Re-posting this SIMD post here:

http://www.simdtech.org/altivec/archive/msg?list_name=altivec&monthdir=200506&msg=msg00037.html

On the change from PowerPC to Intel:

I feel like I've been driving around in a Ferrari and now I'm being told to scrap that and get a '77 VW Beetle. I don't care if the VW Bug is turbo charged or not, it's still a '77 VW Bug.

Thanks for the link Pieter.

R&B :)

Whatever the glossy brochures may say, computing speed cannot possibly be the driving factor behind this transition. The iMac could have gone dual core with the new G5 chips. The PowerBook would have had to starve a little longer, but there's light at the end of the tunnel: dual core G4 from Freescale and the completely new chip family from PASemi, both due this year.

And this is just the known-to-arrive chips. Allegedly, Cell derivatives would have been in the cards for Apple, too, if they had wanted them. Or a low power PPC970 variant (admittedly with unknown applicability to a thin-and-light notebook). Even "Power6 light" looks like it has been planned from the start of the Power6 project.

Given that Microsoft will transition from classical BIOS to EFI with Vista, it pretty much looks like Apple wants to enter mainstream. I wonder if this is to sell hardware to Vista users or to get out of hardware sales altogether.

Evil tongues whisper the word "viiv".
They have a point.

Quick question about SIMDTech...

What do you think about the site? Freescale is running it now, but not doing much with it. Should we take it over if we get the chance and merge it with PPCZone or Freevec? Something else?

All ideas are welcome.

R&B :)

I think it could use some work, maybe turning it into a library of everything related to SIMD/Altivec, etc. papers about algorithms, sample code, etc. That was probably the idea originally, but i think it missed the point.

I don't know how easy it would be to merge it with ppczone/freevec as it probably uses custom software for its infrastracture, maybe we ought to first make a list of what *we* would like from such a site and see if we can extend it or its replacement?

Konstantinos

What can you do with Intel chips and chipset solutions that you can't do with a G5 and an ATI graphics card? Really? Intel's Viiv scheme is like Centrino, just a brand name around "please use Intel components".

To have a Centrino laptop you need processor, chipset and wireless to be Intel parts. To have a Viiv you need processor, chipset and networking to be Intel parts, and bundle some software that provides some special features (this just happens to be Windows Media Center 2005). The Macs won't be Viiv certified right now as they use non-Intel networking (AirPort is Broadcom, so is the Mac ethernet) and ATI graphics.

--
Matt Sealey
Genesi, Manager, Developer Relations

Ensured future compatability with LaGrande I guess.

Edit: Here's a blogpost about it:
http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=2361

build a laptop.

That's political, not technical.

--
Matt Sealey

>That's political, not technical.

Do you have a power-optimized northbridge now?
(Unlike this monster...)