One day after the air of mystery surrounding the new Transmeta Crusoe chip has now committed S3 as the first partner of the Linux processor. The graphics specialist, has announced that they wanted to develop Linux-based Internet devices that work with the Crusoe chip. This is likely to order the TM 3120, which has been developed for such devices.
Spokesman for the company said it had decided to Crusoe because of its good performance, its low energy consumption and of course because of its compatibility with Linux. The new devices will be part of a larger family of Internet-accessories, wants to bring the S3 to the market.
With the announcement of S3 was a bit clearer now, as the new chip can be used commercially. In presenting Transmeta CEO David Ditzel, had declared that they had already called customer for the new processor, but he did not have this. The partner companies should do this yourself.
The response of the computer industry on the chip is divided: While Dell filed against ZDNet little interest in the new processor, said Compaq (Frankfurt Stock Exchange: CPQ), Toshiba and Fujitsu, one is interested in Crusoe. However, for example, Fujitsu said that they would develop in the near future any computer with the new processor.
The new family of processors from Transmeta is being made up of two members: the 400-MHz clocked TM 3120 and the 700 MHz fast TM 5400th The main difference from conventional chips: The two new 128-bit processors are based primarily on software and consume much less energy.
The TM 5400 is designed for notebooks running Windows 98 or NT. Similarly to the Speedstep on Intel chips, this processor will also feature a power management, ie at Transmeta, “Long Run”. While energy consumption and processor speed with Intel chips will depend on whether the notebook is powered by batteries or from AC power, should the two heroes at the Transmeta processors for each request sent by the software. Transmeta expects mid-year the first notebooks with the new processor. This will cost in the 500 MHz version $ 119, in the 700 MHz version $ 329.
Already available should be the TM 3120, the 366 MHz version will cost $ 65, the chip will fail with 400 MHz with 89 dollar book. The TM 3120 is designed according to Transmeta, especially for use in mobile accessories, which are based on Linux. He has a cache of 108 Kbytes, is manufactured in 0.22 micron technology and consumes one watt with relatively little energy. The TM 5400 is a cache of 400 Kbytes, is manufactured in 0.18 micron technology and also consumes one watt.
Both use the so-called morphing technology to translate the x86 instruction sets in the language of the processor VLIW (Very Long Instruction Word). What is revolutionary is on the new processor, that he, unlike competing products amplified based on software: “Our idea was no longer on silicon, put it on software to solve the problems,” said Transmeta CEO David Ditzel. In addition to the “Long Run” technology, the chips also have a sleep mode which consumes only 20 milliwatts is: “To be able to return weeks later to your machine, and it will still be running.”
Since the chips are based in large part to software, they could easily be upgraded via the Web.
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