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To: Don Green who wrote (36662)	1/19/2000 3:46:00 PM
From: Don Green	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 93625

Transmeta announces Crusoe posted 2:15pm EST Wed Jan 19 2000 NEWS Transmeta announced its TM3120 and TM5400 microprocessors today, produced on an IBM .18 and .22 micron process. Both processors are 128-bit Very Long Instruction Word (VLIW) processors that use code-morphing software to fully run the x86 instruction set translated to the 128-bit VLIW instructions. The Transmeta instruction sets are software based and can be changed. In fact, you can translate other instruction sets (besides x86) on the chips, and even simultaneously. The TM3120 processor is aimed at Internet appliances running "Mobile Linux" (an open-source version of Linux for the Crusoe processor featuring power management and a reduced footprint so that it can fit in ROM). The TM3120 will run at up to 400 MHz and dissipate less than 1 watt of power, featuring a mainly 32-bit instruction set at launch. Products featuring the TM3120 will be released in the first half of 2000, with no specific release dates from manufacturers yet. Manufacturers are free to start making announcements as of tomorrow. The TM5400 will run at 700 MHz and is geared for Windows OSs, in that initial laptops will ship with Windows OSs; however, it will run any OS that is x86-compatible, such as Linux and BeOS. The TM5400 features more 16-bit code-translation optimizations than the TM3120 so that it can support legacy Windows code better than the TM3120. Laptops featuring the TM5400 are expected to be released in the middle of 2000. Pricing on the TM5400 chips will be US$329-$119. The TM3120 will initially cost $89-$65. Higher prices are for higher MHz parts. For more information, check out Transmeta's website. The site will have information up after noon PST. ROB'S OPINION Well, I just watched the whole two hour long presentation on a "56K Windows media player" connection. I wasn't able to get into the Realplayer version, as ZDTV dropped the ball and couldn't supply enough bandwidth. The slots were all taken up more than 20 minutes before the presentation. So here's a big raspberry for ZDTV for forcing me to watch such blurry video. In any case, Transmeta made its announcement, and it sounds like it is producing chips in volume. Intel and AMD will face some stiff competition for mobile processors, but the desktop market will probably not change much (if at all) based on the announcements. The technology sounds solid. Transmeta claimed a 2x increase in battery life when Transmeta devices are released--and specifically highlighted the playback of DVD several times. The Transmeta processors "learn" over time that something such as DVD playback is happening, and tune down their power consumption--within several seconds. The demo showed a Pentium III eating huge power, and the Transmeta chip was consuming 1/3 of the power displaying DVD. Then, after 10 seconds, the Transmeta chip dropped down to about 1/9 of the power requirement of the Pentium III. Very interesting. So interesting, in fact, that we will have a feature article on the Transmeta chips for you tomorrow! ugeek.com