transmetta chips are small so that they can fit into tiny ass enclosures like notebooks, those orion things, and OQOs. If it had to be socketed (instead of a BGA) it would be thicker, the ceramic packaging would be larger and more expensive due to the use of pins...
Etc...
Its a space/size thing... I'm sure they could make one if they wanted but I doubt the demand would be enough to warrant the manufacturing costs (don't forget Transmeta pays TSMC or UMC to make the chips for them).
FWIW
OMG
Thanks for the link to the documentary! That was too funny..
For those scared to click the link it's a documentary about a Christian Metal group named Stryper
My iBook loves me. No, really! My iPod told me so, it said the iBook was just shy and didn't think I felt the same way.
But I do....
<3
As far as I know its only on the High Density rack server/cluster/blade devices that run as one single image. Many cpus in many independent kits running as one machine. But that one machine can then be devided slices (or as sun calls them zones) and you can use them almost in a sandbox/jail fashion.
As far as the Octane/workstation kits I don't think its possible.
Yes you could say that.
It's actually closer to Intel's Vanderpool technology that allows you to partition the cpu through firmware.
Example: Windows is running on slice 1, BSD on slice 2, and Linux on slice 3.
BSD gets a kernel panic and crashes, the slice is restarted without affecting the remaining running OS's. It's, for the lack of a better term, Hyperthreading for the whole computer.
They did
But like the support for Alpha it tanked
Isn't Motorolas PPC implementation both big and little endian (i think it's called bit flipping) which is what made Virtual PC possible on Macs? I seem to remember an article somewhere about thats why VPC 6 wouldn't run on the G5 since it lacked the dual modes....
Then again I could be completely wrong.
This is really cool stuff. IBM is a little late to the game in some regards, SGI has been doing this stuff for years in IRIX on their MIPS machines. But hey better late than never...
yes they are all PPC "based" now. The PS3 will be using what is called the Cell cpu which is derived from the Power ISA.
Theres a pantload of info here.