Crusoe's Specs - How does it work?
TM5400: First of lets
mention the price of and speed of the processors. The price of the TM5400 Crusoe is $119-$329 for 700Mhz, it contains
384KB total of Cache, and is based upon the 0.18 micron die process. It Uses
1 Watt of power to run, and can go as low as
8mW. performance in mobile applications. Comparing it to a PIII 500, Transmeta said that
the performance was slightly better in industry standard benchmarks. To demonstrate these
new processors Transmeta had created its own set
of benchmarks, but difficulty has arisen in drawing comparison as there is no
familiarity with the new tests. TM5400 will be available by mid-year.
TM3120: The TM3120 will be between $65-$85 for
400MHz speeds, and contain 91KB of Cache. Die size is 0.22, and power
consumption is 1 Watt and can go as low as 20mW. Transmeta boasts that with this
processor in a web appliance, all day usage on
one battery charge should easily be expected. While not in release at the
moment the Web Pad and future software will also enable handwriting recognition, making this product extremely versatile. It's Mobile Linux Operation
system will be open sourced in the great tradition of Linux. It is currently
available.
IBM will be manufacturing both of the processors, which
are also "software upgradable," and will run in conjunction with SDRAM. Both chips possess a superfluidity which enables bugs
to be rapidly fixed, and within very short times, as
only software fixed are required in most cases as opposed to changes
in silicon. Also Long Run technology is employed which parallels Intel's just released Speed
Step System. Long Run allows the processor to modify its power
usage during off peak times. One other cool part of this is
that as the computer is run, the system monitors itself and optimizes those parts which are
run most frequently. This on the fly optimization is a neat "learning" function
that the processor is able to do to improve its performance as you
use it. Both processors support MMX, but as of yet do not support 3D-Now.
Plans for Transmeta to support the Macintosh operating system were described as not a
point of "focus", however it has the capability to support essentially any Operation
System.
The Chips themselves both run on VLIW and code-morphing
engines, thought the two are not compatible if switched. VLIW was described by
Linus as being very resilient towards virus attack - an issue which could be
crippling in a software driven processor. Accordingly VLIW takes control of the
system early on in the boot p process to effectively block any attempts by
program residing viruses to attack. The TM5400 is able to run
Linux, Windows 98, Windows NT, and Windows 2000 operating systems.
 |
TM3120 333-400MHz, 0.22 micron process, 1
watt power $65-$85 Web Appliances
|
 |
TM5400 500-700MHz, 0.18
micron process, 1 watt power $119-$329
Sub-Notebook |
The VLIW (Very Long Instruction Word) engine is an instruction set opf
software surrounding the core the enables the Crusoe processor to run x86
software/hardware. The translation that occurs has been termed Code
Morphing as it dynamically "morphs" instructions to that of the processor's
native instruction set. This optimization helps to reduce the total number of
instructions and thus transistors required. Of significant interest is this
sentence from Transmetas web site; "The Code Morphing software can evolve
separately from hardware. This means that upgrades to the software portion of
the microprocessor can be rolled out independently of hardware chip revisions."
That could mean that Crusoe will be MHz-upgradable thru successive software
iterations.
Can Crusoe
Compete?
Transmeta is able to support their processors on a completely different time
scale than x86 manufacturers can, or ever will be able to. The greatest benefit
to the Transmeta business that the Code Morphing Software they have
developed creates is within the product support and development arenas:
Support; The Crusoe software set has the ability to be upgraded over the
Internet; bugs that are reported can be verified, fixed and updated in a matter
of days. The x86 chip bug-fix cycle lasts months. By virtue of it's design,
Transmeta can support and satisfy it's Crusoe customers on a level that their
competition cannot reach.
Development; Iterations of Transmeta's processors can be released on a
shorter time-scale than those of x86 manufacturers. They can put out updated,
optimized software that users will be able to apply to their processor to
increase performance which is absolutely huge. Think of it this way: you have a
machine that runs the TM5400. Three months after it was released (and you bought
it), Transmeta makes an optimized version of the Code Morphing software,
which is made available for you to download and apply to your machine, to
increase performance.
Mobile processing will be the first arena of competition for Transmeta. The
Crusoe processors will allow for the creation of a sub-four pound, 700MHz
laptop, with high quality multimedia and battery life considerably longer than
current standards. Currently laptops make up 17% of the computer market share,
but Transmeta believes that their "lighter form factors" will "cannibalize" the
market share of larger machines, increasing mobile market share in the coming
years.
Transmeta has a better mobile strategy and platform than any other. They have
created themselves a significant opportunity to dominate the mobile computing market of the future.
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