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Marvell says Armada chips will power new game platform
Marvell's been teasing potent little processors for over a year now, but we've yet to see the firm's Armada appear in anything we'd actually want... but co-founder Sehat Sutardja just let slip that Marvell silicon will power a genuine game console of some sort. "Approximately 15% of the sequential increase [in quarterly sales] was due to the initial production revenue from our ARMADA application processors, primarily as a result of a major customer preparing to launch a new gaming platform," he told investors in a conference call last week, which roughly translates to "We just sold a load of processors for a new game console, yo" if our business-speak is correct. While there's absolutely nothing connecting this transaction to Nintendo's 3DS (which was confirmed to have a Pica200 GPU), we honestly can't think of a single other game platform slated to launch anytime soon -- so don't be surprised if there's a quad-core Armada 600 under that variably-stereoscopic hood. [Thanks, Roxanne]
ARM and TSMC team up for tinier 20nm Cortex SOCs
It's no secret that ARM ideas are powering much of the mobile revolution these days, but the company doesn't print its own systems-on-a-chip, that duty gets outsourced to silicon foundries -- like TSMC, who just got all buddy-buddy with the firm to transition future smartphone chips to the 28nm and obscenely tiny 20nm high-k metal gate processes. (We're not sure what this means for GlobalFoundries, who had a similar deal earlier this year.) As per usual with a die size reduction, ARM chips will see higher speed and have decreased power consumption, but since 20nm is (relatively) unexplored territory it could be years before chips hit the market. PR after the break, or hit the more coverage link for further explanation by an ARM VP of Marketing.
Ars: Apple A4 CPU is a "feature-stripped ARM Cortex A8"
While much of the speculation over the iPad's Apple A4 CPU has been focused on the fact that it was a system-on-a-chip (SoC) designed by the minds acquired from P.A. Semi, Ars Technica's Jon Stokes has another take on the story. In a Sunday post, Stokes (who claims to have an inside scoop) notes that the chip really isn't anything more than an ARM Cortex A8 that has been stripped of much of its I/O functionality. The ARM Cortex A8, running at 600 MHz, is the SoC that powers the iPhone 3GS. Stokes goes on to note that the "A4 is a 1GHz custom SoC with a single Cortex A8 core and a PowerVR SGX GPU." What Apple appears to have done is to improve both battery life and speed by eliminating any functionality that isn't specifically required by the iPad. Common Cortex A8-based SoCs often have more onboard functions than are really required by mobile phones so that manufacturers don't need to design a special chip. As the article states, the usual Cortex A8-based SoC has infrared, RS232 serial, USB, keypad controller, and camera blocks to handle multiple input and output devices. The iPad, of course, will only need one USB port and one serial UART, both wired to the 30-pin connector at the bottom of the device. By stripping the A4 to the essentials, the heart of the iPad expends no CPU cycles or power doing anything that is unnecessary to the function of the device. Stokes believes that the real power of the device comes from the software, not from the A4, and in his conclusion he compares the iPad to the Nintendo Wii - "... another product that relies for its success not on its processor, but on its novel interface and broadly accessible software. I'm sure that if the iPad can do for mobile computing what the Wii did for console gaming, Apple will consider it a resounding success." With less than a month to go until the first iPads begin to make it into the hands of users, it's likely that other revelations about the hardware used in the devices will begin to make their way to the online media. [via AppleInsider]
iPad confirmed to use PowerVR SGX graphics, Apple job posting suggests A4 chip will hit other products
It may not be as big a surprise as the A4 itself was, but Apple has now confirmed via the latest iPad SDK Beta 3 documentation that the iPad does indeed use PowerVR SGX graphics hardware as part of its custom system-on-a-chip, which flatly contradicts previous reports of A4 using Mali, and lines up with what our pal Anand Shimpi has been telling us lately. What Apple doesn't confirm, unfortunately, is exactly which chip in the PowerVR SGX family the iPad uses, so it's still at least possible that it could pack a bigger punch than the iPhone or iPod touch. In related news, a recent Apple job posting has now also offered up the first hard evidence that Apple might actually be putting its huge investment in A4 to use other platforms besides the iPad -- shocking, we know. That job is for an Engineering Manager, who would lead a team focused on the "bring-up of iPhone OS on new platforms," and would otherwise be responsible for "low level platform architecture, firmware, core drivers and bring-up of new hardware platforms" -- experience with ARM-based SoCs is also an "additional success factor." Sound like the job you've been waiting for? Then hit up the link below for the complete details.
ZiiLABS ZMS-08 offers Cortex A8-powered Full HD and Flash acceleration for netbooks
We haven't even seen the Zii EGG make its long-anticipated consumer debut yet, but Creative is already building up steam for its next Zii venture. ZiiLABS' ZMS-08 is a third generation mobile media accelerator / system-on-a-chip that boasts its predecessor's 1080p playback and 24fps encoding, and HD video conferencing via simultaneous 720p encoding and decoding, while adding all-new OpenGL ES 2.0 support, an integrated HDMI controller, X-Fi audio and Flash acceleration. Paired to a 1GHz ARM Cortex A8, and running a custom flavor of Android alongside Plaszma OS, the new Zii chip will look for homes in "web tablets, netbooks, connected TVs" and the like, but seemingly not smartphones. ZiiLABS has already signed up a number of clients, who'll start receiving shipments in Q1 of 2010. Full PR and an architectural diagram after the break.
