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To: Tony Viola who wrote (40039)	11/11/1997 5:22:00 PM
From: greenspirit	Respond to of 186894

Tony and ALL, Article...Intel lends weight to FireWire... By Jim Davis November 11, 1997, 12:40 p.m. PT news.com comdex Like an entertainer playing the club circuit, technology that bridges the gap between the consumer electronics and computing worlds makes the rounds each year at Comdex in Las Vegas. This year will be no exception. Intel will demonstrate a prototype PC circuit board called "Digital Creativity" with IEEE 1394, or "Firewire," support at the 1394 Trade Association's booth at Comdex. The IEEE 1394 standard is a technology originally developed by Apple to allow for high-speed transfer of large amounts of data from peripherals such as digital camcorders to a computer. The technology is significant because it spans the gap between consumer electronics devices and PCs. It also makes working with computers more like using a stereo system or TV because peripherals don't need to be configured: Theoretically, a consumer just needs to plug them in, and they are ready to work. At Comdex, Intel will show a FireWire digital video camcorder hooked up to its PC platform for use in capturing, editing, and sharing digital video. Similar applications were shown at Comdex last year too, although this go-round will be one of the first times Intel has shown that it has incorporated the technology directly onto its own "motherboard" circuit board designs. A motherboard is the main circuit board in a PC and holds almost all the core electronics. Both Microsoft and Intel are moving to use FireWire as a universal interface for peripherals such as storage drives, CD-ROM drives, DVD drives, and consumer electronics products. This is because FireWire can transfer data at rates of up to 400mbps, compared to 12mbps for Universal Serial Bus (USB) connectors, now commonly found on newer PCs. Before the technology will find widespread adoption, however, both companies have to coordinate efforts for moving the technology into the platform. Microsoft earlier this year announced specifications that would allow hardware vendors to create and incorporate peripheral devices into new computer systems, but this still leaves vendors the job of making the necessary software that enables the Windows operating system to control the devices. "It's on Intel's roadmap as an important external bus, it seems to have their blessing, and that's an important endorsement for any industry initiative," says Andy Fischer, senior analyst at Jon Peddie Associates. "The last two years at Comdex there have been FireWire [product] showcases, but it is in the high-end or 'prosumer' video production category. It's still a bolt-on [do-it-yourself] technology. There are all sorts of devices that want to be hooked up to a high-speed interface, but it [FireWire] won't be pervasive until its integrated on both the hardware and software side," he said. Apple is already offering support in the Mac operating system for devices using IEEE 1394, although there aren't yet machines incorporating hardware ports yet. Intel will also be showing off Device Bay technology, which would allow users to plug a variety of devices such as a DVD drive or TV tuner into an external receptacle called a bay. Peripherals adhering to the specification such as backup storage devices, DVD drives, and hard drives would simply plug into a desktop or portable PC connector and automatically configure themselves without restarting the computer, which is often the case with PCs today. Although FireWire-based products continue to hold a great degree of promise, they won't begin to proliferate in systems until the end of the decade, Fischer estimates. ______________________________________________________ Regards, Michael

To: Tony Viola who wrote (40039)	11/12/1997 3:08:00 AM
From: Petz	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 186894

Tony, your post is full of garbage. I said: "If such a bug were found on a mainframe, you are right, the microcode would be patched by replacing a PROM." You said, WRONGO!Microcode nowadays is stored in RAM in the big machines. In fact, in the high majority of cases, it is "concurrently maintainable", so that the customer does not even have to take an outage to install new microcode. The only reason I make a deal out of this is if you don't know what you're talking about re mainframes, why should I take credence in your knowledge of CPU chips? 1. I was talking about older mainframes since I found absolutely no evidence that modern mainframes have any undisclosed opcodes which cause an uninterruptible HALT in user mode. 2. You had better show some documentation for your claim about IBM System 390! Then Tony objected to my claim that Pentium microcode is embedded in the silicon and cannot be changed. Here's what he said: Are you sure there is no microcode RAM in Intel CPU's? How about being able to add MMX instructions to existing chips. How dey do dat? Also, Intel announced on chip control store that could be used to fix bugs from "outside". Sounds like we have a good use for that control store now. 1. I am sure about classic Pentiums and MMX Pentiums, less sure about the Pro or P2. 2. Tell me, how do you add MMX instructions to a Pentium classic? 3. If on-chip control store can fix bugs, and Intel could just create a floppy disk that downloads new control store code, why don't they do this for the 41 Pentium II errata contained in ftp://download.intel.com/design/pentiumii/specupdt/24333706.pdf In fact, they only corrected 3 bugs going from Stepping A to Stepping B, but you claim they should be able to fix most of them without even changing the mask. 4. Think about it. If the actual microcode is in RAM, where does it come from on power up? It would either have to come from a PROM or Flash RAM embedded in the processor chip, and BTW, flash is too slow to use directly. If its a flash RAM, how do you download to the flash RAM? That could only come from the motherboard, right. What motherboards do you know about that have this download feature? 5.There is a slight chance that there is a flash RAM and a RAM for microcode, but the only way to load the flash RAM with anything new is to remove the CPU from the MB and plug it into a special Intel downloader fixture. This would probably cost Intel more than just shipping them new CPU's. Petz