Programming a bitslice machine to faithfully emulate a modern processor architecture, including behavior in face of exceptions (yes, that is a requirement if any non-trivial software is to run unchanged) is bloody hard. In fact, even programming one modern processor to emulate another 100% correctly at the ISA level is hard enough. 95% is easy, 98% is manageable, but...
... and of course, the performance level per watt even with current technology is nowhere close to what can be achieved with a custom design. Granted, there are applications that fit well in a Xilinx chip, but emulating a Pentium isn't one of them.
I'm not surprised. I've spent much time (long ago) reading and modifying code of university CAD tools. Magic (also by Ousterhout) was by far the most readable, and very easy to find your way in considering it was something like half a million lines of C, IIRC. In fact, I changed my own coding style as a result.
> The article says they make 18 billion a year! Since they've been building bricks since 1958, that means there's a HELL of a lot of bricks somewhere.
Global warming is caused by the earth's rotation being affected by a significant redistribution of mass on the planet surface. Lego bricks to my basement, that is. Fortunately, my sons care little about the climate since they are mostly indoors anyway.
The original design of the Vasa was perverted by the late addition of an extra gun deck, which made the vessel taller and therefore unstable. The extra deck was added on direct orders from the King, who obviously knew more about the value of firepower than about ship design.
The records show that the head designer wasn't punished when the ship was lost. If the blame had been his, he would likely had suffered mightily for his mistake.
The museum is indeed one of the best I've ever visited. Highly recommended.
I did the long-commute thing for a couple of years, with two nights a week away from my wife (two careers, different cities). Once our first son was born, we decided to consolidate. After talking it over, we decided that I would leave my job for a new opportunity. Whether this was a good long-term career move for me is debatable (my wife is still with the same employer, I've changed again), but I sure don't regret it.
I recall a few years ago, some Los Angeles restaurant (Hamburger Hamlet?) listed a $100 hamburger on the menu. A bottle of premium champagne was included with the meal.
There may be many reasons to go to a fancy restaurant, but one of the most common ones is probably to "be seen", to be part of the "in" crowd. Same thing goes for fancy car: "I can afford it, you guys can't". Jewels: same thing.
But how does the PS3 fit in here? You might impress your friends, but those are not the main targets for messages such as these.
Me? I go to fancy restaurants, drive a scratched unfancy car, and own no game console at all. Then again, I'm solidy middle age.
I love my 12" Powerbook. It's SMALL, it's light, it's easy to carry around, it fits in a backpack, it can take a 4' fall onto concrete not even dent (ok, maybe that was just luck).
Yes, it was. I know from personal experience.
It's perfect. The screen's big enough, and the keyboard is full-sized.
No. It's some fine circuit research work, overhyped by a tech writer who didn't understand it well. (I'm a circuit researcher.)
First off, the PLL is a small fraction of the power consumed by a modern phone, even though it is running all the time. Far more power is consumed in the rest of the receiver chain, from the LNA (low nose amplifier) and the digital demodulator.
RF PLLs need lots of power to meet phase noise performance specs. Thus, you don't want to run an RF PLL all the time if you can get away without it; and in a TDMA system such as Bluetooth or GSM, you can. The trick is to turn the RF PLL and the rest of the receiver on only during time slots when there will/might be data intended for you. Another, slower and much more power-frugal oscillator will determine when to turn on the RF PLL.
And no, this does not do a thing to minimize the demod, as it is running all the time too, to detect an incoming call notification.
Not necessarily. In GSM, for example, incoming calls are signalled at comparatively long intervals (many milliseconds). If you don't turn off your receiver in the interim, your standby time will suffer mightily.
There are NO multipliers in a PLL, period.
You are right, but so is TFA, broadly speaking. The PLL itself acts as a frequency multiplier, it does not contain one.
My iCal calendar entries contain umlauts (my native language is Swedish). These seem to turn into question marks when I import the calendar into Google Calendar. OK, this is based on exactly one attempt.
If you really consider working for the company, I think you'd be hard pressed to come up with a worse first move than to go behind their backs to reverse-engineer the product. It may be legally OK, but it will not endear you to management, even if they do not consider it worth the effort to sue you. They won't trust you again, ever. And forget about doing it anonymously and applying for a job there anyway. I strongly doubt your hack will stay secret for too long once you start discussing technical details with your new co-workers.
It is amusing to see someone slamming H+P for imperfect technology predictions decades in advance. Me, I'm glad if I get it right for a couple of years or so:-)
Seriously, the first H+P textbook shaped the way a generation of computer-architecture students think about the subject, surely including some of the x86 designers who have done such an admirable job over the last decade. Of course, some of the particular architecture ideas of the MiPS and RISC projects turned out to be short-lived, but the general lessons have been well absorbed.
