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Multi-Touch Technology Native on Linux

2009-06-19T18:00:00.000-07:00

One of the cool new features introduced by the iPhone is the ability to use two fingers simultaneously to manipulate screen objects. For example, while viewing a picture, you can zoom in or zoom out by touching the screen with two fingers and moving them apart or closer together.

Now a team at ENAC in Toulouse, France, has added native multi-touch support to Linux. They have modified the Linux kernel 2.6.30 to faciliate multi-touch functionality so that it works on any Linux platform, independent of the window manager. The developers anticipate that this technology will be integrated into Android, the Linux operating system developed by Google for cell phones and other mobile devices.

The group implemented a demo that shows how simple finger movements are recognized by the software, and used to perform user interface functions, such as rotating the cube of the 3D window manager Compiz Fusion.

The group has posted a video of the demo on their web site. There is also information about the source code, which you can download, and the touch screen hardware required to get the demo going.

Servers and supercomputers of Linux

2009-06-19T17:55:00.000-07:00

Historically, Linux distributions have mainly been used as server operating systems, and have risen to prominence in that area; Netcraft reported in September 2006 that eight of the ten most reliable internet hosting companies ran Linux distributions on their web servers.^[52] (As of June 2008, Linux distributions represented five of ten, FreeBSD three of ten, and Microsoft two of ten.

Linux distributions are the cornerstone of the LAMP server-software combination (Linux, Apache, MySQL, Perl/PHP/Python) which has achieved popularity among developers, and which is one of the more common platforms for website hosting.

Linux distributions are also commonly used as operating systems for supercomputers: as of November 2008, out of the top 500 systems, 439 (87.8%) run a Linux distribution.

Development of Linux

2009-06-19T17:32:00.000-07:00

The primary difference between Linux and many other popular contemporary operating systems is that the Linux kernel and other components are free and open source software. Linux is not the only such operating system, although it is by far the most widely used. Some free and open source software licenses are based on the principle of copyleft, a kind of reciprocity: any work derived from a copyleft piece of software must also be copyleft itself. The most common free software license, the GNU GPL, is a form of copyleft, and is used for the Linux kernel and many of the components from the GNU project.

Linux based distributions are intended by developers for interoperability with other operating systems and established computing standards. Linux systems adhere to POSIX,^[33] SUS,^[34] ISO and ANSI standards where possible, although to date only one Linux distribution has been POSIX.1 certified, Linux-FT.^[35]

Free software projects, although developed in a collaborative fashion, are often produced independently of each other. The fact that the software licenses explicitly permit redistribution, however, provides a basis for larger scale projects that collect the software produced by stand-alone projects and make it available all at once in the form of a Linux distribution.

A Linux distribution, commonly called a "distro", is a project that manages a remote collection of system software and application software packages available for download and installation through a network connection. This allows the user to adapt the operating system to his/her specific needs. Distributions are maintained by individuals, loose-knit teams, volunteer organizations, and commercial entities. A distribution can be installed using a CD that contains distribution-specific software for initial system installation and configuration. A package manager such as Synaptic allows later package upgrades and installs. A distribution is responsible for the default configuration of the installed Linux kernel, general system security, and more generally integration of the different software packages into a coherent whole.

Community

A distribution is largely driven by its developer and user communities. Some vendors develop and fund their distributions on a volunteer basis, Debian being a well-known example. Others maintain a community version of their commercial distributions, as Red Hat does with Fedora.

In many cities and regions, local associations known as Linux Users Groups (LUGs) seek to promote their preferred distribution and by extension free software. They hold meetings and provide free demonstrations, training, technical support, and operating system installation to new users. Many Internet communities also provide support to Linux users and developers. Most distributions and free software / open source projects have IRC chatrooms or newsgroups. Online forums are another means for support, with notable examples being LinuxQuestions.org and the Gentoo forums. Linux distributions host mailing lists; commonly there will be a specific topic such as usage or development for a given list.

There are several technology websites with a Linux focus. Print magazines on Linux often include cover disks including software or even complete Linux distributions.^[36]^[37]

Although Linux distributions are generally available without charge, several large corporations sell, support, and contribute to the development of the components of the system and of free software. These include Dell, IBM, HP, Oracle, Sun Microsystems, Novell, Nokia. A number of corporations, notably Red Hat, have built their entire business around Linux distributions.

The free software licenses, on which the various software packages of a distribution built on the Linux kernel are based, explicitly accommodate and encourage commercialization; the relationship between a Linux distribution as a whole and individual vendors may be seen as symbiotic. One common business model of commercial suppliers is charging for support, especially for business users. A number of companies also offer a specialized business version of their distribution, which adds proprietary support packages and tools to administer higher numbers of installations or to simplify administrative tasks. Another business model is to give away the software in order to sell hardware.

History of Linux

2009-06-19T17:29:00.000-07:00

The Unix operating system was conceived and implemented in the 1960s and first released in 1970. Its wide availability and portability meant that it was widely adopted, copied and modified by academic institutions and businesses, with its design being influential on authors of other systems.

The GNU Project, started in 1984 by Richard Stallman, had the goal of creating a "complete Unix-compatible software system"^[10] composed entirely of free software. The next year Stallman created the Free Software Foundation and wrote the GNU General Public License (GNU GPL) in 1989. By the early 1990s, many of the programs required in an operating system (such as libraries, compilers, text editors, a Unix shell, and a windowing system) were completed, although low-level elements such as device drivers, daemons, and the kernel were stalled and incomplete.^[11] Linus Torvalds has said that if the GNU kernel had been available at the time (1991), he would not have decided to write his own.

MINIX

In 1991 while attending the University of Helsinki, Torvalds began to work on a non-commercial replacement for MINIX,^[13] which would eventually become the Linux kernel.

Linux was dependent on the MINIX user space at first. With code from the GNU system freely available, it was advantageous if this could be used with the fledgling OS. Code licensed under the GNU GPL can be used in other projects, so long as they also are released under the same or a compatible license. In order to make the Linux kernel compatible with the components from the GNU Project, Torvalds initiated a switch from his original license (which prohibited commercial redistribution) to the GNU GPL.^[14] Developers worked to integrate GNU components with Linux to make a fully functional and free operating system.

Commercial and popular uptake

Today Linux distributions are used in numerous domains, from embedded systems to supercomputers,^[15]^[16] and have secured a place in server installations with the popular LAMP application stack.^[17] Use of Linux distributions in home and enterprise desktops has been expanding.^[18]^[19]^[20]^[21]^[22]^[23]^[24] They have also gained popularity with various local and national governments. The federal government of Brazil is well known for its support for Linux.^[25]^[26] News of the Russian military creating their own Linux distribution has also surfaced.^[27] India has gone so far as to make it mandatory for all state high schools to run Linux on their computers.^[28] China uses Linux exclusively as the operating system for its Loongson processor family to achieve technology independence. ^[29] France and Germany have also taken steps towards the adoption of Linux.^[30]

Linux distributions have also become popular with the newly founded netbook market, with many devices such as the ASUS Eee PC and Acer Aspire One shipping with customized Linux distributions pre-installed.

Current development

Torvalds continues to direct the development of the kernel. Stallman heads the Free Software Foundation, which in turn supports the GNU components. Finally, individuals and corporations develop third-party non-GNU components. These third-party components comprise a vast body of work and may include both kernel modules and user applications and libraries. Linux vendors and communities combine and distribute the kernel, GNU components, and non-GNU components, with additional package management software in the form of Linux distributions.

For the 2.6.29 release only, the kernel's mascot, a penguin named Tux, has been temporarily replaced by Tuz in order to highlight efforts to save the Tasmanian Devil from extinction.

Design

A Linux-based system is a modular Unix-like operating system. It derives much of its basic design from principles established in Unix during the 1970s and 1980s. Such a system uses a monolithic kernel, the Linux kernel, which handles process control, networking, and peripheral and file system access. Device drivers are integrated directly with the kernel.

Separate projects that interface with the kernel provide much of the system's higher-level functionality. The GNU userland is an important part of most Linux-based systems, providing the most common implementation of the C library, a popular shell, and many of the common Unix tools which carry out many basic operating system tasks. The graphical user interface (or GUI) used by most Linux systems is based on the X Window System.

User interface

Users can control a Linux-based system through a command line interface (or CLI), a graphical user interface (or GUI), or through controls attached to the associated hardware (this is common for embedded systems). For desktop systems, the default mode is usually graphical user interface (or GUI).

