December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

New x86 clones & Linus Torvalds (Linux fame)
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > X-within-URL: http://techweb.cmp.com/eet/column1/wintel19.html > HOT X86 CHIPS FOR '98 AND BEYOND > > > [INLINE] Launching yet another x86 microprocessor into a field already > crowded with clones isn't a good way to bet your company's future. But > that's just what two startups and one CPU stalwart are doing, in a bid > to beat Intel at its own game. > > The new ventures--Centaur Technology Inc. (Austin, Texas) and > Transmeta Corp. (Santa Clara, Calif.)--and long-time player Advanced > Micro Devices Inc. (Sunnyvale, Calif.) each has its own twist on what > it will take to survive in the cutthroat x86 world in 1998 and beyond. > Let's take them one at a time. > > Centaur, founded by renowned microprocessor architect Glenn Henry, is > focusing on the low end of the market, where sub-$1,000 desktop > machines and sub-$2,000 notebooks rule. Centaur's offering, launched > only a few months ago, is called the IDT WinChip C6 ("IDT" stands for > Integrated Device Technology Inc., which owns Centaur). It's a > Pentium-class processor that supports the MMX multimedia > instruction-set extensions, a Socket-7 interface, and comes in speed > grades of 180-MHz and 200-MHz. Centaur is positioning the C6 as a > direct alternative to Intel's Pentium with MMX, AMD's K6, and Cyrix's > 6x86MX microprocessors. > > From a design standpoint, what's interesting about the C6 is that > Henry chose not to follow the reigning trends in chip architecture. > Instead, he took a downsized approach, implementing just those > features he needed to deliver decent performance in a high-volume, > low-cost CPU. > > "The biggest thing we did is throw out conventional thinking," Henry > told me when we met recently. "We came to the conclusion that the > added benefit of a lot of computer-science things wasn't worth the > effort. We're not superscalar--we don't do out-of-order execution. > Everyone else is designing 4-way superscalar processors, so we did a > 6-way chip." > > In designing the C6, Henry said his team found that, as CPU clock > speeds approach 200-MHz, nearly half the time is spent waiting on the > bus. So, Henry outfitted the C6 with a huge translation-look-aside > buffer, as well as a second-level TLB, to reduce bus utilization and > cut that wait-time to the bone. > > Also notable is the fact that Centaur is a tiny outfit that began life > a scant two years ago. "Intel would like the world to believe it takes > tens of years and dozens of people to design a microprocessor," Henry > said. Looking at the results rolling out of Centaur, it's obvious what > a dedicated group of engineers can accomplish. > > Over at AMD, a somewhat larger engineering team is already burning the > midnight oil to design the K7 (code-named "Argon"), which will compete > with Intel's upcoming 64-bit Merced CPU. > > AMD has a project team hard at work on K7, but has leaked few details. > Publicly, AMD wants to talk more about its new MMX-enhanced K6 > processors. But K7 will be the key to AMD's long-term future, since a > 64-bit chip is a must-have for any company that wants to remain a > viable alternative to Intel. > > The few details we do know emerged in October in a keynote speech at > the Microprocessor Forum by AMD chairman Jerry Sanders. He said that > the K7 will run at clock speeds in excess of 500-MHz and will come in > a module that's mechanically--though not electrically--interchangeable > with Intel's Slot 1 connector. Most interesting was the news that K7 > will use the bus protocol developed by Digital Equipment Corp. for its > Alpha EV-6 processor. > > It's not clear how far along AMD is with the K7. Indeed, it will be a > daunting task. But AMD has two things going for it in its quest. > First, it is very strong in the simulation and verification > department--an important factor in avoiding design flaws like the > floating-point bug that struck Intel and its Pentium. > > More important, AMD knows what it's like to wrestle with design > delays, which struck its K5 project. Concerns on the K6 job were > reportedly behind AMD's decision to purchase NexGen in January, 1996. > Indeed, the NexGen team provided the Nx586 core, which became the > basis for the K6. > > The third, and potentially most interesting, effort involves > Transmeta, a startup formed less than three years ago by former Sun > Microsystems chip architect David Ditzel. Initial word had Transmeta > at work on a PowerPC clone. Then, the buzz was that the company was > designing a Java chip aimed at the nascent market for low-cost network > computers. Now, it seems that Transmeta's effort is focused more on an > x86 alternative that boasts either low-power, multimedia or > network-computer capabilities. Or perhaps all three. > > One interesting tidbit to emerge from Transmeta is the news that it > has hired Linus Torvalds, the designer of the Linux operating system. > Apart from Torvalds' considerable software skills, he's plugged into > an influential community of Unix programmers, which could give > Transmeta a big leg up in any effort to design a processor tuned to > handle real-world networked applications. > > Alexander Wolfe is EE Times' Managing Editor for computers and > communications ____________________________________________________________________ | | | The most powerful passion in life is not love or hate, | | but the desire to edit somebody elses words. | | | | Sign in Ed Barsis' office | | | | _____ The Armadillo Group | | ,::////;::-. Austin, Tx. USA | | /:'///// ``::>/|/ http://www.ssz.com/ | | .', |||| `/( e\ | | -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- Jim Choate | | ravage(a)ssz.com | | 512-451-7087 | |____________________________________________________________________|

