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Author Topic: iPad - PA Semi Inside?  (Read 3237 times)

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Offline TrevTopic starter

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iPad - PA Semi Inside?
« on: April 15, 2010, 09:47:30 PM »
Here's a bit of speculation that I haven't seen posted yet, though I may have missed it, from http://stevecheney.posterous.com/the-genius-in-apples-vertical-platform by way of Slashdot:

Quote

This analysis is not yet mainstream, but will add tremendous fuel to the fire that perhaps the A4 is NOT an ARM architecture. In fact, it’s highly possible that the A4 is a dual core Power Architecture, which is what the PA Semi team worked with, prior to Apple buying them in 2007.


What's funny is that if this is true, then a PowerPC-native iPhone OS 4.0 will very quickly replace AmigaOS 4.x as the operating system behind the "OS4" moniker. ;-)
 

Offline bloodline

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Re: iPad - PA Semi Inside?
« Reply #1 on: April 15, 2010, 09:52:54 PM »
It is ARM, I have written an App for it :)

Proof: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4C0PNrUC9jE

Offline TrevTopic starter

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Re: iPad - PA Semi Inside?
« Reply #2 on: April 15, 2010, 09:57:07 PM »
That's part of the speculation, though--that the current tools compile for ARM and the code runs on an emulator, paving the way for iPhone OS 4.0 and the XCode stack to support native PowerPC binaries. EDIT: Can't watch the vid at work. Will have to look later....
 

Offline bloodline

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Re: iPad - PA Semi Inside?
« Reply #3 on: April 15, 2010, 10:00:17 PM »
Quote from: Trev;553724
That's part of the speculation, though--that the current tools compile for ARM and the code runs on an emulator, paving the way for iPhone OS 4.0 and the XCode stack to support native PowerPC binaries. EDIT: Can't watch the vid at work. Will have to look later....
I have to specify the architecture when producing a binary, and I know that my App wouldn't run very well on an emulator (my gfx engine is totally CPU, no OpenGL yet).

The iPad is an ARM Cortex-A8 :)

-Edit- The iPad's CPU runs twice as fast as the iPhone 3GS... and a quick check on the internal timer in my App, shows that the code is running about twice as fast on the iPad as the iPhone.
« Last Edit: April 15, 2010, 10:02:22 PM by bloodline »
 

Offline TrevTopic starter

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Re: iPad - PA Semi Inside?
« Reply #4 on: April 15, 2010, 10:02:16 PM »
Or, Apple could have implemented a very effective emulation. You wouldn't necessarily have a way to determine this within your app. Or you could be right. Either way, it's a fun bit of speculation. ;-)
 

Offline bloodline

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Re: iPad - PA Semi Inside?
« Reply #5 on: April 15, 2010, 10:07:58 PM »
Quote from: Trev;553727
Or, Apple could have implemented a very effective emulation. You wouldn't necessarily have a way to determine this within your app. Or you could be right. Either way, it's a fun bit of speculation. ;-)
If they have, then Apple tech is far far in advanced of the rest of the world! :)

Offline TrevTopic starter

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Re: iPad - PA Semi Inside?
« Reply #6 on: April 15, 2010, 10:32:22 PM »
You never know. Video recording was sprung on an unsuspecting audience at a radio and television industry conference, for example, and while dynamic recompilation was in use as early as the 1970's, the UltraHLE Nintendo 64 emulator still caught the gaming industry completely off guard.
 

Offline Karlos

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Re: iPad - PA Semi Inside?
« Reply #7 on: April 15, 2010, 10:47:51 PM »
It's an ARM based CPU designed by the people formerly of PASemi, which apple bought up for 278M USD a few years ago.

I don't imagine those guys would have any problem designing ARM based processors any more than they did PPC ones.
int p; // A
 

Offline Karlos

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Re: iPad - PA Semi Inside?
« Reply #8 on: April 15, 2010, 10:54:23 PM »
Quote from: bloodline;553722
It is ARM, I have written an App for it :)

Proof: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4C0PNrUC9jE


I never knew you were an oriental lady's thumb (just watched cutiemish's related link).
int p; // A
 

Offline bloodline

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Re: iPad - PA Semi Inside?
« Reply #9 on: April 15, 2010, 11:07:35 PM »
Quote from: Karlos;553734
I never knew you were an oriental lady's thumb (just watched cutiemish's related link).
I have a reply to that... but this is a family board ;)

Offline adz

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Re: iPad - PA Semi Inside?
« Reply #10 on: April 15, 2010, 11:27:21 PM »
Quote from: bloodline;553739
I have a reply to that... but this is a family board ;)


That's never stopped you before oh glorious Sock Master :lol:
 

Offline TrevTopic starter

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Re: iPad - PA Semi Inside?
« Reply #11 on: April 16, 2010, 12:27:39 AM »
@Karlos

Which would make it not an ARM Cortex-A8. Still possible, though, since the PA Semi folks had experience with numerous architectures, yeah? Apple has extensive experience with PowerPC, ARM, and dynamic recompilation. I'm definitely not a PowerPC zealot, but a move back to the architecture would be interesting in terms of setting Apple apart from the competition (although it's certainly already capable of doing that using commodity chips).
 

Offline bloodline

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Re: iPad - PA Semi Inside?
« Reply #12 on: April 16, 2010, 11:03:43 AM »
Quote from: Trev;553748
@Karlos

Which would make it not an ARM Cortex-A8. Still possible, though, since the PA Semi folks had experience with numerous architectures, yeah? Apple has extensive experience with PowerPC, ARM, and dynamic recompilation. I'm definitely not a PowerPC zealot, but a move back to the architecture would be interesting in terms of setting Apple apart from the competition (although it's certainly already capable of doing that using commodity chips).
It has to be an A8, no other ARM core goes that fast, except the A9... But Apple are not using the A9 :(

Offline Karlos

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Re: iPad - PA Semi Inside?
« Reply #13 on: April 16, 2010, 11:21:31 AM »
I don't really get why the designers being PASemi preclude the A4 being an ARM based CPU.

Whatever hardware design principles they used in the design of their ultra low power PPC processor could equally be applied to an ARM processor, surely?
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Offline Karlos

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Re: iPad - PA Semi Inside?
« Reply #14 on: April 16, 2010, 11:23:58 AM »
Quote from: adz;553743
That's never stopped you before oh glorious Sock Master :lol:

Indeed :)

Say, does your co-developer know about this sordid history? What's it worth to keep schtum?
int p; // A