p4 too slow ?

[Kronos]

Combine that with legacy segmented memory addressing

So you want to run DOS6+Win3.x on a P4 ?

Cause that was the last M$-OS running in "real mode".

[Kronos]

Kenny Kenny Kenny (/me shacks head  :-P )

Every x86-CPU since the 386 can be used in "386-mode" with
4Gb linear memory, and every moderm OS runs in that mode.

The only real prob with the x86 (when coding in asm) is the lack
of multi-purpose registers, but who is doing anything useable
in asm these days ?

The x86 may not be elegant, but they are cheap, fast and quite reliable.

An AthlonXP has a RISC-core and a builtin translator for the
"normal" x86-code, while a G4+Altivec isn't really RISC any more.

Oh and and "Hello World" with Linux-gcc (no optimization)
is 13463 bytes ......

[Kronos]

@KennyR

If you put all the legacy-stuff in to an mircrocode-based
emu, you can use the same technology as if you didn't have
any legacy-stuff to bother about.

That is what happening in both Intel's and AMD's new 64-bit-CPUs.

Once they have reached that point, they can throw their billions
at buliding faster cores.

How much money can Moto or IBM throw at high-speed-CPUs
before they start making a loss ?
And how much will one single CPU cost if they have to get the
same money back as Intel, but sell only far lower numbers ?

No I don't like x86, but I've heard this "x86 is at an end"-BS for
well over 10 years now, and I don't see any reason why it should
happen now, when it did not happen back when Intel had their probs
with the 1st Pentiums, while "better" alternatives from Moto
(68060/PPC) were available.