Monday, June 29th, 2009
I recently completed a review of the Clarion MiND, a mobile Internet device that also can be used for in-vehicle infotainment. Or is it an IVI that doubles as a MID?
That’s the big question, described in “MiND Over Matter: A Little Device That Does It All.” Check it out!
Thursday, June 25th, 2009
There’s a new Atom platform coming to town. Code-named Pine Trail, it reduces the number of processors in a standard device from three down to two.
Today’s Netbook platform, based on the Diamondville architecture, consists of three chips, the Intel Atom N270 processor, an 945GC/945GSE memory controller and GPU, and an ICH7/ICH7M I/O controller chip.
The new Pine Trail platform moves the memory controller and GPU circuitry inside an Atom N450 processor, which is referred to as having the Pineview architecture. The new I/O controller chipset, code-named Tiger Point, remains as a separate package.
The benefits are two-fold. First, you save space and electricity. Second, by integrating the memory controller and GPU into the same chip as the CPU core, the system should see performance increases.
A potential downside — for competing GPU makers — is that by integrating the GPU into the processor core, is that it’s going to be much less likely that customers will choose to bundle a Pineview processor with an NVIDIA chip. This could give systems builders less choice, and potentially restricts competition.
When’s all this going to happen? Intel hasn’t committed to a release date, but sources say that the N450 and Tiger Point chips could be available as early as October 2009.
Thursday, June 18th, 2009
Jamie Watson, an applications developer and blogger in Bern, Switzerland, has posted an excellent three-part series about Moblin on the Nettop. The third part came out today. Read them and enjoy!
Thursday, June 18th, 2009
It came out on Tuesday, June 13 — the latest refresh of Moblin v2 for Netbooks. They’re coming fast and furious — the previous one came out on June 7, only a week earlier.
Rapid-fire releases of betas are generally a sign that a release candidate getting close.