On desktop machines, KDE, GNOME and Xfce are the most popular user interfaces,^[32] though a variety of additional user interfaces exist. Most popular user interfaces run on top of the X Window System (or X), which provides network transparency, enabling a graphical application running on one machine to be displayed and controlled from another.

Other GUIs include X window managers such as FVWM, Enlightenment and Window Maker. The window manager provides a means to control the placement and appearance of individual application windows, and interacts with the X window system.

A Linux system typically provides a CLI of some sort through a shell, which is the traditional way of interacting with a Unix system. A Linux distribution specialized for servers may use the CLI as its only interface. A “headless system” run without even a monitor can be controlled by the command line via a remote-control protocol such as SSH or telnet.

Most low-level Linux components, including the GNU Userland, use the CLI exclusively. The CLI is particularly suited for automation of repetitive or delayed tasks, and provides very simple inter-process communication. A graphical terminal emulator program is often used to access the CLI from a Linux desktop.

Linux

2009-06-19T17:27:00.000-07:00

Linux (commonly pronounced /ˈlɪnəks/^[3]) is a generic term referring to Unix-like computer operating systems based on the Linux kernel. Their development is one of the most prominent examples of free and open source software collaboration; typically all the underlying source code can be used, freely modified, and redistributed by anyone under the terms of the GNU GPL^[4] and other free licenses.

Linux is predominantly known for its use in servers, although it is installed on a wide variety of computer hardware, ranging from embedded devices and mobile phones to supercomputers.^[5] Linux distributions, installed on both desktop and laptop computers, have become increasingly commonplace in recent years, owing largely to the popular Ubuntu distribution and to the emergence of netbooks.^[6]^[7]

The name "Linux" ( listen (help·info)) comes from the Linux kernel, originally written in 1991 by Linus Torvalds. The rest of the system usually comprises components such as the Apache HTTP Server, the X Window System, the K Desktop Environment, and utilities and libraries from the GNU operating system (announced in 1983 by Richard Stallman). Commonly-used applications with desktop Linux systems include the Mozilla Firefox web-browser and the OpenOffice.org office application suite. The GNU contribution is the basis for the Free Software Foundation's preferred name GNU/Linux.

What is Linux?

2009-06-19T16:50:00.000-07:00

Linux is an operating system that was initially created as a hobby by a young student, Linus Torvalds, at the University of Helsinki in Finland. Linus had an interest in Minix, a small UNIX system, and decided to develop a system that exceeded the Minix standards. He began his work in 1991 when he released version 0.02 and worked steadily until 1994 when version 1.0 of the Linux Kernel was released. The kernel, at the heart of all Linux systems, is developed and released under the GNU General Public License and its source code is freely available to everyone. It is this kernel that forms the base around which a Linux operating system is developed. There are now literally hundreds of companies and organizations and an equal number of individuals that have released their own versions of operating systems based on the Linux kernel. More information on the kernel can be found at our sister site, LinuxHQ and at the official Linux Kernel Archives. The current full-featured version is 2.6 (released December 2003) and development continues.

Apart from the fact that it's freely distributed, Linux's functionality, adaptability and robustness, has made it the main alternative for proprietary Unix and Microsoft operating systems. IBM, Hewlett-Packard and other giants of the computing world have embraced Linux and support its ongoing development. Well into its second decade of existence, Linux has been adopted worldwide primarily as a server platform. Its use as a home and office desktop operating system is also on the rise. The operating system can also be incorporated directly into microchips in a process called "embedding" and is increasingly being used this way in appliances and devices.

Throughout most of the 1990's, tech pundits, largely unaware of Linux's potential, dismissed it as a computer hobbyist project, unsuitable for the general public's computing needs. Through the efforts of developers of desktop management systems such as KDE and GNOME, office suite project OpenOffice.org and the Mozilla web browser project, to name only a few, there are now a wide range of applications that run on Linux and it can be used by anyone regardless of his/her knowledge of computers. Those curious to see the capabilities of Linux can download a live CD version called Knoppix . It comes with everything you might need to carry out day-to-day tasks on the computer and it needs no installation. It will run from a CD in a computer capable of booting from the CD drive. Those choosing to continue using Linux can find a variety of versions or "distributions" of Linux that are easy to install, configure and use. Information on these products is available in our distribution section and can be found by selecting the mainstream/general public category.

Additional Information

If you're interested in learning about Linux, need help with some aspect of its use or are enthusiastic about it and want to help foster its adoption, you may want to get in touch with a Linux User Group in your area. There are groups in practically every country, region and city in the world, so there is likely to be one near you.

Each day, Linux use is increasing in every sector of our society. We have information about Linux deployments in government, industry and the arts.

Linux has an official mascot, Tux, the Linux penguin, which was selected by Linus Torvalds to represent the image he associates with the operating system. Tux was created by Larry Ewing and Larry has generously given it to the community to be freely used to promote Linux. More information on use of the image can be found on his webpage. More links to variations on the image and alternative logos can be found on our logo page

Many people are not sure of the pronunciation of the word Linux. Although many variations of the word exist, often due to native language factors, it is normally pronounced with a short " i " and with the first syllable stressed, as in LIH-nucks. You can hear how Linux creator Linus Torvalds pronounces the word in Swedish and in English .

More information on Linus Torvalds, can be found on our short biography page.

If you're interested in the history of Linux, we have a timeline page that features important milestones in the development of the operating system.

ADM Production and fabrication

2009-06-18T21:06:00.000-07:00

AMD produces their own processors in wholly owned semiconductor Fabrication Plants, called "FABs". AMD uses a "FAB x" naming convention for their production facilities, where "x" is the number of years that have passed between the founding of AMD and the date the FAB opened.

At their Fabrication facilities, AMD utilizes a system called Automated Precision Manufacturing (APM). APM is a collection of manufacturing technologies AMD has developed over their history (many of which AMD holds patents for), which are designed to enhance the microprocessor production process, primarily in terms of yield. Much of APM is related to removing the "human equation" from the manufacturing process by isolating in-process wafers in containers that are only exposed to clean room facilities. AMD claims that the technologies that combine to make APM are unique to the industry and make it the foremost semiconductor manufacturer in the world—a claim which is lent some credence by their current agreement with Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing based in Singapore.

AMD currently has a production agreement with foundry Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing which allows Chartered access to AMD Automated Precision Manufacturing (APM) process technology, in exchange for which Chartered will act as extra production capacity for AMD.

Through the acquisition of ATI, AMD also has manufacturing agreements with TSMC to produce ATI's lines of graphics and chipset processors. It is currently unclear how much of ATI's manufacturing needs will be moved to AMD's own fabs and how much will remain outsourced to other foundry companies, but AMD has announced plans for future processors to be outsourced to TSMC, while coincidentally TSMC had announced it had received orders to fabricate x86 processors.

AMD's main microprocessor manufacturing and design facilities are located in Dresden, Germany. Additionally, highly integrated microprocessors are manufactured in Taiwan made by third-party manufacturers under strict license from AMD. Between 2003 and 2005, they constructed a second manufacturing plant (300 mm 90 nm process SOI) in the same complex in order to increase the number of chips they can produce, thus becoming more competitive with Intel. The new plant has been named "Fab 36", in recognition of AMD's 36 years of operation, and reached full production in mid-2007. AMD recently announced that they have just completed the conversion of Fab 36 from 90 nm to 65 nm and have now shifted their focus to the 45 nm conversion.^[32]

AMD has planned expansions in their production capacity. In addition to the completion of Fab 36 in Dresden, AMD is planning to upgrade Fab 30 (adjacent to Fab 36) in Dresden from 200 mm 90 nm process SOI to a 300 mm 65 nm process SOI facility and rename it Fab 38. Originally, Fab 30 was supposed to begin 65 nm production in late 2007 but AMD recently announced they would slow down the upgrade to reduce capital expenditures.^[33] Because of US$5 billion in long-term debt, during summer of 2008 AMD has tried and failed to sell both Dresden plants for which there has not been buyers.^[34]

Packaging and testing facilities for its microprocessor products are located in Singapore, Malaysia and China.

Furthermore, AMD announced plans to open a new $3.2 billion facility at the Luther Forest Technology Campus across the towns of Malta and Stillwater in Saratoga County, New York. This new Fab 4x will likely produce 300 mm 32 nm process SOI production, with construction taking place from 2009 to 2010. Some speculation exists as to whether this facility will use high-K/metal gate technology that AMD obtained from IBM.^[35]

In June 2006, Chartered Semiconductor began shipments of manufactured AMD microprocessors, many of which are shipped from Singapore to Taiwanese and Chinese OEM/ODM manufacturing companies that build computers for companies like Lenovo and Dell.^[36]

AMD maintains major design facilities in Fort Collins, CO, Sunnyvale, CA, Austin, TX, Boxborough, MA and Bangalore, India. With the acquisition of ATI Technologies, the company gained ownership over major design facilities in Markham, ON and Santa Clara, CA.