Fujitsu just, flat, does not hire foreign engineers; like other Japanese companies, Fujitsu prefers native engineers.
You are misinformed.
I personally know at least two foreign (non-Japanese) Fujitsu silicon design engineers working on American soil.
Slashdot Mirror
Look back further still, to Richard Feynman in 1959. Absolutely visionary stuff.
Programming a bitslice machine to faithfully emulate a modern processor architecture, including behavior in face of exceptions (yes, that is a requirement if any non-trivial software is to run unchanged) is bloody hard. In fact, even programming one modern processor to emulate another 100% correctly at the ISA level is hard enough. 95% is easy, 98% is manageable, but ...
I'm not surprised. I've spent much time (long ago) reading and modifying code of university CAD tools. Magic (also by Ousterhout) was by far the most readable, and very easy to find your way in considering it was something like half a million lines of C, IIRC. In fact, I changed my own coding style as a result.
> The article says they make 18 billion a year! Since they've been building bricks since 1958, that means there's a HELL of a lot of bricks somewhere.
Global warming is caused by the earth's rotation being affected by a significant redistribution of mass on the planet surface. Lego bricks to my basement, that is. Fortunately, my sons care little about the climate since they are mostly indoors anyway.
The original design of the Vasa was perverted by the late addition of an extra gun deck, which made the vessel taller and therefore unstable. The extra deck was added on direct orders from the King, who obviously knew more about the value of firepower than about ship design. The records show that the head designer wasn't punished when the ship was lost. If the blame had been his, he would likely had suffered mightily for his mistake. The museum is indeed one of the best I've ever visited. Highly recommended.
That games can be written to run well on Cell is not news. That the same might be true for scientific code is.
I did the long-commute thing for a couple of years, with two nights a week away from my wife (two careers, different cities). Once our first son was born, we decided to consolidate. After talking it over, we decided that I would leave my job for a new opportunity. Whether this was a good long-term career move for me is debatable (my wife is still with the same employer, I've changed again), but I sure don't regret it.
J
And you got a spare burger as well.
There may be many reasons to go to a fancy restaurant, but one of the most common ones is probably to "be seen", to be part of the "in" crowd. Same thing goes for fancy car: "I can afford it, you guys can't". Jewels: same thing.
But how does the PS3 fit in here? You might impress your friends, but those are not the main targets for messages such as these.
Me? I go to fancy restaurants, drive a scratched unfancy car, and own no game console at all. Then again, I'm solidy middle age.
Acne, tounge hanging out, perspiration drops on forehead...
But is he related to Don Pardo?
Yes, it was. I know from personal experience.
It's perfect. The screen's big enough, and the keyboard is full-sized.
Agreed.
No. It's some fine circuit research work, overhyped by a tech writer who didn't understand it well. (I'm a circuit researcher.)
First off, the PLL is a small fraction of the power consumed by a modern phone, even though it is running all the time. Far more power is consumed in the rest of the receiver chain, from the LNA (low nose amplifier) and the digital demodulator.
RF PLLs need lots of power to meet phase noise performance specs. Thus, you don't want to run an RF PLL all the time if you can get away without it; and in a TDMA system such as Bluetooth or GSM, you can. The trick is to turn the RF PLL and the rest of the receiver on only during time slots when there will/might be data intended for you. Another, slower and much more power-frugal oscillator will determine when to turn on the RF PLL.
And no, this does not do a thing to minimize the demod, as it is running all the time too, to detect an incoming call notification.
Not necessarily. In GSM, for example, incoming calls are signalled at comparatively long intervals (many milliseconds). If you don't turn off your receiver in the interim, your standby time will suffer mightily.
There are NO multipliers in a PLL, period.
You are right, but so is TFA, broadly speaking. The PLL itself acts as a frequency multiplier, it does not contain one.
My iCal calendar entries contain umlauts (my native language is Swedish). These seem to turn into question marks when I import the calendar into Google Calendar. OK, this is based on exactly one attempt.
Accident.
If you really consider working for the company, I think you'd be hard pressed to come up with a worse first move than to go behind their backs to reverse-engineer the product. It may be legally OK, but it will not endear you to management, even if they do not consider it worth the effort to sue you. They won't trust you again, ever. And forget about doing it anonymously and applying for a job there anyway. I strongly doubt your hack will stay secret for too long once you start discussing technical details with your new co-workers.
Seriously, the first H+P textbook shaped the way a generation of computer-architecture students think about the subject, surely including some of the x86 designers who have done such an admirable job over the last decade. Of course, some of the particular architecture ideas of the MiPS and RISC projects turned out to be short-lived, but the general lessons have been well absorbed.
You are misinformed. I personally know at least two foreign (non-Japanese) Fujitsu silicon design engineers working on American soil.
Jon's homepage
Also check RFC 2468.
J