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PDF from Moto developers forum claiming Rapid I/O in all futrure Moto proc

I don't think this is Apple's future processor. It will probably be a long time before it actually sees the light of day, if it ever does.
 
Its good that Motorola is still developing the PPC, but still, they cant stand with IBM in time of delivering, quality of chips and the pure power of the PPC. Nice try Motorola, but with all the time we lost with the G4, I cant trust you anymore, cause this changes should be out 1.5 years ago, not now.
 
Seriously, I suspect that the 970 is for Desktop machines and this could be for portables.
 
Does anyone think that the flurry of Moto activity recently could be read as circumstantial evidence pointing to apple picking up the 970's from IBM.

Maybe moto is trying to keep its biggest PPC client on board. Apple buys btwn half and 2/3 of motos G4s so losing those sales may be quite a big blow. Of course Moto does deserve a swift kick in the nuts :D
 
I see this as Moto's last ditch attempt to salvage the aging G4 proc. They should have been more on top of things way back in 97-98 when the Intel chips were beginning to outpace them. I was a Windows pundit for years until I started using Macs on a daily basis. Didn't Moto see the signs when larger companies like Adobe posted higher PC based sales of their software. I say stay on the porch Moto, there's a new dog in town...Big Blue will put Apple back in the lead for performance.
 
where does the otehr 1/3 go ?

what other computers and operating systems support or require the PPC?

always wondered this .. any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
Re: where does the otehr 1/3 go ?

Originally posted by darkmynded_one
what other computers and operating systems support or require the PPC?

always wondered this .. any help would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

Heh heh - IBM RS6000 workstations - but for some reason, I think they'll go with the 970. ;)

However, Cisco uses G4s in their routers.
 
so Moto is working on a dual-core G4, and it can be assumed that this will run at 2GHz and will be aimed mainly at the embedded market (<10 watts?)

WTF?!! is Moto trying to keep their product in the iBooks or PowerBooks or something?

oh well, it is good that "Apple has options." :D



on a sidenote: this might sound a bit dumb, but is a dual-core processor like a dual CPU machine? or is dual-core different? i've never read anything much about dual-core and how it works, so if anyone has some links they could post... that would be very helpful.

thanks. :)
 
somones playing the catch up game too late

this is good news! all this recent flury is a great sign that they could be getting dumped my apple. not that id mind that.:p
 
How ironic would it be if moto started making faster chips than IBM right when apple switched.

I highly doubt that though.

WHy does moto feel the need to start doing major development on their microprocessors right when apple leaves? :rolleyes:
 
would have been good if they were doing this last year, wouldnt it be funny if apple had a brainfart and came out with motorola powered new metalmacs? Lets hope apple has enough sense to go with the 970 everywhere and motorola can put their chips in phones and toasters. Funny how now motorola is moving the g4 forward. What were they doing this past 2-3 yrs? Mac lovers will not tolerate a company that treats apple's cpu's as a afterthought. Waiting for the 970.
 
I love the G4 - and would snap one of these things up in a heartbeat. Wait, that's if they had came out 2 years ago! Seriously, DDR FSB is way too late to save them IMO.

We must also remember that there is no guarantee that Apple is going to use the 970 - should they? Heck yeah, but stranger things have come out of 1 Infinate Loop in the last 20 years, eh?
 
This is just business as usual. Apple may leave Moto, but Moto is going to suddenly just die like a lot of us would like. Life must go on for them post-Apple. They will continue to make chips well into our gloried 3ghz 980 days next year and beyond. Unless, of course, they sell the chip division.
 
My $0.02.

The presentation did not target a general purpose cihp user. Instead its audience would be the embedded / deeply embedded designer. This includes telcom, automotive, medical etc. Just looking at the uP comparisons shows an embedded lineup. No where would you see a TMS320 (DSP) compared to a desktop processor.

There is a trend to put an IP stack in lots of non traditional embedded applications. Even automobile computers are seriously networked and Ford is using the MPC555.

Motorolla's traditional market has been the embedded area. This is their core business. IBM on the other hand has been more into computing. Now, not to slight IBM, they do have an embedded side. It seems Mot is making embedded processors that, oh by the way, would have decent performance in Apple machines.

Another thing I did not see was a 64 bit migration path. If Apple is intending to migrate to 64 bits, it would seem to make sense across the board. In order to convince companies (adobe) to compile for 64 bits you would need lots of 64 bit machines. It would be expensive for them to maintain a 32 bit version of software for i-mobile and low end users and a 64 bit version for AL-mobile and high end users. Since 32 bit code should be binary compatable with the 64 bit machines, they would tend to stay 32 bit till the 64 bit base waranted the change
 
The question is

Does Motorola have the technical expertise and fabbing capability as compared to IBM. The answer is most likely no. HiP7 has bore no real fruit for Moto. IBM is gearing Fishkill up to grab some marketshare. Developing pdfs and claiming new tech is Moto's Modus Operandi. Lets see them actually produce.

I don't just want to read about Dual Core. That's not the main problem. It's the bus. What new bus would they be using. Dual Cores have advantages but it's not that grounbreaking and within 3 years Intel, IBM, AMD and anyone who's serious about CPUs will have Dual Core designs.
 
A day late and dollar short...

Let's see:

Jan 02 - Moto ships 1GHz .18 SOI (page 4)
Feb 03 - Moto announces 1.3GHz .18 SOI (page 5)

Jun 03 Moto is at 1.3GHz .18 SOI while IMB is at 2.0 GHz .09 SOI
In people time that's 1.5 years. In computer time it's a lifetime.

Next:
Based on their timeline (page 8), they will be at .09 SOI by the end of 2003. I assume they will skip over the .13 process, which was due a year ago and go right into .09 process.

And in case anyone missed the subtle hints, Moto seems to be focused on the embedded market.

On the positve side:
That 1 GHz at 8 watts sounds interesting.

Page 11:
"Shipped over 2 million G4 SOI units to date, more than any other microprocessor vendor."
Who else sells G4 units? Kind of like saying Apple sells more PowerMacs than any other computer maker.

Peronally:
I don't care what chip Apple uses as long as it keeps pace with x86. If I'm paying a premium for Apple products, I want premium hardware.
 
Originally posted by cb911
on a sidenote: this might sound a bit dumb, but is a dual-core processor like a dual CPU machine? or is dual-core different? i've never read anything much about dual-core and how it works, so if anyone has some links they could post... that would be very helpful.

thanks. :)
Click to expand...

Kinda sorta. A dual-core machine has two complete sets of processing units on a single chip, two sets of registers associated with those, but usually a single L1/L2 cache, and always a single FSB bus heading out to the system controller chip. If the FSB is not your bottleneck, then dual-core is a great idea, and superior to dual-CPU in many ways. If the FSB is your bottleneck as with the G4, dual-core is a bit of a waste (as is the current SDP design which shares FSB ... but dual-core's shared caches at least mitigates the problem slightly). A dual-core chip will only make sense for Moto if it can (as it says it will) provide a massively improved front-side bus.
 
Moto has just proved the point!

They talked about embedded markets only and given that and the way-off-course timeline, it would make Apple look undeniably stupid if they didn't go with another chip maker.... have to assume IBM and the 970 for all if not the midrange and up. Moto's design sounds good for a cheap notebook, someday, somehow, somewhere.
 
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