ADM Other platforms and technologies

2009-06-18T21:01:00.000-07:00

AMD chipsets

Before the launch of Athlon 64 processors in 2003, AMD designed chipsets for their processors spanning the K6 and K7 processor generations. The chipsets include the AMD-640, AMD-751 and the AMD-761 chipsets. The situation changed in 2003 with the release of Athlon 64 processors, and AMD chose not to further design its own chipsets for its desktop processors while opening the desktop platform to allow other firms to design chipsets. This is the "Open Platform ATI, VIA and SiS developing their own chipset for Athlon 64 processors and later Athlon 64 X2 and Athlon 64 FX processors, including the Quad FX platform chipset from Nvidia.

The initiative went further with the release of Opteron server processors as AMD stopped the design of server chipsets in 2004 after releasing the AMD-8111 chipset, and again opened the server platform for firms to develop chipsets for Opteron processors. As of today, Nvidia and Broadcom are the sole designing firms of server chipsets for Opteron processors.

As the company completed the acquisition of ATI Technologies in 2006, the firm gained the ATI design team for chipsets which previously designed the Radeon Xpress 200 and the Radeon Xpress 3200 chipsets. AMD then renamed the chipsets for AMD processors under AMD branding (for instance, the CrossFire Xpress 3200 chipset was renamed as AMD 580X CrossFire chipset). In February 2007, AMD announced the first AMD-branded chipset since 2004 with the release of the AMD 690G chipset (previously under the development codename RS690), targeted at mainstream IGP computing. It was the industry's first to implement a HDMI 1.2 port on motherboards, shipping for more than a million units. While ATI had aimed at releasing an Intel IGP chipset, the plan was scrapped and the inventories of Radeon Xpress 1250 (codenamed RS600, sold under ATI brand) was sold to two OEMs, Abit and AsRock. Although AMD states the firm will still produce Intel chipsets, Intel had not granted the license of 1333 MHz FSB to ATI. Considering the rivalry between AMD and Intel, AMD is less likely to release more Intel chipset designs in the foreseeable future.

On November 15, 2007, AMD has announced a new chipset series portfolio, the AMD 7-Series chipsets, covering from enthusiast multi-graphics segment to value IGP segment, to replace the AMD 480/570/580 chipsets and AMD 690 series chipsets, marking AMD's first enthusiast multi-graphics chipset. Discrete graphics chipsets were launched on November 15, 2007 as part of the codenamed Spider desktop platform, and IGP chipsets were launched at a later time in Spring 2008 as part of the codenamed Cartwheel platform.

AMD will also return to the server chipsets market with the next-generation AMD 800S series server chipsets, scheduled to be released in 2009 timeframe.

AMD Live!

AMD LIVE! is a platform marketing initiative focusing the consumer electronics segment, with a recently announced Active TV initiative for streaming Internet videos from web video services such as YouTube, into AMD Live! PC as well as connected digital TVs, together with a scheme for an ecosystem of certified peripherals for the ease of customers to identify peripherals for AMD Live! systems for digital home experience, called "AMD Live! Ready".^[15]

AMD Quad FX platform

The AMD Quad FX platform, being an extreme enthusiast platform, allows two processors to connect through HyperTransport, which is a similar setup to dual-processor (2P) servers, excluding the use of buffered memory/registered memory DIMM modules, and a server motherboard, the current setup includes two Athlon 64 FX FX-70 series processors and a special motherboard. AMD pushed the platform for the surging demands for what AMD calls "megatasking" for true enthusiasts,^[16] the ability to do more tasks on one single system. The platform refreshes with the introduction of Phenom FX processors and the next-generation RD790 chipset, codenamed "FASN8".

Commercial platform

The first AMD server/workstation platform after ATI acquisition is scheduled to be released on 2009 timeframe. Codenamed Fiorano, AMD's first multi-processor server platform after ATI acquisition consists of AMD SR5690 + SP5100 server chipsets, supporting 45 nm, codenamed Shanghai Socket F+ processors and registered DDR2 memory. Future update include the Maranello platform supporting 45 nm, codenamed Istanbul, Socket G34 processors with DDR3 memory. On single-processor platform, the codenamed Catalunya platform consists of codenamed Suzuka 45 nm quad-core processor with AMD SR5580 + SP5100 chipset and DDR3 support.^[17]

AMD's x86 virtualization extension to the 64-bit x86 architecture is named AMD Virtualization, also known by the abbreviation AMD-V, and is sometimes referred to by the code name "Pacifica". AMD processors using Socket AM2, Socket S1, and Socket F include AMD Virtualization support. AMD Virtualization is also supported by release two (8200, 2200 and 1200 series) of the Opteron processors. The third generation (8300 and 2300 series) of Opteron processors will see an update in virtualization technology, specifically the Rapid Virtualization Indexing (also known by the development name Nested Page Tables), alongside the Tagged TLB and Device Exclusion Vector (DEV).

AMD also promotes the "AMD I/O Virtualization Technology" (also known as IOMMU) for I/O virtualization.^[18] The AMD IOMMU specification has been updated to version 1.2.^[19] The specification describes the use of a HyperTransport architecture.

AMD's commercial initiatives include the following:

AMD Trinity, provides support for virtualization, security and management. Key features include AMD-V technology, codenamed Presidio trusted computing platform technology, I/O Virtualization and Open Management Partition.^[20]
AMD Raiden, future clients similar to the Jack PC^[21] to be connected through network to a blade server for central management, to reduce client form factor sizes with AMD Trinity features.
Torrenza, coprocessors support through interconnects such as HyperTransport as PCI Express (though more focus was at HyperTransport enabled coprocessors), also opening processor socket architecture to other manufacturers, Sun and IBM are among the supporting consortium, with rumoured POWER7 processors would be socket-compatible to future Opteron processors. The move made rival Intel responded with the open of Front Side Bus (FSB) architecture as well as Geneseo,^[22] a collaboration project with IBM for coprocessors connected through PCI Express. Note that AMD positioned Torrenza for commercial segment, whilst Intel positioned Geneseo for all segments including consumer desktop segments^{[citation needed]}.
Various certified systems programs and platforms: AMD Commercial Stable Image Platform (CSIP), together with AMD Validated Server program, AMD True Server Solutions, AMD Thermally Tested Barebones Platforms and AMD Validated Server Program, providing certified systems for business from AMD.

Desktop platforms

Starting in 2007, AMD, following Intel, began using codenames for its desktop platforms such as Spider. The platforms, unlike Intel's approach, will refresh every year, putting focus on platform specialization. The platform includes components as AMD processors, chipsets, ATI graphics and other features, but continued to the open platform approach, and welcome components from other vendors such as VIA, SiS, and Nvidia, as well as wireless product vendors.

Updates to the platform includes the implemtation of IOMMU I/O Virtualization with 45 nm generation of processors, and the AMD 800 chipset series in 2009.^[23]

Embedded systems

In February 2002, AMD acquired Alchemy Semiconductor and continued its line of processor in MIPS architecture processors, targets the hand-held and Portable media player markets. On June 13, 2006, AMD officially announced that the Alchemy processor line was transferred to Raza Microelectronics Inc.^[24]

In August 2003, AMD also purchased the Geode business which was originally the Cyrix MediaGX from National Semiconductor to augment its existing line of embedded x86 processor products. During the second quarter of 2004, it launched new low-power Geode NX processors based on the K7 Thoroughbred architecture with speeds of fanless processors 667 MHz and 1 GHz, and 1.4 GHz processor with fan, of TDP 25 W. This technology is used in a variety of embedded systems (Casino slot machines and customer kiosks for instance), several UMPC designs in Asia markets, as well as the OLPC XO-1 computer, an inexpensive laptop computer intended to be distributed to children in developing countries around the world.

For the past couple of years AMD has been introducing 64-bit processors into its embedded product line starting with the AMD Opteron processor. Leveraging the high throughput enabled through HyperTransport and the Direct Connect Architecture these server class processors have been targeted at high end telecom and storage applications. In 2006 AMD added the AMD Athlon, AMD Turion and Mobile AMD Sempron processors to its embedded product line. Leveraging the same 64-bit instruction set and Direct Connect Architecture as the AMD Opteron but at lower power levels, these processors were well suited to a variety of traditional embedded applications. Throughout 2007 and into 2008 AMD has continued to add both single-core Mobile AMD Sempron and AMD Athlon processors and dual-core AMD Athlon X2 and AMD Turion processors to its embedded product line and now offers embedded 64-bit solutions starting with 8W TDP Mobile AMD Sempron and AMD Athlon processors for fan-less designs up to multi-processor systems leveraging multi-core AMD Opteron processors all supporting longer than standard availability.

