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Intrinsity (Formerly Exponential Technology) Now Speeding Up ARM CPUs
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"Might as well say 'Apple, formerly Atari, Inc.'"
There, fixed that for you. My revision is much more accurate since Steve Jobs worked for Atari, most of the parts in the Apple I came from Atari, the Apple I's mobo was done by Al Alcorn - later an "Apple Fellow" - at Atari, and Steve Jobs originally asked Nolan Bushnell if Atari could buy them out.
p.s. the Atari 8-bits were better than the Apple II line.
p.p.s. the Atari ST was better than the Mac back in the day. Of course, I'm typing this from my MacBook. [Curse you, Tramiels!]
Somewhere in the middle...
Intrinsity seems to be in the business of making high-speed macroblocks and memories for ASICs.
They probably replace the timing-critical paths of synthesizable logic with custom cells from their library.
They also have some highspeed memories to go along with that.
All very difficult to do and exiting to work on
But not very different from the way that the likes of AMD and INTEL works. Or used to work.
i hope this well-backgrounded news piece soothes some of those boneheads who complained because Arn entertained us on the weekend with the papercraft iPad.
Actually, mine was also right. Jobs and Woz worked at HP in their early years.
http://www.theapplemuseum.com/index.php?id=49
Somewhere in the middle...
Intrinsity seems to be in the business of making high-speed macroblocks and memories for ASICs.
They probably replace the timing-critical paths of synthesizable logic with custom cells from their library.
They also have some highspeed memories to go along with that.
All very difficult to do and exiting to work on
But not very different from the way that the likes of AMD and INTEL works. Or used to work.
For many years Intrinsity/EVSX was peddling their cad tools. They were pushing a logic family that put a latching element in every gate and used a four-phase clock. It was theoretically interesting, but goofy. They have a bunch of patents on differential logic (a required element of that form logic).
At exponential, of course, we were using bipolar logic, so we were all doing things quite differently than the rest of the industry. I got the job there because my ph.d. dissertation was on the same form of bipolar logic, and they had been following the work done by my research group. It was quite fun for a young guy, because after three weeks I convinced them I knew what I was doing, and they handed me the design of half the chip.
Well-backgrounded? Even the title is wrong! Just because a company once employed some people who were once employed by Exponential doesn't mean that Intrinsity was "formerly Exponential Technology."
Sounds like a upside to me
I'll see your
and raise you . You do realize that the ability to run Windows is one of the major reasons behind the Mac's growth over the past several years?
I don't know, but this is technology purchased from a company that employs some people formerly working for a now dissolved company that sued Apple 15 years ago.
Exactly. In fact, I don't even know that they still employ anyone who worked at Exponential. Maybe a handful.
More importantly, nothing about Intrinsity's technology is very impressive.
Uh-oh Flame Wars On!
Listen, I'm all for multi-booting, or running software for simultanious OS usage, but people who buy a Mac only to run Windows software on it are stupid. You've just paid a premium for hardware that doesn't have any of the benefits of the software. This is why Apple will continue to invest heavily in the mobile computing market (their bread and butter), not only because they have more control, but because they can keep people from running their competitor's software on their hardware.
Actually one reason it's grown is because of the success of the iPod and the iPhone and consumer dissatisfaction with Vista, which has supposedly been fixed by the release of Windows 7.I'll see your
Listen, I'm all for multi-booting, or running software for simultanious OS usage, but people who buy a Mac only to run Windows software on it are stupid. You've just paid a premium for hardware that doesn't have any of the benefits of the software. This is why Apple will continue to invest heavily in the mobile computing market (their bread and butter), not only because they have more control, but because they can keep people from running their competitor's software on their hardware.
I'll see your
I'm calling your
and up the anti + .... I do realize but I also realize that it was Apples fault for firing Steve and allowing the sugar water salesman to run the company, which forced Apple to adopt this strategy when steve came back.... If steve stayed at Apple, the company would be much better then probably what we could ever imagine today Think Willy Wonka style
+1 I thought I was the only one ..... I have yet to use windows or any microsoft product on my mac (THANK GOD) ... I have no need to, and if I did I would definitely find an alternative
iPad isn't out as yet and competition is already booming!
Check this out
https://thejoojoo.com/sites/
It supports Flash too!
Check this out
https://thejoojoo.com/sites/
It supports Flash too!
I'm calling your
Think Willy Wonka style
Ante, not anti.
You sure have an interesting, albeit wrong, interpretation of Apple's history.
iPad isn't out as yet and competition is already booming!
Check this out
https://thejoojoo.com/sites/
It supports Flash too!
Not sure how this is relevant to the thread. Also not sure why you didn't already know about the crunchpad (aka joo joo), the controversy about it, or the fact that it may run flash but it doesn't run native apps.
lol yeah I don't play cards either......
Though my interpretation of Apples history is:
Jobs & Woz & Wayne Started the company
Jobs hires sculley
Sculley betrays Jobs
Sculley screws up Apple
Gil Amelio replaces sculley
Gil freaks up more, needs a life saver for the company
Gil chooses Jobs over the crazy French man for a future OS
Apple Buys NeXt, Steve Returns
Steve quietly gets Gil booted
Steve needs to get Apple back on track
Steve hands over patents to M$ but with strings attached
Steve saves apple from bankruptcy
Steve releases iMac iPod iPhone iPad
Steve ACENDS into the heavens (oops jump a little to far ahead)
Obviously the short version
Apple the chip amker off the new block!
you havent seen the apple video at the end of the keynote have you? They specifically stated they are chip makers now.
I think the video is right at the front of the apple site where you can click to watch the video. I watched the whole keynote and the video SJ showed at the end of the Keynote to summarize apples vision.
you havent seen the apple video at the end of the keynote have you? They specifically stated they are chip makers now.
I think the video is right at the front of the apple site where you can click to watch the video. I watched the whole keynote and the video SJ showed at the end of the Keynote to summarize apples vision.
ConFUSED!
Ok, A4...A8...A9.
Can somebody boil this down in laymen terms? What does the "A" refer to? ARM? And the number after it means what? Is a higher number better?
I know there are some chip-savants on this thread. Help us.
Ok, A4...A8...A9.
Can somebody boil this down in laymen terms? What does the "A" refer to? ARM? And the number after it means what? Is a higher number better?
I know there are some chip-savants on this thread. Help us.
Do you have any links that you feel give a balance to the question of why Exponential processors never made it into Macs?
I saw a demo at one of the MacWorld shows, and my recollection is that the chip ran hot and wasn't fully developed, and at that time, Apple was already in negotiations with Motorola (which was pushing the 88000 over future 680XX variants at the time) and IBM (with its Power processor) to collaberate on a desktop processor which became the PowerPC.
There was a good fast company article, iirc.
When i get back to my computer i'll give you the scoop. It wasn't the chip's fault
There was a good fast company article, iirc.
When i get back to my computer i'll give you the scoop. It wasn't the chip's fault
I agree it wasn't the design of the chip that was the problem. There just wasn't enough of a product line and roadmap to convince Apple to build a product line around it.