Apple "Core Duo" CPU White Paper

I have in my hand the Intel white paper for the new Apple CPU. Lower
power, new deeper sleep modes, dual core, reduced clock count on SSE3,
improved branch prediction and cache algorithms, execute disable, larger
L1 cache (than what, not specified, but 32k). Virtualization hardware
present, meaning that Linux/xen users should be able to run Windows and
BSD as guest operating systems.

I did NOT see anything about 64 bit in the first reading of the paper,
but I will reread tonight and comment if I missed it.

--
-bill davidsen )
"The secret to procrastination is to put things off until the
last possible moment - but no longer" -me

Bill Davidsen wrote:
I have in my hand the Intel white paper for the new Apple CPU. Lower
power, new deeper sleep modes, dual core, reduced clock count on SSE3,
improved branch prediction and cache algorithms, execute disable, larger
L1 cache (than what, not specified, but 32k). Virtualization hardware
present, meaning that Linux/xen users should be able to run Windows and
BSD as guest operating systems.

I did NOT see anything about 64 bit in the first reading of the paper,
but I will reread tonight and comment if I missed it.


You didn't see anything about 64 bit because Yonah (the first batch of
Core Duo that Apple is using) does not have EM64T/x86-64. That will be
availible this summer in Merom. This stuff was all over the Inquirer,
Ars Technica, and every place I looked six months to a year ago.

Alex

So MacOS on Intel will have to deal with 32 bits and 64 bits compatiblity
:-(

Gilles Vollant wrote:
So MacOS on Intel will have to deal with 32 bits and 64 bits compatiblity
:-(

I don't know what you mean "64 bits compatiblity" (sic). Yes, the MacOS
you run will be 32 bits for the next six months, if you are an early
adopter. Early adopters of MacOS X on G5 64-bit machines also were
limited to 32 bits for several months (years?). Apple made the decision
to rush new products out to get you to buy them earlier, rather than
waiting until the 64-bit capable versions of the chip were availible.
Blame Apple for your current situation, not intel. intel has been
pretty clear that Merom is the New Beginning for them while Yonah is
just Pentium M with dual-cores, but Apple was the one to say, "no, we're
rather screw with continuity and toss our customers back to the 32-bit
era as long as it spurs new sales NOW!"

Alex

Alex Johnson wrote:
Bill Davidsen wrote:

I have in my hand the Intel white paper for the new Apple CPU. Lower
power, new deeper sleep modes, dual core, reduced clock count on SSE3,
improved branch prediction and cache algorithms, execute disable,
larger L1 cache (than what, not specified, but 32k). Virtualization
hardware present, meaning that Linux/xen users should be able to run
Windows and BSD as guest operating systems.

I did NOT see anything about 64 bit in the first reading of the paper,
but I will reread tonight and comment if I missed it.


You didn't see anything about 64 bit because Yonah (the first batch of
Core Duo that Apple is using) does not have EM64T/x86-64. That will be
availible this summer in Merom. This stuff was all over the Inquirer,
Ars Technica, and every place I looked six months to a year ago.

I said what I meant, if the paper indicated the 64bit was not present I
would have said that. Since nothing was said I noted the lack of
information. What was available months ago was rumor and speculation,
fun to read but minimally useful for planning.

Linux users will be able to use xen for full virtualization with this
CPU, as described at the Decenber presentation in SanDiego. I expect
Apple to provide some software to take advantage of this hardware as
well, but I have no hard data yet. The ability to run Windows, Linux,
and BSD in virtual machines would be a reason to but a new machine now,
64 bit is interesting but not required for current use. I have Intel 64
bit and access to AMD and SPARC 64 bit machines, so 64 bit on the laptop
is not a requirement. Virtualization for testing and demos is highly
interesting on the other hand.

--
bill davidsen
SBC/Prodigy Yorktown Heights NY data center
http://newsgroups.news.prodigy.com