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Re: Another Linus market observation... (fwd)
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > Subject: Re: Another Linus market observation... > From: dlv(a)bwalk.dm.com (Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM) > Date: Sun, 08 Feb 98 13:38:30 EST > Jim Choate <ravage(a)ssz.com> writes: > > monthly magazines. Linux has a roughly 6M user market penetration yet there > > is only a single Linux specific magazine available. ... > > I disagree. There are plenty of printed publications about the hardware > that Linux runs on (i.e. Intel and compatible boxes) (not that I read them). > There are also rags about Unix, which are almost entirely applicable to Linux. The problem with this interpretation of the market is that AmigaWorld, Info, Compute!, etc. didn't cover the hardware to that great a degree. What they did do was discuss the programming and applications of those machines to problem solving, education, programming, etc. This point isn't the hardware and it isn't selling magazines on related os's that can be applied to Linux because of its similarity. The issue *is* increasing Linux' market share, magazines that discuss issue about AIX or HP/UX that can be applied to Linux don't do that. ____________________________________________________________________ | | | The most powerful passion in life is not love or hate, | | but the desire to edit somebody elses words. | | | | Sign in Ed Barsis' office | | | | _____ The Armadillo Group | | ,::////;::-. Austin, Tx. USA | | /:'///// ``::>/|/ http://www.ssz.com/ | | .', |||| `/( e\ | | -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- Jim Choate | | ravage(a)ssz.com | | 512-451-7087 | |____________________________________________________________________|

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Another Linus market observation...
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Hi, Another Linux market observation that would indicate that the total impact of Linux is going to be less than what we as Linux supporters would want is the literature that has arisen about Linux. In particular the count of monthly magazines. Linux has a roughly 6M user market penetration yet there is only a single Linux specific magazine available. In the comparative markets of C64 and Amiga there were several (eg Amiga World, Info, Compute!) magazines. Even today there are at least 3 Amiga magazines on the market yet that machine hasn't been actively manufactured in over 2 years. Why is the Linux magazine market limited to The Linux Journal? And what does that mean for the long term strength of the market (and by extension the hurdles other OS's would face in the future)? ____________________________________________________________________ | | | The most powerful passion in life is not love or hate, | | but the desire to edit somebody elses words. | | | | Sign in Ed Barsis' office | | | | _____ The Armadillo Group | | ,::////;::-. Austin, Tx. USA | | /:'///// ``::>/|/ http://www.ssz.com/ | | .', |||| `/( e\ | | -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- Jim Choate | | ravage(a)ssz.com | | 512-451-7087 | |____________________________________________________________________|

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No Subject
by Veral 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

CAn I join? Your Pal, V.

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GNU market penetration...
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Hi, I have a question, after going to the GNU homepage (www.gnu.org) I have not been able to find out the numbers of how many if any corporate subscribers and participants to the GNU Foundation. Is there anyone out there who might have a pointer to this information, or better yet is an actual participant in the GNU heirarchy and can discuss these and related issues? Thanks. ____________________________________________________________________ | | | The most powerful passion in life is not love or hate, | | but the desire to edit somebody elses words. | | | | Sign in Ed Barsis' office | | | | _____ The Armadillo Group | | ,::////;::-. Austin, Tx. USA | | /:'///// ``::>/|/ http://www.ssz.com/ | | .', |||| `/( e\ | | -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- Jim Choate | | ravage(a)ssz.com | | 512-451-7087 | |____________________________________________________________________|

