[ltp] The MWave "disaster"

[Chris Schumann]

On Sat, 28 Aug 1999, Henry J. Cobb wrote:
> Software is the way forwards.

That's one way of looking at it. It likely lies ahead, but I hope we all
know it is a false economy, at least for desktop machines. (Hm, then
again, this is the *ThinkPad* linux list, Chris.)

> Modem, Soundcard, MPEG, all are being hollowed out and are handing over
> more and more of their processing to the central CPU... 

This is indeed happening and it is a bad thing and we should all do our
best to fight the trend. One place where it is not happening is 3D video.
Everyone knows a separate processor for video is good. It follows that
another for modem and another for sound and another for every gizmo in
your computer is even better. You get overall better performance every
time.

> ...you really don't want to power multiple processing engines
> from your battery...

> What I'd really like to see is not MWave support for the thinkpads, but a
> new PowerPC laptop with all the extra costs of modem, sound and DVD support
> eliminated

What I'd really like is a single chip (or chip module) with separate 3D,
modem sound and DVD processors, keeping power consumption low and my CPU
available for better things. Of course, this would be a huge initial
investment for the chip maker, but a huge market if you can give a laptop
all this power and still make it run an hour or more than the other guy's. 

Chris Schumann <whizkid@dwave.net>

"I am a cipher, wrapped in an enigma, smothered in secret sauce."
  - Jimmy James, News Radio