Amiga OS 4 should be ported over to the xx86.

[Hammer]

stone wrote:

Why does PPC offer any more potential than x86 for custom machines? In theory, couldn't a custom x86 motherboard be created? (Eg. using some sort of Kickstart equivalent instead of a BIOS, with integrated custom GPU.)

opposed to intel and amd you can go to ibm and have any powerpc cpu you could ever imgaine created to suit your spefic needs. with power/powerpc you are covered in every imaginable product from space shuttles and supercomputers to coffeemachines, pda's and childrens toys.
/stone

Emmm, it seems one didn't factor in
1. NASA's purchase orders for X86 based micro-controllers.
2. Surrey Space Technology Limited's satellites i.e. refer to "PCs in space".

As for "childrens toys" refer to "100 dollar" laptop.

[Hammer]

price obviously depending on what you need done. wheter you need modifications to an exciting design or you need something radically different.

first off, amd and intel cant modify their chips as ibm can.

AMD counter that proposition with Torrenza platform i.e. leveraging high volume infrastructure and HTT compatible custom co-processors.

Both AMD and Intel focuses on reaching "economics of scale" for GPU, CPU, core-logic and motherboard infrastructure.  

so besides it being way more expensive, even smaller modifications would be magnitudes more expensive, while bigger changes is basicly impossible as an intel or amd customer you buy what they offer or nothing.

Not quite...

It seems you not in privy to Microsoft(Windows OS biz group) and AMD’s co-operation in building the AMD64 ISA i.e. refer to Anvil and Sledge-Hammer project.  

[Hammer]

stone wrote:

We should now forget the PPC, the cost for one would turn a lot of people off. And our community's small enough as it is.

cost is quite a poor argument considering the widely spread use of powerpc chips in cheap hardware

Emmm, ~60 million ppc units in 2005…

and game consoles. amd and intel systems are way expensive in comparison.

PC HW is not subsidise by software btw.

Go head and offer to the market an ATX compatible motherboard with Cell CPU socket or PPC970xx socket for 100 USD or any ASrock priced motherboard. Offer it before quad-core K8L arrives.

[Hammer]

neon32 wrote:
I believe the title of the thread is "Amiga OS 4 should be ported over to the x86" not "Do you care about Amiga OS4 or not?".

There's a couple of reasons off the top of my head why I don't want the Amiga to be running on x86. One is that I dont really want it to be involved in the Mhz race, where only the fastest speeds will do, which is how Mac and Windows seem to be doing things at the moment. It was the same back when the classic Amiga was around. "Your Amiga with it's 7 Mhz CPU is nothing compared to my PC running it 66Mhz!".

And another point is that you cannot simply buy a x86 CPU that can be passivly cooled - every cpu, even mobile ones run hot and i'm sick of having a computer that makes so much noise. (And yes I have "silent" fans and psu in my computer, it still makes as much noise when cpu intense tasks are running)
(SNIP)

Ermmm, I recall testing a passively cooling Athlon 64 mobile (CG) @800Mhz i.e. I didn't reconnect power for the fan. Each time AMD64 CPU driver kicks clock speed to 2Ghz from BIOS’s (InSyd) default 800Mhz speed it shut down the laptop. Works fine in Windows XP safe mode since AMD64 CPU driver is not activated.

The other heat source comes from GPUs…

[Hammer]

it seems one missed the point and instead ended up providing proof that you buy off the shelf parts at intel/amd while ibm provides any custom made powerpc cpu you might want.

Define custom PowerPC. Atm, only large corporations (e.g. Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft) fund significant customized PPE cores. Not much different to Microsoft’s co-designing AMD64 ISA with AMD.

PPE cores doesn’t equal PPC 970 cores.

co-processors are exactly that, and doesnt give you any more or less customaization options over the cpu. torrenzo doesnt do anything in this league either as it only allows for a series of cpu's to be used in the same socket.

That HTT socket and motherboard infrastructure is available in economic of scale. HTT Socket infrastructure is available from ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI, Tyan, Newsys, Cray, and ‘etc’.

and counters what exactly? ibm has always provided its customers this option for years,

Note that the HTT socket and motherboard infrastructure is available in economic of scale.
 

 while amd only will offer it in 2007 at the earliest.

Factor in third party HTT enabled co-processors i.e. refer to AMD’s “Virtual Gorilla” strategy.  
 

[Hammer]

you cant make something similar to a cell,
.

Why Cell?

AMD has both CPU and GpGPU (assimilated ATI) solutions.

p.a.semi's pwrficient
.

Given its release date, I don't see p.a.semi's pwrficient special i.e. in future vs future comparsions.

or xilinx's programmerble powerpc based on any intel/amd offering without massive production costs.

Qoute SPECInt and SPEC FPU benchmarks for xilinx's programmerble powerpc 4xx based solution.

basicly meaning making a brand new cpu/architecture.

Refer to DRC's FPGA solution (Torrenza HTT socket) or XtremeData's XD1000 workstation (with Torrenza HTT socket Altera FPGA EP2S180).

XtremeData's XD1000 Altera's FPGA EP2S180 has access/own to all 3 HTT links (3X 8GByte/s or 21 GByte/s) and dual MCH DDR333 memory.

[Hammer]

neon32 wrote:

dammy wrote:

Amazing things happen when you keep your ego in check

That could go both ways Dammy.


It's a good thing none of the next generation consoles are using Power PC processors in their machines, or that would surely be a catastrophic business decision..

Note that both Nintendo and Microsoft game consoles are powered by AMD** GPUs.

[Hammer]

you cant make something similar to a cell

Atm, PC world requires different CPU/GPU price and performance points. MS Vista requires X86 solution with GpGPU hence AMD is building SoC packaged Cell like chip i.e. packaged multiple unfied shader SIMD/MIMD units with multi-OOOE X64 cores.