Next Gecko netbook to have bigger screen, AA power, $200 price?
NorhTec's last attempt at a super-cheap laptop hasn't exactly rocked many peoples' boats -- with its 7-inch display surrounded by the king of all bezels and a $300 price, you don't have to spend much more to get a lot more netbook. Word on the 'net is, though, that there's a new Gecko EduBook on the way, set for debut at Computex and moving up to a netbook-standard 8.9-inch, 1024 x 768 600 LED-backlit screen while also dropping to a sub-$200 price point. That's possible thanks to a new architecture based on an Xcore86 system on a chip, offering a 1GHz processor and power consumption of just 1.2 watts, equating to four hours of battery life on eight NiMH AA batteries or six hours if Li-on cells are used. Full specs are at the read link, a demonstration video below, and, while this little lappy is still far from a powerhouse, it certainly looks a lot more appealing than its predecessor -- and some other low-cost alternatives.Update: Michael Barnes from NorhTech wrote in to clarify the history of these and the pricing a bit. The EduBook is completely modular and if you happen to be a small country looking to make a large order you can configure these for well under $150, but for the rest of us individual units should be available in the $195 range. Additionally, more models are on the way, including a 10-inch netbook and even a nettop.[Warning: PDF read link]
Roboard puts an x86 PC in your little cyberguy's backpack
Most modern hobbyist robots (those that aren't giant beetles) are just collections of servos plumbed together, shipping with controllers accessed cloaked in proprietary programming environments. They make it easy to get up to speed, but for full control in a standardized dev environment like Visual Studio you want something like the £175.00 ($255) Roboard RB-100. It's built around a Vortex86DX system on a chip, capable of running various flavors of Windows (including XP and CE) or x86 Linux distros -- probably even OSX or Android -- and offering connections for 24 servos, USB, audio, a MicroSD reader, and even a Mini PCI slot. A few builders at the Robosavvy forums have been working with early boards for a few weeks now and one, ATebay, has found they mount easily to various bots, including his creation above that looks something like an armor-less Wolf Clan Mad Cat ready to conquer the Inner Sphere. Detail pic of the board and obligatory robot dancing video after the break.
ASUS G50 prototype with additional 4.3-inch Tegra-based PC
We have a few more details on that prototype ASUS laptop we caught on video last night. Essentially two computers in one chassis, the modified M50 sports a separate Tegra APX-based 4.3-inch touchpad PC below they keyboard, for an effect somewhat reminiscent of (but nothing like) good 'ol SideShow. More than a second display, Tegra's "system on a chip" architecture allows for lightning fast boot times and excellent picture quality -- and since it runs off the same power source as its Atom-based host, the little guy should get up to 12 hours battery life when playing back video.
NVIDIA launches Tegra, hopes to change the smartphone / MID game
NVIDIA is launching a full-frontal assault on Intel, its burgeoning MID market, and smartphone makers with its forthcoming "mobile computer on a chip" architecture, dubbed Tegra. We've shown you snippets of what this would look like before, but plans are now well underway to take this technology mainstream, with numerous partnerships, and products planned for Q4 2008 and Q1 / Q2 2009. We had a chat with the company, and we've got a slew of info about the chips and their intended products after the break.Update: We've added some videos from World Mobile Congress showing off the UI.
Intel prepping x86-based system-on-a-chip
Intel may have sold its mobile chip unit to Marvell, but it seems that the company hasn't entirely given up on the mobile biz, with the company recently detailing plans for an x86-based system-on-a-chip. According to HKEPC Hardware, the so-called 'Tolapai' unit will be based on Pentium M architecture, and pack 256KB of L2 cache and support for DDR 2 memory, along with a full compliment of integrated connectivity options, including PCI Express, USB, SATA, Gigabit Ethernet, RS-232 and a cellular link, among other goodies. The initial lineup will apparently come in 600, 1,066 and 1,200MHz varieties to start with, boasting a power consumption of 13-22W, and support for Linux, FreeBSD, and Windows XP Embedded on the OS front. While Intel will first be aiming the system-on-a-chip at embedded applications, as Reg Hardware speculates, it would seem to be just as applicable to handhelds and other mobile devices in need of a little more power. What's not so clear, unfortunately, is when we might actually see a device running on the thing, although the system-on-a-chip itself will supposedly be ready by the end of the year.[Via Reg Hardware]
Microsoft and Broadcom team up on low cost HD DVD player design
Microsoft announced today that it has partnered with Broadcom to create a reference design for a low cost HD DVD player. With Windows CE-based software and Broadcom's BCM7440 system-on-a-chip based hardware the idea is to give volume manufacturers a chance to drive prices down faster than Blu-ray can match. Lite-On IT and Zhenjiang Jiangkui Group Co. Ltd./ED Digital are already on deck to build players based on the design, for this war not to be over already HD DVD is going to need every bit of price and manufacturing advantage it can get.