In April 2007, AMD announced the release of the M690T integrated graphics chipset for embedded designs. This enabled AMD to offer complete processor and chipset solutions targeted at embedded applications requiring high performance 3D and video such as emerging digital signage, kiosk and Point of Sale applications. The M690T was followed by the M690E specifically for embedded applications which removed the TV output, which required Macrovision licensing for OEMs, and enabled native support for dual TMDS outputs, enabling dual independent DVI interfaces.

Flash technology

While less visible to the general public than its CPU business, AMD is also a global leader in flash memory. In 1993, AMD established a 50-50 partnership with Fujitsu called FASL, and merged into a new company called FASL LLC in 2003. The joint venture firm went public under ticker symbol SPSN in December 2005, with AMD shares drop to 37%.

AMD no longer directly participates in the Flash memory devices market now as AMD entered into a non-competition agreement, as of December 21, 2005, with Fujitsu and Spansion, pursuant to which it agreed not to directly or indirectly engage in a business that manufactures or supplies standalone semiconductor devices (including single chip, multiple chip or system devices) containing only Flash memory.^[25]

Mobile platforms

MD started a platform in 2003 aimed at mobile computing, but, with fewer advertisements and promotional schemes, very little was known about the platform. The platform used mobile Athlon 64 or mobile Sempron processors.

As part of the "Better by design" initiative, the open mobile platform, announced February 2007 with announcement of general availability in May 2007, comes together with 65 nm fabrication process Turion 64 X2, and consists of three major components: an AMD processor, graphics from either Nvidia or ATI Technologies which also includes integrated graphics (IGP), and wireless connectivity solutions from Atheros, Broadcom, Marvell, Qualcomm or Realtek.

The Puma platform and Turion Ultra processor was released on June 4, 2008. In the future, AMD plans quad-core processors with 3D graphics capabilities (Fusion) to be launched in 2009 as the Eagle platform.

Other initiatives

50x15, digital inclusion, with targeted 50% of world population to be connected through Internet via affordable computers by the year of 2015.
The Green Grid,^[26] founded by AMD together with other founders, such as IBM, Sun and Microsoft, to seek lower power consumption for grids. Intel was notably absent from the consortium when it was founded, and finally joined in early 2007.^[27]
Codenamed SIMFIRE interoperability testing tool for the Desktop and mobile Architecture for System Hardware (DASH) open architecture.

Software

Extensions for software parallelism (xSP), aimed at speeding up programs to enable multi-threaded and multi-core processing, announced in Technology Analyst Day 2007. One of the initiatives being discussed since August 2007 is the Light Weight Profiling (LWP), providing internal hardware monitor with runtimes, to observe information about executing process and help the re-design of software to be optimized with multi-core and even multi-threaded programs. Another one is the extension of Streaming SIMD Extension (SSE) instruction set, the SSE5.

AMD contributes to open source projects, including working with Sun Microsystems to enhance OpenSolaris and Sun xVM on the AMD platform.^[28] AMD also maintains its own Open64 compiler distribution and contributes its changes back to the community.^[29]

In 2008, AMD released the low-level programming specifications for its GPUs, and works with the X.Org Foundation to develop drivers for AMD graphics cards.^[30]^[31]

Other AMD opensource projects include the AMD Performance Library and the AMD Core Math Library.

Technologies from ATI

After the takeover of ATI, AMD restructured some of the product lineups from both companies. Some products were being rebranded under the AMD brand, including the Imageon for mobile phones and handheld devices, the Xilleon for consumer electronics (digital TV sets), ATI Xpress chipsets (to AMD chipsets) for AMD processors platform and GPGPU computing line-up FireStream, previously known as AMD Stream Processor. Some others retained the use of ATI branding, including the Radeon line of graphics, and chipsets for Intel processors.

AMD Processor market history

2009-06-18T20:57:00.000-07:00

IBM PC and the x86 architecture

In February 1982, AMD signed a contract with Intel, becoming a licensed second-source manufacturer of 8086 and 8088 processors. IBM wanted to use the Intel 8088 in its IBM PC, but IBM's policy at the time was to require at least two sources for its chips. AMD later produced the Am286 under the same arrangement, but Intel canceled the agreement in 1986 and refused to convey technical details of the i386 part. AMD challenged Intel's decision to cancel the agreement and won in arbitration, but Intel disputed this decision. A long legal dispute followed, ending in 1994 when the Supreme Court of California sided with AMD. Subsequent legal disputes centered on whether AMD had legal rights to use derivatives of Intel's microcode. In the face of uncertainty, AMD was forced to develop "clean room" versions of Intel code.

In 1991, AMD released the Am386, its clone of the Intel 386 processor. It took less than a year for the company to sell a million units. Later, the Am486 was used by a number of large original equipment manufacturers, including Compaq, and proved popular. Another Am486-based product, the Am5x86, continued AMD's success as a low-price alternative. However, as product cycles shortened in the PC industry, the process of reverse engineering Intel's products became an ever less viable strategy for AMD.

K5, K6 and Athlon

AMD's first in-house x86 processor was the K5 which was launched in 1996.^[6] The "K" was a reference to "Kryptonite", which from comic book lore, was the only substance (radioactive pieces of his home planet) which could harm Superman, a clear reference to Intel, which dominated in the market at the time, as "Superman".^[7]

In 1996, AMD purchased NexGen specifically for the rights to their Nx series of x86-compatible processors. AMD gave the NexGen design team their own building, left them alone, and gave them time and money to rework the Nx686. The result was the K6 processor, introduced in 1997.

The K7 was AMD's seventh generation x86 processor, making its debut on June 23, 1999, under the brand name Athlon. On October 9, 2001 the Athlon XP was released, followed by the Athlon XP with 512KB L2 Cache on February 10, 2003.^[8]

Athlon 64, Opteron and Phenom

The K8 was a major revision of the K7 architecture, with the most notable features being the addition of a 64-bit extension to the x86 instruction set (officially called AMD64), the incorporation of an on-chip memory controller, and the implementation of an extremely high performance point-to-point interconnect called HyperTransport, as part of the Direct Connect Architecture. The technology was initially launched as the Opteron server-oriented processor.^[9] Shortly thereafter it was incorporated into a product for desktop PCs, branded Athlon 64.^[10]

AMD released the first dual core Opteron, an x86-based server CPU, on April 21, 2005.^[11] The first desktop-based dual core processor family—the Athlon 64 X2—came a month later.^[12] In early May 2007, AMD had abandoned the string "64" in its dual-core desktop product branding, becoming Athlon X2, downplaying the significance of 64-bit computing in its processors while upcoming updates involved some of the improvements to the microarchitecture, and a shift of target market from mainstream desktop systems to value dual-core desktop systems. AMD has also started to release dual-core Sempron processors in early 2008 exclusively in China, branded as Sempron 2000 series, with lower HyperTransport speed and smaller L2 cache, thus the firm completes its dual-core product portfolio for each market segment.

The latest AMD microprocessor architecture, known as K10, became the successor to the K8 microarchitecture. The first processors released on this architecture were introduced on September 10, 2007 consisting of nine quad-core Third Generation Opteron processors. This was followed by the Phenom processor for desktop. K10 processors will come in dual, triple-core,^[13] and quad-core versions with all cores on one single die.

Fusion

After the merger between AMD and ATI, an initiative codenamed Fusion was announced that merges a CPU and GPU on one chip, including a minimum 16 lane PCI Express link to accommodate external PCI Express peripherals, thereby eliminating the requirement of a northbridge chip completely from the motherboard. AMD will move to a modular design methodology named "M-SPACE", where two new processor cores, codenamed "Bulldozer" and "Bobcat" will be released in the 2009 timeframe.

While very little preliminary information exists even in AMD's Technology Analyst Day 2007, both cores are to be built from the ground up. The Bulldozer core focused on 10 watt to 100 watt products, with optimizations for performance-per-watt ratios and HPC applications and includes newly announced XOP, FMA4 and CVT16 instructions,^[14] while the Bobcat core will focus on 1 watt to 10 watt products, given that the core is a simplified x86 core to reduce power draw. Both of the cores will be able to incorporate full DirectX compatible GPU core(s) under the Fusion label, or as standalone products as a general purpose CPU.

