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| Top Stories for September 8, 1999 (details below) | |
| Electronic Buyers' News | Acer Labs, Nvidia debut integrated graphics chip set for low-cost PCs |
| The Register Files | |
| The Register | Merced: How do you boot Linux fast on a Merced? |
| The Register | Merced: what meaneth the Extensible Firmware Interface? |
| The Register | Merced Tracks: Compaq's views on legacy |
| The Register | BX shortage to last until year end |
| The Register | Intel says only small number of notebook chips duff |
| The Register | Two i820 mobos up Intel sleeves... |
| The Register | Intel still stuck on the FireWire fence |
| The Register | ALi surfing on crest of chipset wave |
| Microprocessor
Headline News Collected By Robert R. Collins |
Week of September 5, 1999 |
Older News |
September 9, 1999 |
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Acer Labs, Nvidia debut integrated graphics chip set for low-cost PCsBy Mark Hachman September 8, 1999 |
Preparing fornext week's initial public offering on the Taiwan stock exchange, chip set maker Acer Laboratories Inc. today unveiled details of its first collaboration with graphics house Nvidia Inc.
ALI and Nvidia jointly introduced the Aladdin TNT2, a chip set the companies co-designed and which combines Nvidia's Riva TNT2 core with an enhanced ALI Aladdin Pro II chipset for Slot 1-based desktop PCs. The integrated chipset is the first fruit of the Nvidia-ALI development relationship that was officially acknowledged only three weeks ago. |
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The Register Files |
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Merced: How do you boot Linux fast on a Merced?By Mike Magee September 8, 1999 |
Maybe some of our readers were wondering exactly how you boot Linux fast on a big Merced beastie without an x.86 style BIOS.
Here is Mindy Murdock's answer. Mindy is Intel's ISV programme manager and at the track last week it seemed to have a lot of suggestions. Never forget that Intel is OS agnostic, despite the fact it has undoubted software skill, for example building many answers into Microsoft Windows 98, as reported here earlier this year. |
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Merced: what meaneth the Extensible Firmware Interface?By Mike Magee September 8, 1999 |
Intel programme manager Mark Doran outlined the spec for the Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) at IDF in Palm Springs last week.
This will replace the current system for booting PCs. The EFI spec is superior because it's implementation-agnostic; it separates the BIOS from the operating system; it is modular and extensible and complements existing interfaces. EFI will use high level language protected mode code, and provide a level of abstraction as an OS loader, according to Doran. |
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Merced Tracks: Compaq's views on legacyBy Mike Magee September 8, 1999 |
At one of the tracks at IDF last week, Melvin Benedict, a Compaq architect, outlined what Intel's DIG64 push means for future hardware design.
Benedict used much of his presentation to show that legacy items should not be used in Merced and IA-64 designs. He said legacy IO does not scale well enough, ISA cards used non-contiguous memory maps, the slots they occupy uses up precious real estate, VGA is a thing of the past, and all of this adds up to a big OS validation cost. |
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BX shortage to last until year endBy Mike Magee September 8, 1999 |
Distributors close to Intel's plans have suggested that a shortage of BX and ZX chipsets will not get better until the end of the year at the earliest.
At the same time, Intel is taking steps to further encourage adoption of its i810 chipset by using it for Pentium III processors as well as Celeron chips, according to Techweb. According to UK, German and US distributors, there is no let up in the scarcity of BX motherboards, with preference being given to Intel's top OEMs and Chipzilla-only distributors. |
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Intel says only small number of notebook chips duffBy Mike Magee September 8, 1999 |
Chip giant Intel has now confirmed there was a problem with some mobile parts but said the problem was in the substrate and not the silicon.
A UK representative said: "It wasn't a silicon issue, it was a substrate packaging issue with one of our suppliers. It is, by no means, a recall." The problem is restricted to a relatively small batch of parts, he said, although he did not say how many were affected. |
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Two i820 mobos up Intel sleeves...By Mike Magee September 9, 1999 |
Sources at Intel Israel told The Register early this morning that the chip giant will ship at least two versions of i820 Caminos when info is released on the 27 September next.
Intel is readying both the Vancouver VC820 and another mobo believed to be called the Fairbanks, the CC820, and also based on the Camino chip set. The chip giant is hedging its memory bets, said Intel Israel. One allows people to move quickly from the BX set to the 820, while the other is intended to satisfy wide demand for the PC-133 SDRAM standard. |
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Intel still stuck on the FireWire fenceBy Tony Smith September 8, 1999 |
What is Intel's problem with FireWire? Last week at the Intel Developer Forum
(IDF), Chipzilla's bi-annual shindig, held in Palm Springs, it once more threw its mighty weight behind Universal Serial Bus
(USB) 2.0, just as it did at the same gig six months ago. And this week, Jason
Ziller, Intel's platform marketing manager, told the Infoworld Electric Web site that the prince of processors has no plans to support FireWire -- or IEEE 1394, as it's known in the trade -- in its core motherboard chips.
