TeraGen's new processor architecture

The new EETimes (print edition) hit the canteen tables today, leading with an article about TeraGen's new processor. Like the processor described by Transmeta's patent, this processor is able to emulate multiple instructions sets. But it adds an extra twist: the ability to emulate more than one CPU simultaneously. This allows it to replace a DSP, a CPU and other parallel devices by one chip, making it ideal for embedded applications. Update: 02/02 03:30 by S : More details here.

A rival for Transmeta?

[Mark J Tilford]

I wonder: will this cause them to be more open, or will they shut up even more? (Is it possible for them to be any more quiet?)


-----------

Transmeta

[drwiii]

Maybe they're making a processor that you can flash with new instruction sets.. or something.. I dunno.

I'd try breaking into the place to find out, but ever since last time when they drove me to that secret location and beat the crap out of me, I have some doubts about actually getting in. :P

Fun year for cpu's

[Bill Henning]

This will be a fun year... K6-3, Jalepeno, P3 and then later, Transmeta and now this chip from TeraGen...

But memory sub-systems still need to be improved - the new CPU's are all starving for memory bandwidth.

Oh how I love to eat bugs!

[Rational]

Crap... Foot-right-down-the-trachea scenario... Terragen is the other one... :)

Do they infringe on Transmeta's patent?

[Axe]

:)

Seen something like this, but more powerful

[TheMeld]

I saw an article in Scientific America about a year ago that was about a bunch of people working on a chip that could phyisically REWIRE itself on the fly in a very short amount of time (was it a few milliseconds, or a fraction of a second? I don't remember). So, you could have your general CPU for running most of the OS, but lets say you wanted to play a mad-assed-fast game of quake. The game uploads a specialized chip design to accelerate the game into oblivion by having specialized 'quake hardware.' Or, upload a chip design for an MP3 encoder and save lots of time. The possibilities are endless, both for scientific computing, and for consumer products. I can't say that I know what happened to this project, though...

TeraGen/Transmeta Processors

[Jasin Natael]

If they're putting multile processing schemes on a single chip, then wouldn't you just about have to run linux (for speed, at least)? Seeing a kernel that changed its own memory addresses, register references, and instruction sets on the fly would help to bolster my faith in such a device's usefulness on the desktop. As of now, I HAVE a Mac, PC, an X86 Linux System, Access to various SPARC and UNIX Boxes, and two ARM-Based Handhelds. I can Run N64, SNES, GameBoy, Genesis, Arcade, and Playstation Games emulated, and I have three calculators. Who needs a multi-mode processor?
Now that I think of it, that crap does take up an awful lot of space, and I don't know of anyone close to me that knows how to use them, much less that does... Maybe a single multi-mode system with a flat-panel monitor would help me throw some of that stuff out...

Asmodean
"It disgusts me to see the half-trained children they call Aes Sedai..."

What is so new here?

[tramm]

The multiple register file architecture is nothing new -- several older processors have used it to hide the latency of a much slower memory subsystem.

A true virtualizable processor (VM/CMS anyone?) on the desktop is a cute idea. Yes, you could run multiple OS's on the single chip, but with the low cost of hardware these days it makes more sense to have a cluster of machines. Slap X on it and the network transparency makes it seem like a single boxen.

I'm not sure if I want my CPU handling DSP and other side duties, anyway. WinModems are an example of poor technology -- why have a $300 P2 spend half of its usefull cycles emulating a $10 DSP chip?

And, as a final aside, several older machines (VAX 11, etc) have had writable microcode. At boot time my 11/730 would read the microcode from a DECtape3. BSD used a different set of microcode from VMS.

A transmeta employee speaks...

[patha]

Please tell us more. I can't wait until next month. ;)