What if Atari allowed Jay his dream?

[Iggy]

Been reading here for months, but here is my first post:

Open and inexpensive only applies to x86 architecture, I don't think that is very open!

I think the Power PC architecture is really better, even if Freescale is not developing it as fast as it should.

Here is the latest from them (though I don't think this webpage has been updated in a while, like everything Freescale)

Freescale MPC8641D

Another Note:
The GP2X would be great if it had Wi-Fi!

MPC8641D?
The e600 core?
Old and dying a slow death.

All the new PPC development (@ Freescale) is going on in the Qorlq lines.

http://cache.freescale.com/files/netcomm/doc/fact_sheet/QORIQOV.pdf

The e5500 and e6500 64 bit cores are considerably more advanced then the e600.

Years ago, Paul Gentle at Varisys pointed me toward this line as something more easily obtained then the PA6T.

And Andreas Wolf (who regularly posts at MorphZone) has been keeping all of us updated as to any new PPC development.

The real question I have, is what processor would Atari have moved to after the 68K?
We know Commodore wasn't thinking of using a PPC.
Would Atari have chosen this course or something else?

I'm pretty sure that if Paul and Trevor Dickinson produce a successor to the X1000, its going to have a processor based on one of these two cores.

[Iggy]

I never gave it much thought, but game consoles have quite a history of using Risc processors.
So if all three of the major players in the console market use PPC derived CPUs, I guess the architecture isn't that dead.
It's just a shame that the devices available are so over-priced.

I'm fascinated with what A-eon has managed to create, but without a large market the price of the X1000 commands is out of my league.

[Iggy]

[youtube]unOQuhiNOuc[/youtube]

Jay Miner - Flat Earther?

Man that was depressing.

I'll admit, when that was recorded, I wasn't sure we'd have enough useful applications to make this a practical device.

And now I exchange ideas, code, and commentary even hardware with people all over the world.

Pity he let his general lack in faith obscure the fact that we can never predict the future (and sometimes things get better).

[Iggy]

As for a current platform, freescale PPC chips are imo a joke - the real action is in IBM's POWER range and the 7+ is an absolute fire breathing beast! (They Power, pun intended, IBM's Watson project)

IBM Doesn't allow mere mortals to work with stuff like that.
And bugs me about Freescale is their inability to get their PPCs to clock any higher then IBM managed almost 10 years ago.

But, I still like the e6500 core. Hyperthreaded, multi-core, 64 bit PPCs are kind of cool.

BTW - X, don't take my less then admiring comments on Miner too seriously.
Honestly, I don't have any faith in humanity either.