Two interesting newsbits from the PPC world. Firstly, Genesi has announced that it will develop a dual 970MP (dual-core G5) server, named Open Server Workstation, following their Open Desktop Workstation. Secondly, Freescale has said that their dual-core G4 processors have been delayed until the second half of 2006. Update: “Libfreevec is a free (LGPL) library with hand-optimized replacement routines for GLIBC, such as memcpy(), strlen(), etc. These routines have been written specifically to take advantage of the AltiVec, and will only work on processors that include this unit.”
It looks like these guys are going after the powerpc market Apple is exiting. Very very interesting!
One interesting thing to see will be the prices on these thing. The ODW already has roughly Mac mini specs, but it a bit more pricey, so we’ll see how their G5s are priced.
Nice… if Genesis can design more stylish case
I think they should consider manufacturing a laptop. I’m staring to think that desktops are getting less and less important in this day and age because of the improvements to laptops. So Genesi, or anyone who reads this that either knows a person that works there… Tell them that there’s a demand for laptops!
They *are* considering.
Open Server Workstation There is a oxymoron here. Not a very good name for a product. Hope, they will change it later.
@anon:
If it makes you feel better it was NOT our first choice of name and the decision on it was made for us
—
Matt Sealey
Genesi, Manager, Developer Relations
Even though its vapourware at the moment we can probably expect that Polaris ( see UNIX is dead – yeah right ) will be a 64-bit port and not a 32-bit port. Then again, maybe all those embedded chips need a 32-bit kernel.
PPC is a dead platform outside of IBM Big Iron. These guys would be smart to detach themselves from PPC and go with a different architecture.
PPC isn’t dead, it is one major architecture of today’s IT. It is used in a lot of designs, starting from a simple embedded control unit up to supercomputers. Sure, the Apple move didn’t strengthen the position for the ppc on the desktop, but in the overall picture ppc is quite vivid.
So is/was Alpha awesome CPU but if no one supports it it dies R.I.P. PPC
Could’nt agree with you more. PPC is no where near dead. 🙂
ummm…heard of the sony playstation 3?
how about Xbox 360?
or maybe nintendo gamecube(and probably revolution)?
I guess since PPC is dead. There will be no next-gen gaming consoles.
– Jesse McNelis
For some reason it does not surprise me that Freescale delayed the launch of their dual cpus. History repeating itself once more
Would be cool to see a Powerbook Dual-core G4 before Apple left PowerPC.
I’d like to see somebody come out with a Linux (or other OS) optimized for the PPCchip that’s going into gaming consoles like the XBox.
IBM’s going to be making so many of those chips, they’ll be cheap.
Dual core G4 are NOT delayed…
samples were announced for 1H 2006… and now it’s more precise… : 2Q2006….
If I Remember Correctly, 1H2006 is made with 1Q and 2Q 2006…. Am I wrong ????
Dual core G4 are NOT delayed…
samples were announced for 1H 2006… and now it’s more precise… : 2Q2006….
If I Remember Correctly, 1H2006 is made with 1Q and 2Q 2006…. Am I wrong ????
Samples were scheduled for 2H-05 with production to start in 1H-06, so yes, they are delayed.
The voltage goals changed for the worse and the pincount increased – see http://www.freescale.com/files/ftf_2005/doc/reports_presentations/N… (p.37) from FTF 2005 Americas this June.
Arno
-PPCNUX-
Since Open Desktop Workstation is based on the Pegasos II motherboard – nearly the only generic PPC consumer motherboard on the market – I’m curious to know if the upcoming dual-G5 mobo which the Open Server Workstation is based is also released as a single mobo. It would be a interesting platform for both LinuxPPC and MorphOS users.
My mac mini was cheaper than a genesis system and faster.
1. you can’t expand your Mac Mini (You can’t plug PCI cards, you can’t put it on a decent ATX case…)
2. your Mac Mini has half cache L2 than pegasos2 (and you can overclock a Pegasos2 to 1.25Ghz without problems) So I seriously doubt that a 1.5ghz 7447B with a 256KB L2 is much faster than a 1.25Ghz 7447 with a 512KB L2 cache.