Now, if Intel had gotten off the fence and categorically announced it has a real downer on FireWire, that would be fine. And you might well think Ziller of 'Zilla's comments are pretty definitive on the matter. The trouble is, they aren't. |
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ALi surfing on crest of chipset waveBy Simon Burns September 8, 1999 |
A new product from chip maker Acer Labs Inc (ALi), is attracting mixed comments from industry watchers in the run up to the company's over-the-counter stock listing.
"ALi definitely have the right product at the right moment," said Andrew Lin, an analyst at Jardine Fleming Taiwan. ALi's Aladdin TNT2 chipset combines the Taiwanese company's chipset technology with graphics expertise from Nvidia. The US company's TNT graphics chip is recognised as one of the most powerful low-cost 3D graphics chips. "This is definitely the direction to go," Lin concluded, "Their local competitors, SiS and VIA, are doing similar things. |
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September 8, 1999 |
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Intel alters product segmentation strategyBy Mark Hachman September 7, 1999 |
Having cowed its competitors in the low-end PC processor market, Intel Corp. is relaxing the product-segmentation strategy it enacted more than a year ago.
The move alters the look and feel of Intel's product portfolio, which previously divided microprocessor and chip set lines into "platforms" that served particular market segments. While the company is still addressing performance needs in the broadly defined low-cost, mainstream, and high-end PC categories, it is no longer bundling devices for exclusive use in any one desktop class. |
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Rambus Has Intel in Its Corner, but Still Can Take a Beating
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With some stocks, just as in sports, being a fan can sometimes be more fun than being an owner. Few
stocks are more exciting to watch than Rambus (RMBS), but owning it might cause you some sleepless
nights. Just look at what happened the week before Labor Day. After the company's major backer, Intel
(INTC), reiterated a previous announcement, the stock dropped 11% -- even though there was no change
in the news.
The stock can be so bouncy because Rambus is one of those companies that specializes in half-court shots. It has proprietary design and production technology that promise to revolutionize the DRAM memory-chip industry. DRAMs -- for dynamic random-access memory -- are the heart of most PCs' memory system. If these chips are manufactured using Rambus' production techniques, they'll be able to process data more than twice as fast as current DRAM chips can. |
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Microsoft, Intel reportedly developing video game consoleBy Bloomberg News September 6, 1999 |
Microsoft and chipmaker Intel are working on technology that could allow them to partner with a computer maker to develop a stand-alone video game console, analysts said.
Microsoft is working on the console and other projects that would allow it to compete with Sega Enterprises, Nintendo, and Sony in the $15 billion worldwide video game market, analysts said. Microsoft is developing video game technology at a time when the market is booming. Game systems are becoming more advanced than many personal computers and could become the launching pad for all interactive entertainment, including the Internet and digital TV. |
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The Register Files |
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AMD to intro K8 at Microprocessor ForumBy Mike Magee September 7, 1999 |
Fresh from the successful hype of its K7 (Athlon) family, AMD is now gearing up for the K8, its 64-bit follow-up.
The company goes public on the K8 at, next month's Microprocessor Forum -- we understand. But the clone chip firm refuses to confirm or deny such a chip is on the cards. AMD reckons it's piling the pressure on Intel with the K7. And a quick introduction of the K8 would certainly give something for Chipzilla to think about. |
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Via, SiS aim for high chipset market shareBy Mike Magee September 7, 1999 |
Taiwanese chipset firms Via and SiS both announced over the last few days that they mean business in the chipset market. They want to grow their market share at the expense of chip giant Intel.
On Friday, SiS said its target was to have 35 per cent of the market by the year 2002, while Via is even more ambitious. It claims it will have as much as half of the chipset market by the year 2001. SiS claimed it will ship over 20 million parts in 1999, representing around 20 per cent of the market. |
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September 6, 1999 |
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Intel set to phase out processor modulesBy David Lieberman September 3, 1999 |
Intel Corp. will be phasing out its processor modules and is taking steps to give customers advance notice of the move. A new road map for certain modules that reached some board vendors late last month (see accompanying table) is the harbinger of a complete retreat from modules, sources said, as Intel shifts to a purely component-oriented strategy.
