I wrote a Linux loop driver to do what this patent claims, and can proove it was prior to the date this patent was submitted. I based my work on the work of others that had done similar (I had improved upon it), so the date would be even earlier.
I just sent PC Dynamics a note wrt this silly patent. I hope they have the resources to defeat it.
The new NetWinder Inc. will likely be selling off their stock of StrongARM first, before they start to ship the Transmeta Crusoe versions.
The Crusoe version is x86 compatible, much faster, has floating point, comes with USB, has PCMCIA as an option, all in a box the same size as the StrongARM (same box actually). And it is quieter. Not bad for 14 Watts peak.
Yes, price is going to be the monkey on their backs. It's hard when using laptop components which are premium priced to begin with.
I wish them success though.
-- an ex Corel Computer Corp (CCC)/Corel/Hardware Canada Computing (HCC)/Rebel.com employee
Get your facts straight
on
Rebel.com Autopsy
·
· Score: 5, Informative
Rebel.com was _NOT_ a public company. It never went IPO.
The Rebel.com offices are _NOT_ gilt in gold. They are quite simple and plain.
The majority share holder (remember it was a PRIVATE company) was Mac Brown. He is gregarious and ostentatious. He was probably the only one that made any money.
Many Rebel.com employees lost a lot of money by investing in this PRIVATE company. Many borrowed and re-mortgaged their homes to invest. I personally didn't invest. I lost only my stock options which were never worth anything since they could not be traded (becaue it was _NOT_ a public company).
If you want more facts, let me know. I still work there for the receiver, KPMG.
--
Andrew E. Mileski
Former Senior Software Engineer at Rebel.com
When our entire software engineering team was presented with an IP agreement, I read it over and told everyone NOT to sign it (only the young'ins figured they'd have to).
I voiced my complaints about specific wording and restrictions, and another IP agreement was drawn up by the lawyers. Before it was sent out to anyone, I received a copy for approval, which I did. I wasn't asked sign it though, and nobody else did. I think the issue juest "went away".
If my employer had refused, I would have quit. Same for most of the senior people I bet; we know we can go anywhere and get a job.
No. The CPU loads CMS from either a serial or parallel flash at reset. The VLIW architecture is completely hidden, proprietary, and top secret.
...
I know as I helped designed a Crusoe product. I have one as my gateway actually
processor : 0
vendor_id : GenuineTMx86
cpu family : 5
model : 4
model name : Transmeta(tm) Crusoe(tm) Processor TM5400
stepping : 3
cpu MHz : 531.483
cache size : 256 KB
fdiv_bug : no
hlt_bug : no
f00f_bug : no
coma_bug : no
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 1
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr cx8 cmov mmx longrun
bogomips : 1048.57
I wrote a Linux loop driver to do what this patent claims, and can proove it was prior to the date this patent was submitted. I based my work on the work of others that had done similar (I had improved upon it), so the date would be even earlier.
I just sent PC Dynamics a note wrt this silly patent. I hope they have the resources to defeat it.
You have always been able to download the NeTTrom (StrongARM) firmware source code.
They have the design (IP) and what stock remained after KPMG (the appointed bankruptcy receiver) sold what it could.
The new NetWinder Inc. will likely be selling off their stock of StrongARM first, before they start to ship the Transmeta Crusoe versions.
The Crusoe version is x86 compatible, much faster, has floating point, comes with USB, has PCMCIA as an option, all in a box the same size as the StrongARM (same box actually). And it is quieter. Not bad for 14 Watts peak.
Yes, price is going to be the monkey on their backs. It's hard when using laptop components which are premium priced to begin with.
I wish them success though.
-- an ex Corel Computer Corp (CCC)/Corel/Hardware Canada Computing (HCC)/Rebel.com employee
Rebel.com was _NOT_ a public company. It never went IPO.
The Rebel.com offices are _NOT_ gilt in gold. They are quite simple and plain.
The majority share holder (remember it was a PRIVATE company) was Mac Brown. He is gregarious and ostentatious. He was probably the only one that made any money.
Many Rebel.com employees lost a lot of money by investing in this PRIVATE company. Many borrowed and re-mortgaged their homes to invest. I personally didn't invest. I lost only my stock options which were never worth anything since they could not be traded (becaue it was _NOT_ a public company).
If you want more facts, let me know. I still work there for the receiver, KPMG.
--
Andrew E. Mileski
Former Senior Software Engineer at Rebel.com
When our entire software engineering team was presented with an IP agreement, I read it over and told everyone NOT to sign it (only the young'ins figured they'd have to).
I voiced my complaints about specific wording and restrictions, and another IP agreement was drawn up by the lawyers. Before it was sent out to anyone, I received a copy for approval, which I did. I wasn't asked sign it though, and nobody else did. I think the issue juest "went away".
If my employer had refused, I would have quit. Same for most of the senior people I bet; we know we can go anywhere and get a job.
Here's what I get on our Rebel.com Crusoe TM5400 (533 MHz) based NetWinder that is in development.
/proc/cpuinfo
# uname -a
Linux redhat62 2.4.0-test8 #29 Mon Oct 16 12:40:09 EDT 2000 i586 unknown
# cat
processor : 0
vendor_id : GenuineTMx86
cpu family : 5
model : 4
model name : Transmeta(tm) Crusoe(tm) Processor TM5400
stepping : 3
cpu MHz : 531.482082
cache size : 256 KB
fdiv_bug : no
hlt_bug : no
sep_bug : no
f00f_bug : no
coma_bug : no
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 1
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr cx8 cmov mmx
bogomips : 1035.47
# dnetc -bench # abbreviated
Benchmark for RC5 core #2 (RG class 6)
1,398,112.00 keys/sec
Benchmark for OGR core #0 (GARSP 5.13)
2,425,544.844 nodes/sec
--
Andrew E. Mileski - Software Engineer
Rebel.com http://www.rebel.com/