STEP TOWARD UNIVERSAL COMPUTER!!!

[zidane1strife]

Ok, this sounds fishy to me, but I don't know, it'd be nice if it were true.

A Silicon Valley startup claims to have cracked one of most elusive goals of the software industry: a near-universal emulator that allows software developed for one platform to run on any other, with almost no performance hit.

For example, Wiederhold said QuickTransit will allow the next-generation Xbox (which will have a Mac-like PowerPC chip) to run first-generation Xbox software (which was written for an Intel chip).

http://wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,64914,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_2

 

[Diplo]

Does sound rather unbelievable, though the article is misleading as it initially makes you think that software written on ANY platform will be emulated on any other platform. In reality it's confined to "Itanium, Opteron, x86 and Power/PowerPC chips", which is a little bit more believable. If they can really do that, though, I will be very impressed.

 

[London Geezer]

Wow, can't wait to play PS3 games on my Genesis!!!

 

[nutball]

Haven't we been here before. Many times before in fact?

 

[K.I.L.E.R]

Wow, can't wait to play PS3 games on my Genesis!!!

Aren't the requirements to play PS3 games higher than the Genesis's hardware specs?

Does the Genesis have hardware features the PS3 hardware has?

 

[London Geezer]

Wow, can't wait to play PS3 games on my Genesis!!!

Aren't the requirements to play PS3 games higher than the Genesis's hardware specs?

Does the Genesis have hardware features the PS3 hardware has?

U kidding right? Genesis has Blast Processing(C)!!

 

[RussSchultz]

Haven't we been here before. Many times before in fact?

At least once, with Transmeta.

 

[nutball]

Haven't we been here before. Many times before in fact?

At least once, with Transmeta.

TAOS. That was similar too, wasn't it?

 

[3dilettante]

Essentially any computer can be a universal computer within reason.

What they're claiming is that their product can do so without taking a year and a half. Their performance examples don't make me feel warm and fuzzy though.

 

[MPI]

Haven't we been here before. Many times before in fact?

At least once, with Transmeta.

TAOS. That was similar too, wasn't it?

There were that FPGA-like computer which supposedly would rewire itself at run-time to replicate any hardware. I didn't think it was ever publically displayed, however, so it probably never worked.

Can't remember what it was called... Star-something...

 

[RussSchultz]

With respect to FPGA like processors...

Tensilica makes a 'reconfigurable' core. The idea behind it is their tools allow you to write pseudo-RTL (hardware descriptor language/verilog) to extend the instruction set with hardware acceleration, and they integrate the new instructions and handle timing. You make this processor into your chip, and viola--a application specific processor.

They showed some demos doing video phone codecs, and they run an amazing amount faster than an equivalent ARM because they can do all sorts of parallel operations, etc.

This can be really effective in writing a targetted processor (like video), but shows its weakness when you're trying to be a bit more all purpose and isn't adopted widely because of this.

However, somebody recently connected this technology with FPGA technology and voila--a retargetable application specific processor.

If only FPGA was in the same process as CMOS logic...

 

[nutball]

Can't remember what it was called... Star-something...

Starbridge?

http://www.starbridgesystems.com/

In a similar vein, have you seen the whitepapers from SGI regarding their Project Ultraviolet? It basically will allow you to plug FPGA boards directly into the shared-memory (NUMAlink) backbone of their Altix supercomputers. So you have a pile of FPGAs with direct, cache-coherent access to multiple gigabytes of memory, plus some pretty ass-kicking general purpose CPUs into the bargain. Could be quite fun! Apparently this technology was developed with the interests of certain three-letter agencies in mind!

 

[Diplo]

There's a discussion on Slashdot about the Wired article about the 'Universal Emulator', if anyone is interested further.

 

[Simon F]

For example, Wiederhold said QuickTransit will allow the next-generation Xbox (which will have a Mac-like PowerPC chip) to run first-generation Xbox software (which was written for an Intel chip).

That sounds like a gross simplification. Are they redoing/emulating all the special HW features that were, apperently, in XBox that weren't exactlty DX standard? I can't imagine that XBox2's HW will be duplicating it. <shrug>

 

[MPI]

Can't remember what it was called... Star-something...

Starbridge?

http://www.starbridgesystems.com/

Yeah, that's it. Haven't followed them the last few years, they seem to have moved the goalposts a bit from that time.

Then they were talking about actually making desktop use of the technology, emulating/replicating PC hardware and such. Cool though, that they apparently have their programming language working, which I was awestruck by back then. I mean, I have some VHDL to FPGA experience, and getting it right is not trivial all the time. You(well, I ) can spend hours tweaking stuff in the synthethis tools just to make it work.

In a similar vein, have you seen the whitepapers from SGI regarding their Project Ultraviolet? It basically will allow you to plug FPGA boards directly into the shared-memory (NUMAlink) backbone of their Altix supercomputers. So you have a pile of FPGAs with direct, cache-coherent access to multiple gigabytes of memory, plus some pretty ass-kicking general purpose CPUs into the bargain. Could be quite fun! Apparently this technology was developed with the interests of certain three-letter agencies in mind!

Interesting stuff, to say the least! Got a link?

 

[nutball]

In a similar vein, have you seen the whitepapers from SGI regarding their Project Ultraviolet? It basically will allow you to plug FPGA boards directly into the shared-memory (NUMAlink) backbone of their Altix supercomputers. So you have a pile of FPGAs with direct, cache-coherent access to multiple gigabytes of memory, plus some pretty ass-kicking general purpose CPUs into the bargain. Could be quite fun! Apparently this technology was developed with the interests of certain three-letter agencies in mind!

Interesting stuff, to say the least! Got a link?

This is the best I can find on their website:

http://www.sgi.com/features/2004/july/project_ultraviolet/

 

[Gabrobot]

That sounds like a gross simplification. Are they redoing/emulating all the special HW features that were, apperently, in XBox that weren't exactlty DX standard? I can't imagine that XBox2's HW will be duplicating it. <shrug>

They're converting commands...like Cxbx only a bit more advanced. Cxbx is already very close to literally perfectly 'emulating' some games at full speed.