The effect on board vendors and their customers will be extreme, in some cases forcing expensive redesigns, some board vendors said. Other board vendors said they expect only minimal disruption since they and their customers have done their designs with obsolescence in mind. The first group lamented that the five-year life cycle they said they were originally promised has now shortened to three years or less, and they noted that a 500-MHz Pentium II module and the date of its demise were announced on the very same day. The second group, on the other hand, praised Intel for providing long advance warning of end of life. |
Editorial Comment:When Intel introduced Slot-1, they patented the slot, and said the high processor speeds could not be supported in the component form factor. They insisted that they were not trying to thwart their competition (who then were socket compatible). Today, processor speeds are twice what they were, and the competition no longer exists. I guess those slot modules weren't necessitated by higher processor speeds...after all...were they? - RRC |
Analysis: 64-bit rivals set to take on MercedBy Alexander Wolfe and Craig Matsumoto September 3, 1999 |
The microprocessors that will drive the next generation of 64-bit computing — from Intel, Apple and Sun Microsystems — moved off the starting blocks and rolled toward the marketplace this week, sparking a rush of competitive jockeying in an industry segment that lately has been marked more by promises than by shipping processors.
Also firmly in the mix is Compaq, which is quietly preparing its powerful, next-generation Alpha. High-end spins of Hewlett-Packard's PA and Silicon Graphics' MIPS processor are in the works as well, although both companies have committed themselves to the IA-64 architecture, jointly developed by Intel and HP, for the long haul. |
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National completes Cyrix sale to ViaSeptember 3, 1999 |
National Semiconductor Corp here today said it has completed the sale of its Cyrix PC microprocessor business to Via Technologies Inc. of Taiwan.
At the closing of the deal, the Silicon Valley company received a partial payment of the $167 million total it expects to receive for the PC processor business. The remainder is contingent on future revenues from the Cyrix processor line, under National's agreement with Via. |
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New notebook Celerons, price cuts comingBy Michael Kanellos September 3, 1999 |
Intel is prepping Celeron chips for notebook computers running at 433 MHz and will cut prices on its existing line of Celeron and Pentium II notebook chips.
The price cuts will lead to more and cheaper notebooks for the back-to-school season, as well as pave the way for the release of Pentium III-based notebooks due later this fall, sources said. The discounts on Intel's notebook chips will be relatively steep. The 400-MHz Celeron processor, for instance, will drop approximately 43 percent, from $187 to $106 in volume, while the 400-MHz Pentium II will drop 32 percent, from $530 to $316 in volume quantities. |
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Intergraph to take $20 million charge, lay off 400By Stephen Shankland September 2, 1999 |
Intergraph, a maker of computer workstations and software, announced that it will take a $20 million charge and lay off 400 people as part of a restructuring.
Included in the charge, which is in the quarter ending September 30, are the costs of eliminating the jobs and the revaluation of hardware inventory caused by the company's exit from the PC and generic server business, Intergraph said in a statement. The company blames chip giant Intel for many of its troubles. Intergraph and Intel have been entangled in a lawsuit for months regarding whether Intel has withheld chips and technology information from Intergraph. |
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The Register Files |
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Does BX chipset with SDRAM outperform 820 with Rambus?By Mike Magee September 4, 1999 |
Just a few hours before a gaggle of British hacks headed out of overheated Palm Springs, we overheard a conversation that stopped us in our tracks.
We were sitting by the poolside bravely quaffing some Michelobs and Banquet Coors, when a group of Inteleers and customers came out on the veranda for a sly cigarette or two. One customer was asking why it was that the i820 with Direct Rambus memory is outperformed by a BX mobo using SDRAM (synchronous DRAM). |
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Intel abandons server Rambus effortsBy Mike Magee September 4, 1999 |
Reliable sources have told The Register that Intel's efforts to implement Rambus technology in its Carmel chipset for standard high volume servers have come to nothing.
Carmel is Intel's server Rambus chipset, which can optionally use the Repeater chipset for machines with very large memory arrays. Over the last six months, a team of Intel engineers have attempted to design a Carmel chipset based motherboard for a quad server but that project has now been abandoned. |
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Intel shifts to 133MHz bus, AGP 4x for notebooks next yearBy Mike Magee September 5, 1999 |
Notebooks next year will adopt AGP 4x and a 133MHz equivalent of the front side bus, according to Intel.
In a presentation at the Intel Developer Forum (IDF), Bill McAuliffe, who heads up the notebook unit in the US, also said that notebooks will use a type of Rambus memory called the SO-RIMM. As this slide shows (84K), notebooks will adopt desktop features next year. McAuliffe said that notebook architecture followed desktop architecture by nine months. |
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Merced: a system overviewBy Mike Magee September 5, 1999 |
One of the tracks at IDF gave a system overview for the Merced family, due for release next year. There are many interesting slides in this series, which we've taken the time to capture and incorporate in a Powerpoint presentation.
You can download the slides here. Be warned, it's a 666K zipped file... The slides contain information about both the workstation (2-way model), and the server (4-way model), as well as block diagrams and the system bus. |
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