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)

2009-06-18T20:40:00.000-07:00

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) (NYSE: AMD) is an American multinational semiconductor company based in Sunnyvale, California, that develops computer processors and related technologies for commercial and consumer markets. Its main products include microprocessors, motherboard chipsets, embedded processors and graphics processors for servers, workstations and personal computers, and processor technologies for handheld devices, digital television, automobiles, game consoles, and other embedded systems applications. AMD is the second-largest global supplier of microprocessors based on the x86 architecture after Intel Corporation, and the third-largest supplier of graphics processing units, behind Intel and Nvidia. It also owns 21 percent of Spansion, a supplier of non-volatile flash memory. In 2007, AMD ranked eleventh among semiconductor manufacturers in terms of revenue

AMD Corporate history

2009-06-18T20:26:00.000-07:00

Advanced Micro Devices was founded on May 1, 1969, by a group of former executives from Fairchild Semiconductor, including Jerry Sanders III, Ed Turney, John Carey, Sven Simonsen, Jack Gifford and three members from Gifford's team, Frank Botte, Jim Giles, and Larry Stenger. The company began as a producer of logic chips, then entered the RAM chip business in 1975. That same year, it introduced a reverse-engineered clone of the Intel 8080 microprocessor. During this period, AMD also designed and produced a series of bit-slice processor elements (Am2900, Am29116, Am293xx) which were used in various minicomputer designs.

During this time, AMD attempted to embrace the perceived shift towards RISC with their own AMD 29K processor, and they attempted to diversify into graphics and audio devices as well as EPROM memory. It had some success in the mid-1980s with the AMD7910 and AMD7911 "World Chip" FSK modem, one of the first multistandard devices that covered both Bell and CCITT tones at up to 1200 baud half duplex or 300/300 full duplex. While the AMD 29K survived as an embedded processor and AMD spinoff Spansion continues to make industry leading flash memory, AMD was not as successful with its other endeavors. AMD decided to switch gears and concentrate solely on Intel-compatible microprocessors and flash memory. This put them in direct competition with Intel for x86 compatible processors and their flash memory secondary markets.

AMD announced a merger with ATI Technologies on July 24, 2006. AMD paid $4.3 billion in cash and 58 million shares of its stock for a total of US$5.4 billion. The merger completed on October 25, 2006^[3] and ATI is now part of AMD.

It was reported in December 2006 that AMD, along with its main rival in the graphics industry Nvidia, received subpoenas from the Justice Department regarding possible antitrust violations in the graphics card industry, including the act of fixing prices.^[4]

In October 2008, AMD stated that it is going to spin off their manufacturing operations in the form of a multibillion-dollar joint venture with Advanced Technology Investment Co., an investment company formed by the government of Abu Dhabi. The new venture is called GlobalFoundries Inc.. This will allow AMD to focus solely on chip design.

Intel Hands over Moblin to Linux Foundation

2009-06-18T20:14:00.000-07:00

Moblin stands for Mobile Linux, an open source project to develop Linux-based platforms optimized for such devices as netbooks, mobile phones and auto infotainment systems. Intel initiated the project two years ago and is now transferring responsibility to the Linux Foundation. The mobile platform certainly found a perfect match in Intel's processor technology, but had trouble being adopted by many projects and embedded providers, such as Montavista and the LiMo Foundation.

Rammohan Peddibhotla, Open Source Business Director at Intel, described the hosting transfer decision of the project to Linux Magazine Online: "Intel believes that a vendor neutral third-party host, such as the Linux Foundation, will prime Moblin to become the most advanced and open mobile Linux platform. Intel believes that open source projects need to be owned and fostered by the community." Also hoped for is a growth in participating developers. Peddibhotla: "Development of Moblin will continue to be managed as always by the established norms of other open source projects wherein contributions are included based on the technical merit regardless of the origin of the contribution."

The strategic advantage that the free platform has for Intel shows in the list of Linux developers already participating in the project, among them Alan Cox and the former technical head of SUSE, Dirk Hohndel. Peddibhotla feels that this should continue to be the case.

End of January Intel demonstrated Moblin2 with an especially eye-catching netbook startup time. In February Intel then added LG to its partners and founded a development center in Taiwan together with government and industry to accelerate growth opportunities for mobile device makers. Yet another alliance could give the mobile platform additional stimulus: together with BMW, Peugeot, GM, embedded provider Wind River and others, Intel at last month's CeBIT Open Source conference announced the GENEVI infotainment alliance. The next few months should start showing some results in that regard that are at least partly based on Moblin.

Intel Buys Embedded Specialist Wind River

2009-06-18T20:08:00.000-07:00

Intel is taking over 100% of the Wind River stock, which at $11.50 per share comes to $884 million. The California software company will bring its knowledge of embedded and mobile systems under Intel's aegis. Taking over as its new chief is Renee James, vice president and general manager of Intel's Software and Services Group, according to Intel's press release.

Embedded systems and mobile devices are by Intel's account one of their largest growth factors. The market sector includes mobile Internet devices (MIDs), smart phones, and infotainment devices for the auto industry. These devices have been a hotspot for Intel over the last few years, notably through its past ownership of Moblin and its participation with BMW in the Genivi project. Wind River was also working with some customers on adapting Android, such as for Qualcomm's Snapdragon platform.

Intel® Core™2 Quad Processors

2009-06-18T20:03:00.000-07:00

Introducing the Intel® Core™2 Quad processor for desktop PCs, designed to handle massive compute and visualization workloads enabled by powerful multi-core technology. Providing all the bandwidth you need for next-generation highly-threaded applications, the latest four-core Intel Core 2 Quad processors are built on 45nm Intel® Core™ microarchitecture enabling faster, cooler, and quieter desktop PC and workstation experiences.

Plus, with optional Intel® vPro™ technology, you have the ability to remotely isolate, diagnose, and repair infected desktop and mobile workstations wirelessly and outside of the firewall, even if the PC is off, or the OS is unresponsive

Intel Plans for an Embedded Future

2009-06-18T19:47:00.000-07:00

Intel’s embedded roadmap is increasingly being accepted in vertical markets where better performance, lower power, and reduced heat are becoming more critical considerations. That roadmap also is encountering competition in a variety of markets in which Intel has never been a force—as well as in places where companies that previously weren’t considered competitors are looking to expand. Most industry observers expect fireworks over the next several years as all of these companies pursue a collision course.

Over the last few years, Intel has been pushing heavily into the embedded market as part of its long-term growth strategy. Unlike some of its previous attempts to expand its market beyond PCs, which included everything from videoconferencing to communications servers, the embedded market is viewed as a logical extension of its core market. That opens the door for Intel to get involved in everything from consumer devices with its new Intel® Atom™ processor to rugged industrial and military applications.

One of the better-known markets in which the processor giant has seen early success is the Advanced Telecom Computing Architecture (ATCA), which is the carrier-grade equipment market, as well as its scaleddown offshoot, MicroTCA. Both have been hot markets for Intel’s newest chips—in part because the markets themselves are relatively new and because Intel has greatly boosted its commitment to developing technology in this space. That was a big first win for Intel’s chip lineup. But the newest chips are finding their way into a host of other markets as well. Those new opportunities include a variety of industrial applications ranging from medical imaging to the industrial control of everything from trains to tanks.

The newest dual-core, 2.53-GHz Intel® Core™2 duo processor, which is built at the 45-nm process node, is opening even more doors. “As compared to the previous generation, the newest chips are much better,” says David Pursley, field applications engineer at Kontron. “A 65-nm Intel Core 2 Duo processor at 1.6 GHz versus a 45-nm chip at 2.53 GHz is a big difference. Because of the process shrink, we’ve got a lower overall power envelope and better thermals.”

By way of a real-world example, consider the migration of medical-imaging technology. It started out a decade ago in a selfcontained selfcontained room in some hospitals. This technology took up so much space that many hospitals couldn’t add it even if they could afford it. According to Pursley, medical-imaging technology has since shrunk to the point where it can be used in medical-imaging outpatient offices. In addition, the technology is about to go mobile in hospitals. It will be wheeled around on carts so that the imaging can be done at the bedside instead of in a separate room.

In that type of application, heat and a rugged shell are very important. But performance is even more critical. A mobile imaging device is like a single-board supercomputer, which has to run an enormous number of parallel calculations to arrive at a cohesive image.