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What's the latest in factoring?
by Alan Tu 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hi all, First, I want to say that because I've heard that traffic on this list is heavy, and I don't have time to file away 40 messages a day, you must write to me personally in order for me to see the message. My PGP key is provided at the end of this message. What is the latest factoring breakthrough (at least in the civilian world?) I had heard a while back that the most recent event was accomplished by Samuel Wagstaff of Purdue University, whose team factored (3^349-1)/2, which is a 167-digit number (about 552 bits). Is there anything more recent? Also, whereas 1024 bits was the commonly accepted threshhold for key lengths more than two years ago, what's the threshhold now? Because I have DOS (and like it) I use PGP 2.63ix, when should I retire my 1024-bit key? I don't expect anybody to answer that I should do so immediately, but can someone give me an idea on what people are doing in regard to key length? Sincerely, Alan Tu -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.3i Charset: noconv Comment: Requires PGP version 2.6 or later. iQCVAwUBNN0kkJezmBrl2RXhAQGxnAP9HyIvtTcOeN77s3p80OmSefhagtfxQGEm H3NqWzxrqEvfODat63UFDVxcf28cSSog3666Icys1nLY9JhNSFZrruejbRIJ6P4o AKHfxBwUSO00GvSyCl9nI5VjJDoRG2elDZf7iPP1M9h+IoTXuSDpdWnL9uBpqhvi SFg4sXOKEOA= =co6G -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- Type Bits/KeyID Date User ID pub 1024/E5D915E1 1997/04/27 Alan Tu <atu5713(a)compuserve.com> Alan Tu <102534.2165(a)compuserve.com> -----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- Version: 2.6.3i Comment: Requires PGP version 2.6 or later. mQCNAzNivkwAAAEEALdGUXD3j+RioIirVG46N6LaGD3YMMVVT5Mjwr5JojQsDICy 856I06Ugo/Fqid2A/os7v/gwE+Sj/WhMERgTsTejUZtsucTpS9sae+cc27Fjjq1l hOnqcLZqnHDDNyn3+jesVFPLnRlSoHbmcBK1XDW/SJT1anZz55ezmBrl2RXhAAUR tCBBbGFuIFR1IDxhdHU1NzEzQGNvbXB1c2VydmUuY29tPokAlQIFEDOguk6Xs5ga 5dkV4QEBBF8D/1B0ePqlMavWEUMP0uTmyvWFI7jooAcih6uHZFo2u+u3EzE2Is8X EoLHg39DhjleTHPu6TnGsWIiwDYEslzYeVw/Cglx6eliYIr/qs7peEywuhtZsEFH ln6yR9IE6rX3b3GCvPSQ5uPhXWrd2kWaZvG4rQ4Oj1m3yTrFaPRqCBPvtCRBbGFu IFR1IDwxMDI1MzQuMjE2NUBjb21wdXNlcnZlLmNvbT6JAJUDBRAzyUJWl7OYGuXZ FeEBAc4TBACT8gLtyE0C8NBGs9aDa9kHfeNzN8VbNfUpoOiWi4duAAZFiAt/e+ji J2BUMLIY8kzm2WX4mVzpKYjvea5TtHeQgbESV1HVZ5k7abENMUYz5nSMloOE+bb+ XRzgGgFF3htGXDJNywlLNgoYi5vTMT0pbGlCzOu215Cc4mFls2w1iA== =CM85 -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----

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Re: Most elegant wording against privacy/law-enforcement "balance"
by jim＠mentat.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Guy skribis: > What are the most elegant rebuttals to politicians saying we > need Key Recovery as a "reasonable balance between the needs of > law enforcement vs. freedom of crypto"? I don't know how elegant it is, but here's my response: Compromising the public's right to privacy gives away not only our own rights, but those of our descendants. The government must make an extraordinary case to justify undermining those rights, and so far it has not done so. The most detailed research on the issue is a study by Dorothy Denning and William Baugh investigating the extent to which crypto has interfered with law enforcement's ability to get convictions: their bottom line was that crypto has not in fact interfered: law enforcement has been able to complete their investigations using other means. There's no demonstrated need for Government Access to Crypto Keys (GACK), so there's no need to compromise away our privacy. Jim Gillogly jim(a)acm.org

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145 Million
by MAILER-DAEMON＠toad.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

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We've been found out
by nobody＠REPLAY.COM 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Damn! I thought we had everyone fooled. Some pissant wrote: Death of a Legend / The Truth About the CypherPunks: The CypherPunks have long been renowned as standing at the bleeding edge of the burdgeoning computer technology which is rapidly changing the face of our planet and the governmental, civil, and social societies encompassed within this celestial orb. Harbingers of the Digital Future / Pioneers of Future Technology / etc., etc. Bullshit... The CypherPunks are rag-tag band of infantile, pseudo-anarchistic, pseudo- cryptic, well-educated shit-disturbers who take great pleasure in pissing on themselves, each other, and the world around them--all the while, covering their motivations and ambitions with high-sounding ideals intended to disguise the fact that none of them ever received proper toilet-training. The end result? No matter how high they pile it, how far they spread it, or how badly it smells when you step in it, they end up coming off as the Henry Kissinger's of CyberSpace, because no matter how much rotten meat, jalapenos and moldy cheese they eat, they can never manage to crap out anything so vile and foul- smelling that the world-at-large cannot prove prophetic in MeatSpace.

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Re: (none)
by nobody＠REPLAY.COM 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Anonymous asks: > If its so easy to make your own biological weapons, > hoembrewed in a bathtub (or vat or whatever), how > about posting some web links or pointers? > > If its so easy why haven't more downtrodden > Americans (there are a lot of loonies in this > country) tried this stuff out yet? Because it's so easy to kill yourself doing so.

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