3. You can’t plug a faster AGP Radeon with more ram.
4. You can’t plug two Gigabytes of ram as easily as on the Peg2.
5. You can’t run MorphOS. In desktop use it wipes the floor with MacOSX.
6. If you want your mac Mini to be useful you MUST add more ram. With 256MB a Pegasos2 is blitzing fast
7. BTW, it’s Genesi and not a chapter of the Bible.
“1. you can’t expand your Mac Mini (You can’t plug PCI cards, you can’t put it on a decent ATX case…) ”
With a footprint of 5 CD covers, why would I want to put it in an ATX case?
“3. You can’t plug a faster AGP Radeon with more ram.”
True, but since the Pegasos 2 doesn’t even do real AGP or speeds faster than the equivalent of 1xAGP it doesn’t seem to be such a good idea to add a fast AGP card to the Pegasos 2. Drivers is another issue.
“4. You can’t plug two Gigabytes of ram as easily as on the Peg2.”
True, but 1GB is more than enough for most people. Still, I agree that it would’ve been nice to be able to add more RAM than 1 GB.
“5. You can’t run MorphOS. In desktop use it wipes the floor with MacOSX.”
Come again? Apart from a VERY subjective point, exactly how does MorphOS wipe the floor with Mac OS x? By not having a native TCP/IP stack included? By not having drivers for tons of hardware? By not having modern and up to date programs? By relying heavily on emulated legacy AmigaOS programs and ported UNIX utilities?
Fact remains that for a significant majority of computer users, the Mac mini is a much saner and better value for money than the Pegasos 2.
@ Apple Anonymous and @ Amiga/MorphOS Anonymous
Well, I bought a Pegasos because I am still an Amigan, and all I want to say you is that I made my chioce because I appreciate Amigan nature of Pegasos and the fact it keeps friendly nature of AmigaOS, but I also want to say that you two are wrong because it is so clear that two machines are aimed at different markets.
– Minimac is an entry-level computer for amateurs or newbies, to let them enter MAC world AND LET THEM TO APPRECCIATE IT.
It has been provided with a few good programs in bundle to start immediately navigate internet and be productive, but these programs are not in any way suitable for professional purposes neither the minimac has the hardware capabilities to be expanded in order to fit professional market.
– Pegasos is a multi-purpose machine born by Amiga professional hardware developers (b-Plan former Phase5 manufacturers) in order to create a motherboard to fill the gaps which divide Amiga world from reaching mainstream hardware solutions.
It is a project growing from time to time.
It is aimed to an hobbists-amateur market, in which people who bought it has enough skills to resolve legacies, dependencies, hardware lacks, obsolete software problems and still use the machine in a suitable way and with profit.
Amazingly Pegasos was born with a very open nature and surprising capabilities, so it allows this machine to be perfect for Linux PPC market.
Sure with entrance of Genesi (producers of Pegasos/ODW machine) into Power.org organization, they found enough interest and funds from partners to enhance the Pegasos motherboard and present new coming machines such as Pegasos 2,5, Pegasos III (these are already on dye and solid silicon with evaluation motherboards), and to present projects and layouts for a future Pegasos G5.
Regarding these facts:
>>>
“1. you can’t expand your Mac Mini.
>>>
True, but buyers of Minimac are not that stupid not to see this.
from mac point of view:
– If they want expandibility they will buy another Mac model on the market or aim at Intel-PC.
On the other hand (Pegasos side):
– The people who want open structure in their motherboad design and firmware, and prefer PPC instead of Intel solution will aim at Pegasos, either in the Linux world or in the former Amiga market.
>>>
“3. You can’t plug a faster AGP Radeon with more ram.”