Intel’s roadmap runs as broad as it does deep. The new Intel Atom processor, for example, is based on the x86 Intel® architecture. The chipmaker is positioning it—among other things—as a replacement for microcontrollers. After all, it’s easier to develop software for the x86 architecture. But the other three pieces of its embedded lineup—Network processors, PXA2XX processors, and the I/O processors—cut a wide swath across the embedded space. They also utilize standard ARM development tools. As a result, developers in this space won’t have to retool their skills to work with Intel’s offerings.

Obviously, Intel will have serious competition in this market. The reason that the company has included ARM-developmenttool compatibility is significant. ARM is the incumbent in the embedded-processor market. In addition, ARM’s customer base is enormous and varied. But Intel’s push into markets dominated by ARM—and, to a lesser extent, MIPS—signals just how important the embedded market has become.

ARM is pushing back as well. The company has been running a campaign showing that in real-world settings, its processor cores are performing better than Intel’s. At the Common Platform conference in Santa Clara, Calif., ARM president Tudor Brown compared his company’s Cortex-A8 and the forthcoming A-9 versus the Intel Atom processorin terms of power consumption and area. He argued that ARM’s chip consumes 25% of the power in 25% of the ARM is pushing back as well. The company has been running a campaign showing that in real-world settings, its processor cores are performing better than Intel’s. At the Common Platform conference in Santa Clara, Calif., ARM president Tudor Brown compared his company’s Cortex-A8 and the forthcoming A-9 versus the Intel Atom processorin terms of power consumption and area. He argued that ARM’s chip consumes 25% of the power in 25% of the

In this war of words, being right may depend upon the individual application, the applications that are being used, and familiarity with the development platform. A single-core processor, for example, can perform better than a lower-clock-speed multicore processor if the application cannot take advantage of all of the cores. If a lower-power chip is needed, however, performance may sometimes be less essential than some of the energy-saving techniques employed in the chip.

“What’s happening here is the PC architecture is moving into the mobile market and ARM is moving into what I would call the larger mobile market,” states Dean Freeman, an analyst at Gartner. “There will be a collision as they hit common ground. ARM has been doing mobile for some time and they’re expanding. Intel is coming from the PC space and now they’re moving in.”

The collision of the two companies and their architectures mirrors the convergence that’s occurring in the consumer and business markets. There, the PC is the one tool that’s connected to more portable devices when users need more mobility. An example is when a user is commuting to work or traveling, but doesn’t want to lug along his or her notebook computer.

Intel also faces an uphill battle if it plans to displace some of the microcontrollers. While the ability to program an x86 processor is simpler than programming a microcontroller, not all applications require that kind of upgradeability. Justin Rattner, Intel’s CTO, explains that automotive companies in particular want to see that kind of programmability to be able to add new features as they become available. But automobile manufacturers often have multiyear design cycles, which make that kind of upgradeability more attractive there than it is in other markets. In the case of the Intel Atom processor replacing microcontrollers in things like motor control, the jury may be out for several years.

Intel Features and benefits

2009-06-18T19:44:00.000-07:00

1333/1066/800 MHz system bus	Supports the Intel® Core™2 Duo and Intel® Core™2 Quad processors with Intel® Virtualization Technology◊¹, and Intel® Celeron® processor.
PCI Express* 2.0 interface	The PCI Express 2.0 provides 16 GB/s bandwidth for add-in graphics cards.
Intel® Fast Memory Access	Updated Graphics Memory Controller Hub (GMCH) backbone architecture that improves system performance by optimizing the use of available memory bandwidth and reducing the latency of the memory accesses.
Dual-channel DDR2 memory support	Delivers up to 12.8 GB/s (DDR2 800 dual 6.4 GB/s) of bandwidth and 16 GB maximum supported memory size for faster system responsiveness and support of 64-bit computing.
Dual-channel DDR3 memory support	Delivers up to 17 GB/s (DDR3 1066 dual 8.5 GB/s) of bandwidth and 8 GB maximum supported memory size for faster system responsiveness and support of 64-bit computing.
Intel® Flex Memory Technology	Facilitates easier upgrades by allowing different memory sizes to be populated and remain in dual-channel mode.
Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator X4500	Built-in graphics engine delivers an excellent blend of graphics performance and features to meet business users needs. Intel GMA 4500 delivers Microsoft DirectX* 10 and Shader Model 4.0, enabling support for the highest levels of the Windows Vista experience.
Support for DisplayPort* and DVI interfaces	Support for the DisplayPort interface with up to 2560 x 1600 resolution, and the Digital Video Interface (DVI) with up to 2048 x 1536 resolution.
Intel® High Definition Audio◊²	Integrated audio support enables premium digital surround sound and delivers advanced features such as multiple audio streams and jack re-tasking.
Intel® Matrix Storage Technology◊³	With additional hard drives added, provides quicker access to applications and data files with RAID 0 and 10, and greater data protection against a hard disk drive failure with RAID 1, 5, and 10. Support for external SATA (eSATA) enables the full SATA interface speed outside the chassis, up to 3 Gb/s.
Intel® Rapid Recover Technology	Intel’s latest data protection technology provides a recovery point that can be used to quickly recover a system should a hard drive fail or if there is data corruption. The clone can also be mounted as a read-only volume to allow a user to recover individual files
Serial ATA (SATA) 3 Gb/s	High-speed storage interface supports faster transfer rate for improved data access with up to 6 SATA ports.
eSATA	SATA interface designed for use with external SATA devices. It provides a link for 3 Gb/s data speeds to eliminate bottlenecks found with current external storage solutions.
SATA port disable	Enables individual SATA ports to be enabled or disabled as needed. This feature provides added protection of data by preventing malicious removal or insertion of data through SATA ports. Especially targeted for eSATA ports.
USB port disable	Enables individual USB ports to be enabled or disabled as needed. This feature provides added protection of data by preventing malicious removal or insertion of data through USB ports.
Intel® Quiet System Technology	Intelligent system fan speed control algorithms use operating temperature ranges more efficiently to reduce system noise by minimizing fan speed changes.
Intel® Core™2 Processor with vPro Technology	Provides security, manageability, and energy efficient performance built into the chip.
Intel® Trusted Platform Module 1.2	Intel® Trusted Platform Module 1.2 provides BOM savings by integrating the industry standard TPM 1.2 into the chipset.

Intel Product information

2009-06-18T19:40:00.000-07:00

Intel® Q45 Express Chipset

2009-06-18T19:35:00.001-07:00

The Intel® Q45 Express Chipset, when combined with the Intel® Core™2 processor family, delivers innovative capabilities and energy-efficient performance for business platforms. Delivering industry-leading advancements in both security and manageability, this chipset is designed to support Intel® Core™2 processor with vPro™ technology.

The new technologies featured in the Intel Q45 Express chipset are an Intel® Trusted Platform Module (Intel® TPM) and enhancements to Intel® Active Management Technology release 5.0 which include: Remote Alerts, secured access in Microsoft* NAP* environments, Access Monitor, Fast Call for Help, and Remote Scheduled Maintenance.

Intel, TSMC Reach Agreement to Collaborate on Technology Platform, IP Infrastructure, SoC Solutions

2009-06-18T19:26:00.000-07:00

Santa Clara, CA & Hsin-chu, Taiwan, March 2, 2009 -- Intel Corporation and TSMC today announced a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to collaborate on addressing technology platform, intellectual property (IP) infrastructure, and System-on-Chip (SoC) solutions. Under the MOU, Intel would port its Atom processor CPU cores to the TSMC technology platform including processes, IP, libraries, and design flows. The collaboration is intended to expand Intel’s Atom SoCs availability for Intel customers for a wider range of applications through integration with TSMC’s diverse IP infrastructure.
This MOU is an important step in a long-term strategic technology cooperation between Intel and TSMC. With this joint effort, Intel intends to significantly broaden the market opportunities for its Intel Atom SoCs and accelerate deployment of the architecture through multiple SoC implementations. At the same time, TSMC extends its technology platform to serve the Intel Architecture market segments.
"We believe this effort will make it easier for customers with significant design expertise to take advantage of benefits of the Intel Architecture in a manner that allows them to customize the implementation precisely to their needs," said Paul Otellini, Intel president and CEO. "The combination of the compelling benefits of our Atom processor combined with the experience and technology of TSMC is another step in our long-term strategic relationship."
"TSMC values our strategic relationship with Intel. This MOU brings together the Intel Architecture and the TSMC technology platform. We expect this collaboration will help proliferate the Atom processor SoC and foster overall semiconductor growth," said Dr. Rick Tsai, president and CEO of TSMC. "With this agreement, our technology platform extends beyond the two companies’ current collaboration to support future Intel embedded x86 products."
The Intel Atom processor features 47 million transistors and is Intel’s smallest processor. Products manufactured through the agreement may find adoption in embedded CPU market segments such as mobile internet Devices (MIDs), smart-phones, netbooks, nettops, and AC-powered consumer electronics device. The processor is designed to bring the whole Internet and the benefits of computing to an emerging class of consumer-friendly devices.
About Intel
Intel (NASDAQ: INTC), the world leader in silicon innovation, develops technologies, products and initiatives to continually advance how people work and live. Additional information about Intel is available at www.intel.com/pressroom and blogs.intel.com.
About TSMC
TSMC is the world’s largest dedicated semiconductor foundry, providing the industry�s leading process technology and the foundry’s largest portfolio of process-proven libraries, IP, design tools and reference flows. The Company’s total managed capacity in 2008 exceeded 9 million (8-inch equivalent) wafers, including capacity from two advanced 12-inch - GIGAFABs™, four eight-inch fabs, one six-inch fab, as well as TSMC’s wholly owned subsidiaries, WaferTech and TSMC (China), and its joint venture fab, SSMC. TSMC is the first foundry to provide 40nm production capabilities. Its corporate headquarters are in Hsinchu, Taiwan. For more information about TSMC