True, but since the Pegasos 2 doesn’t even do real AGP or speeds faster than the equivalent of 1xAGP it doesn’t seem to be such a good idea to add a fast AGP card to the Pegasos 2. Drivers is another issue.
>>>
AGP on Pegasos was taken from PCI. It works.
Does it deserve anything else?
Agp slot on Pegasos is “AGP2 specs” compliant (AGP8x cards 3,3 volts can fit on it).
Drivers for Linux are already available.
Drivers for MorphOS are released at a steady rythm.
If you had a little attention you could had noticed here on OSNews (two weeks ago) about the release of new MOS 3D drivers for ATI RAdeon 9xxx series.
>>>
“4. You can’t plug two Gigabytes of ram as easily as on the Peg2.”
True, but 1GB is more than enough for most people. Still, I agree that it would’ve been nice to be able to add more RAM than 1 GB.
>>>
Minimac and Pegasos (actual Pegasos) are not aimed at heavy performance market of graphics, DTP, 3D and video prdoductions.
>>>
“5. You can’t run MorphOS. In desktop use it wipes the floor with MacOSX.
Come again? Apart from a VERY subjective point, exactly how does MorphOS wipe the floor with Mac OS x? By not having a native TCP/IP stack included? By not having drivers for tons of hardware? By not having modern and up to date programs? By relying heavily on emulated legacy AmigaOS programs and ported UNIX utilities?
>>>
– MorphOS is a powerful lightweight OS without heavy hardware resources requests.
– MacOS is stable and reliable multiuser OS.
– MorphOS can use old Amiga software.
Amazingly, most of this software is still suitable for desktop, productivity and multimedia solutions for the low end user, because it was well written.
(More… this “yesterday software” it already presented the software solutions that are nowadays common to work on a computer with profit. It is not obsolete. It is usable and already updated).
New programs or upgrades of old Amiga software are now released almost every day.
TCP-IP stack of old Amiga works flawlessly. New TCP-IP stack is on the road to be released.
– MacOS has plenty of new software and also top professional programs that are world-widely standards such as Office and Photoshop.
You can use it in a productive way even from scratch, without taking care of configurations, OS problems, bugs, spyware, viruses, exploits, as in the windows world.
All suggests that these two OSes are aimed at different markets.
>>>
Fact remains that for a significant majority of computer users, the Mac mini is a much saner and better value for money than the Pegasos 2.
>>>
Sincerely I Think Minimac is nothing but a joke
machine.
Launching it on the market some weeks before Apple announced they will use Intel solutions, seems to me offending to buyers, mainly for those who apprecciate PC architecture.
Here are my ideas:
– Invest your money in a high end Machintosh if you want value savings and renevues.
– Invest money in new Intel-Mac if you want to change the way it works Intel-PC market, find new IT solutions, create a new way to intend computers, new developing and use of mainstream software.
– Invest money in classical PPC MAc if you want to be productive without taking care of problems of the OS such as in windows and avoid spyware and viruses continuing being productive.
From the other hand:
– Invest money in MorphOS if you want to enter in a new environment, and in a fast-moving brave new world of IT solutions.
(In a little pool you could be the big-fish who is enough important to let this new market moving the way you desire)
– Invest money into Pegasos machine if you want to continue to develop for PPC market, for servers, embedded solutions, multimedia STB, etcetera.
– Invest money into Pegasos if you want to promote its development of new machines with mainstream hardware, and let PPC side of InformationTechnology world will evolve to compete with Intel solutions.
Sorry. I made a very big post.
Ciao,
Raffaele
“7. BTW, it’s Genesi and not a chapter of the Bible.”
Genesi is Latin for Genesis.
> Genesi is Latin for Genesis.
Shoot yourself!
‘Genesis’ is already Latin. It is like saying: ‘walked’ is English for ‘walking’ (a better sample does not come to my mind as English nouns only rarely differ in their grammatical cases). Keep your smattering for yourself.
Without heavy expansion abilities macmini have no chance as professional solution – only as web/office/multimedia toy…