Desktop Processors

2009-06-18T18:56:00.000-07:00

The Intel® Core™2 processor family delivers unrivaled performance and breakthrough energy efficiency. The Intel® Core™2 processor family are Intel's newest processors, built using 45nm technology with hafnium-infused circuitry which improves performance even further.¹ Just imagine the possibilities.


Featured product

Intel® Core™ i7-965 processor Extreme Edition

The highest performing desktop processor on the planet.¹ Shatter the limits of desktop computing with the intelligent performance of the Intel® Core™ i7-965 processor Extreme Edition, the smartest way to blast through highly-threaded games and applications.

Intel® Core™ i7 processor Extreme Edition

Conquer the world of extreme gaming with the fastest processor on the planet: the Intel® Core™ i7 processor Extreme Edition.¹ With faster, intelligent multi-core technology that responds to your workload, it delivers an incredible breakthrough in gaming performance.

Intel® Core™ i7 processor

With faster, intelligent multi-core technology that automatically applies processing power where it's needed most, new Intel® Core™ i7 processors deliver an incredible breakthrough in PC performance. They're the best desktop processors on the planet.¹

		Intel® Core™2 Extreme processor For extreme computing. Enjoy revolutionary levels of performance enabling vivid, high-definition experiences and multi-tasking responsiveness from state-of-the-art Intel dual-core and quad-core technologies.
		Intel® Core™2 Quad processor Multimedia enthusiasts, prepare to enthuse. Bring quad-core performance to your desktop with the Intel® Core™2 Quad processor. It's the ideal engine for highly threaded entertainment applications and highly productive multitasking.
		Intel® Core™2 Duo processor The power to perform. With power-optimized enabled dual-core technology and exceptional energy efficiency, the Intel® Core™2 Duo processor excels running the most intense applications.

¹Performance based on select industry benchmarks, game titles, and multimedia creation applications. Actual performance may vary. See www.intel.com/performance/desktop/extreme/ for additional information.

Intel to Invest $7 Billion in U.S. Manufacturing Facilities

2009-06-18T18:12:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON --(Business Wire)-- Feb 10, 2009 Intel President and CEO Paul Otellini today announced the company would spend $7 billion over the next two years to build advanced manufacturing facilities in the United States. The investment funds deployment of Intel’s industry-leading 32 nanometer (nm) manufacturing technology that will be used to build faster, smaller chips that consume less energy.
The commitment represents Intel’s largest-ever investment for a new manufacturing process.
“We’re investing in America to keep Intel and our nation at the forefront of innovation,” Otellini said. “These manufacturing facilities will produce the most advanced computing technology in the world. The capabilities of our 32nm factories are truly extraordinary, and the chips they produce will become the basic building blocks of the digital world, generating economic returns far beyond our industry.”
Intel’s investment will be made at existing manufacturing sites in Oregon, Arizona and New Mexico and will support approximately 7,000 high-wage, high-skill jobs at those locations -- part of a total Intel workforce of more than 45,000 in the U.S. Intel, while generating more than 75 percent of its sales overseas, carries out roughly 75 percent of its semiconductor manufacturing in the U.S. At the same time, about 75 percent of the company’s R&D spending and capital investments are also made in the U.S.

The technology used in Intel’s manufacturing process builds chip circuitry 32nm (32/billionth of a meter or about 1/millionth of an inch) across – incredibly small, atomic level structures.

The first Intel processors to be built using this technology are codenamed “Westmere” and will initially be used in desktop and mobile mainstream systems. Westmere combines Intel’s latest high-performance micro-architecture (“Nehalem”) with graphics capability integrated into the processor. As a result, computer manufacturers will be able to increase performance and simplify system manufacturing compared to current systems. Outstanding 32nm manufacturing and product health are enabling Intel to accelerate the Westmere production ramp beginning in 2009. Additional 32nm products will follow in 2010.
Otellini will discuss the importance of new technology and investing for the future at 9 a.m. EST today during a speech at the Economic Club of Washington, DC. In addition, Intel executives will be on-hand at an event beginning at 10 a.m. PST in San Francisco to provide the world’s first public demonstration of a fully functional 32nm based device – the first Westmere processor. Additional details on these events are available at www.intel.com/pressroom.
Intel (NASDAQ:INTC), the world leader in silicon innovation, develops technologies, products and initiatives to continually advance how people work and live. Additional information about Intel is available at www.intel.com/pressroom and blogs.intel.com.

A "Positivo" milestone for Intel-powered classmate PCs!

2009-06-18T18:01:00.000-07:00

The city of Pirai, Brazil has announced the purchase of Intel-powered classmate PCs for students enrolled in all 21 of its’ public schools, making it the first city in the world to adopt 1:1 computing for the entire school system. 1:1 computing means each student has full-time access to a computer, the Internet, software and online research materials anytime and anywhere wireless access is available. The Pirai 1:1 computing project will include city-wide network connectivity offered through the Digital Pirai Project. Education officials were on hand with Intel executives at a briefing Tuesday to discuss how the Positivo Informática-manufactured classmate PCs are an investment for Pirai’s students, as well as how the PCs will spur social and economic transformation within the city. The Intel® Learning Series enables local distributors and technology companies to provide a fully supported education solution that allows for smooth deployment and integration of technology into classrooms, as seen with the deployment of half a million units in Portugal, a program known as the Magellan initiative. Although the computers will not be delivered until August, some of the students got a sneak peek of the PCs that they will be using at the start of the new school year. Check out the pictures

Intel's New Brand Structure Explained

2009-06-18T17:47:00.000-07:00

Over the last year or so, Intel has been quietly working behind the scenes taking a hard look at our brand structure and exploring ways to make it more rational and easier to understand. The fact of the matter is, we have a complex structure with too many platform brands, product names, and product brands, and we've made things confusing for consumers and IT buyers in the process.

All that is about to change. Or at least, we begin a process of change that will evolve over time. Here's what to expect:

1) First and foremost we've created a structure that leads with Intel. It seems simple, but we've lost some of this connection and we need to remind people who we are and what we make possible. This is the backdrop for our latest ad campaign, Sponsors of Tommorrow. As Silicon Valley historian and author Michael Malone recently wrote, "...what happens upstream in the world of chips sets the pace for everything that happens downstream in computers, smart phones, videogames, servers and, ultimately, in social networks, Google, Twitter, Facebook, etc."

2) Secondly, we are focusing our strategy around a primary 'hero' client brand which is Intel® Core™. Today the Intel Core brand has a mind boggling array of derivatives (such as Core™2 Duo and Core 2 Quad, etc). Over time those will go away and in its place will be a simplified family of Core processors spanning multiple levels: Intel® Core™ i3 processor, Intel® Core™ i5 processor, and Intel® Core™ i7 processors. Core i3 and Core i5 are new modifiers and join the previously announced Intel Core i7 to round out the family structure. It is important to note that these are not brands but modifiers to the Intel Core brand that signal different features and benefits. For example, upcoming processors such as Lynnfield (desktop) will carry the Intel Core brand, but will be available as either Intel Core i5 or Intel Core i7 depending upon the feature set and capability. Clarksfield (mobile) will have the Intel Core i7 name.

So the key here is there will be a range of features and capabilities within the Intel Core family - our flagship brand representing the highest performance and the latest technology - but simplified into entry-level (Intel Core i3), mid-level (Intel Core i5), and high-level (Intel Core i7). We will still have Celeron for entry-level computing at affordable price points, Pentium for basic computing, and of course the Intel® Atom™ processor for all these new devices ranging from netbooks to smartphones. For PC purchasing, think in terms of good-better-best with Celeron being good, Pentium better, and the Intel Core family representing the best we have to offer.

3) Lastly, we are changing and transitioning some of the platform brands. Intel vPro technology continues to stand for best in class security and manageability and will henceforth be paired with Intel Core in either Core i5 or Core i7 iterations. Again this wont happen overnight, but beginning next year Intel business client systems will carry either the Intel Core i7 vPro processor or the Intel Core i5 vPro processor name. With this focus on Intel Core, the Centrino processor technology brand will be retired for PCs beginning next year. However, Centrino has tremendous equity as a wireless technology, so we will transition the name to our Wi-Fi and WiMAX products beginning in 2010.

This will be an evolutionary process taking place over time, and we acknowledge that multiple brands will be in the market next year inclduing older ones, as we make the transition. But overall this is a good thing, designed to make it easier and more rational over the long run. Interested in hearing any feedback or comments from readers here. For more information, including a brief interview on all this with Intel vice president an director Corporate Marketing Deborah Conrad -- see here.

Hard disk drive

2009-06-18T17:30:00.000-07:00

HDDs record data by magnetizing ferromagnetic material directionally, to represent either a 0 or a 1 binary digit. They read the data back by detecting the magnetization of the material. A typical HDD design consists of a spindle which holds one or more flat circular disks called platters, onto which the data are recorded. The platters are made from a non-magnetic material, usually aluminum alloy or glass, and are coated with a thin layer of magnetic material. Older disks used iron(III) oxide as the magnetic material, but current disks use a cobalt-based alloy.^{[citation needed]} The platters are spun at very high speeds. Information is written to a platter as it rotates past devices called read-and-write heads that operate very close (tens of nanometers in new drives) over the magnetic surface. The read-and-write head is used to detect and modify the magnetization of the material immediately under it. There is one head for each magnetic platter surface on the spindle, mounted on a common arm. An actuator arm (or access arm) moves the heads on an arc (roughly radially) across the platters as they spin, allowing each head to access almost the entire surface of the platter as it spins. The arm is moved using a voice coil actuator or in some older designs a stepper motor.

The magnetic recording media are CoCrPt-based magnetic thin films of about 10-20 nm in thickness. The thin films are normally deposited on glass/ceramic/metal substrate and covered by thin carbon layer for protection. The Co-based alloy thin films are polycrystalline and the size of grains has an order of 10 nm. Because the sizes of each grain are tiny, they are typical single domain magnets. The media are magnetically hard (coercivity is about 0.3T) so that a stable remnant magnetization can be achieved. The grain boundaries turn out to be very important. The reason is that, the grains are very small and close to each other, so the coupling between each grains are very strong. When one grain is magnetized, the adjacent grains tend to be aligned parallel to it or demagnetized. Then both the stability of the data and signal-to-noise ratio will be sabotaged. A clear grain boundary can weaken the coupling of the grains and subsequently increase the signal-to-noise ratio. During writing process, ideally one grain can store one bit (1/0). However, current technology can not reach that far yet. In practice, a group of grains (about 100) are magnetized as one bit. So, in order to increase the data density, smaller grains are required. From microstructure point of view, longitudinal and perpendicular recording are the same. Also, similar Co-based thin films are used in both longitudinal and perpendicular recording. However, the fabrication processes are different to gain different crystal structure and magnetic properties. In longitudinal recording, the single-domain grains have uniaxial anisotropy with easy axes lying in the film plane. The consequence of this arrangement is that adjacent magnets repel each other. Therefore the magnetostatic energy is so large that it is difficult to increase areal density. Perpendicular recording media, on the other hand, has the easy axis of the grains oriented perpendicular to the disk plane. Adjacent magnets attract to each other and magnetostatic energy are much lower. So, much higher areal density can be achieved in perpendicular recording. Another unique feature in perpendicular recording is that a soft magnetic underlayer are incorporated into the recording disk.This underlayer is used to conduct writing magnetic flux so that the writing is more efficient. This will be discussed in writing process. Therefore, a higher anisotropy medium film, such as L10-FePt and rare-earth magnets, can be used.

Older drives read the data on the platter by sensing the rate of change of the magnetism in the head; these heads had small coils, and worked (in principle) much like magnetic-tape playback heads, although not in contact with the recording surface. As data density increased, read heads using magnetoresistance (MR) came into use; the electrical resistance of the head changed according to the strength of the magnetism from the platter. Later development made use of spintronics; in these heads, the magnetoresistive effect was much greater than in earlier types, and was dubbed "giant" magnetoresistance (GMR). This refers to the degree of effect, not the physical size, of the head — the heads themselves are extremely tiny, and are too small to be seen without a microscope. GMR read heads are now commonplace.^{[citation needed]}

HD heads are kept from contacting the platter surface by the air that is extremely close to the platter; that air moves at, or close to, the platter speed.^{[citation needed]} The record and playback head are mounted on a block called a slider, and the surface next to the platter is shaped to keep it just barely out of contact. It's a type of air bearing.

The magnetic surface of each platter is conceptually divided into many small sub-micrometre-sized magnetic regions, each of which is used to encode a single binary unit of information. In today's HDDs, each of these magnetic regions is composed of a few hundred magnetic grains. Each magnetic region forms a magnetic dipole which generates a highly localized magnetic field nearby. The write head magnetizes a region by generating a strong local magnetic field. Early HDDs used an electromagnet both to generate this field and to read the data by using electromagnetic induction. Later versions of inductive heads included metal in Gap (MIG) heads and thin film heads. In today's heads, the read and write elements are separate, but in close proximity, on the head portion of an actuator arm. The read element is typically magneto-resistive while the write element is typically thin-film inductive.^[7]

In modern drives, the small size of the magnetic regions creates the danger that their magnetic state might be lost because of thermal effects. To counter this, the platters are coated with two parallel magnetic layers, separated by a 3-atom-thick layer of the non-magnetic element ruthenium, and the two layers are magnetized in opposite orientation, thus reinforcing each other.^[8] Another technology used to overcome thermal effects to allow greater recording densities is perpendicular recording, first shipped in 2005,^[9] as of 2007 the technology was used in many HDDs.

Motherboard

2009-06-18T17:25:00.000-07:00

The motherboard is the "body"^{[citation needed]} of the computer. Components directly attached to the motherboard include:

The central processing unit (CPU) performs most of the calculations which enable a computer to function, and is sometimes referred to as the "brain" of the computer. It is usually cooled by a heat sink and fan.
The chipset mediates communication between the CPU and the other components of the system, including main memory.
RAM Stores all running processes (applications) and the current running OS. RAM Stands for Random Access Memory
The BIOS includes boot firmware and power management. The Basic Input Output System tasks are handled by operating system drivers.
Internal Buses connect the CPU to various internal components and to expansion cards for graphics and sound.
- Current
  - The northbridge memory controller, for RAM and PCI Express
    - PCI Express, for graphics cards
  - PCI, for other expansion cards
  - SATA, for disk drives
- Obsolete
  - ATA (superseded by SATA)
  - AGP (superseded by PCI Express)
  - VLB VESA Local Bus (superseded by AGP)
  - ISA (expansion card slot format obsolete in PCs, but still used in industrial computers)
External Bus Controllers support ports for external peripherals. These ports may be controlled directly by the southbridge I/O controller or based on expansion cards attached to the motherboard through the PCI bus.

What is Computer?

2009-06-18T17:03:00.000-07:00

a machine for performing calculations automatically
calculator: an expert at calculation (or at operating calculating machines)
The following is a list of characters from the Cartoon Network series Courage the Cowardly Dog.
Computer engineering (or Computer Systems Engineering) encompasses broad areas of both electrical engineering and computer scienc
Computer is an IEEE Computer Society practitioner-oriented magazine issued to all members of the society
A programmable device that performs mathematical calculations and logical operations, especially one that can process, store and retrieve large
Computers - A computer is a machine that manipulates data according to a list of instructions.
Electronic device that receives, processes, and stores data, and produces a result (output)
An "electronic device that accepts information in digital or similar form and manipulates it for a result based on a sequence of instructions." UCITA 102(a)(9)
a programmable hardware component that is controlled by internally stored programs and that can perform substantial computations (including arithmetic and logic operations) without human intervention