Transmeta Details Continue to Unravel

KrisJon writes "Redherring has some info on Transmeta's pending announcement of its product line." It comments about Torvald's keynote today (and it says he won't spill the beans, but that The Transmeta Website should update and actually contain content tonight). Update by RM: as of 9 p.m. EST there was new content on Transmeta's Web site. Not much, but more than it had before. Read the HTML for the secret message.

Sheesh guys

I wonder if they hired Linus for marketing.

But geese guys! Linus is an excellent coder from what I've heard but this reminds me way too much of the celebrity worship I despise so much in the mainstream. Now my comrades do the same in our bailiwick?

Please, say it ain't so? There isn't even anything worthwhile on the page and people already want to by one or four!

I am very skeptical with this new chip. Especially with so many people are going to fall over each other to buy one. I certainly hope everyone will wait for this chip to prove itself before we all hop on the bandwagon.

Also, think about this: Which one do you want to win? Linus the marketer or Linus the coder? In other words, let this chip be succesful on its own merits. Linus shouldn't be a factor.

***Beginning*of*Signiture***
Linux? That's GNU/Linux [gnu.org] to you mister!

I Know What Transmeta Is !!!!!!!!!

It's people!!!! It's people!!!!!! Transmeta is people!!!!!!!

Secret Message

From the source:
---------------------
!---Yes, there is a secret message, and this is it:
Transmeta's policy has been to remain silent about its plans
until it had something to demonstrate to the world.
On January 19th, 2000, Transmeta is going to announce and demonstrate
what Crusoe processors can do.
Simultaneously, all of the details will go up on this Web site
for everyone on the Internet to see.
Crusoe will be cool hardware and software for mobile applications.
Crusoe will be unconventional, which is why we wanted
to let you know in advance to come look at the entire Web site
in January, so that you can get the full story and have access to all
of the real details as soon as they are available.---

Significant transmeta problems.

This change is only for the worst, everyone. We all thought that the Crusoe would be our salvation, that Transmeta and Linus would invent something that would destroy Microsoft and all that is non-open source. In short, we looked to Transmeta for our salvation. But we will not find it. Why? It is as simple as it is shocking: The transmeta homepage once carried an announcement that it was y2k compliant.

That announcement is no longer there!

Let the mourning begin.

Re:Sheesh guys

A little of both. Sure, they probably could have found a better coder - one w/o a family and completely willing to put in those 80 hour weeks for a year straight until shipping time, for example - but on paper it works so well - put the guy who wrote the operating system from the ground up in charge of writing code to load operating systems from the ground up. You can't find one single person who created Windows, Solaris, or OS/2, but with Linux, it all started with one guy. It's perfectly fitting for him to be doing what he is doing now.

On the other hand, this company is all about "names" - Linus, David Ditzel, VC funding from one of the most reputable firms in the valley. Plus, it's great psychological ammunition for your competitors. Take a bunch of names that are constantly in the press, stick them at an ultrasecretive company - to my knowledge, they don't even have a PR department - and you end up with an extremely volatile mixture, so to speak. Intel is sweating a lot more bullets right now than they would be if Transmeta had announced their product years ago as is standard to drum up buzz around the net and in RL. It's a smart move.
--
"Some people say that I proved if you get a C average, you can end up being successful in life."

Re:Debian and Dreamcast

Well, "Crusoe Debian Dreamcast Cinnabon" is an anagram of "Concessionaire adumbrate and NBC". The "concessionaire" is cleraly Linus, "adumbrate" is a reference to the number-crunching power of the Crusoe processor, but where does NBC fit in?

Well, let's see, NBC is owned by General Electric, which is a major competitor of Sega, who make the Dreamcast. Jack Welch, the CEO of GE is a known associate of Warren Buffet, who is thought to be a big fan of the Cinnabom [tm] breakfast roll.

It seems to me that the logo must be part of a secret code between Welch, Buffet and Stallman (probably all members of the Illuminati), to put the wind up Sega, and remind them not to stop putting Satanic symbols in the Sonic games.

fnord fnord fnord, etc.

jsm

Crusoe is the embodiment of remoteness.

You couldn't more elegantly summarize the concept of distant, non-attached, portable computing than with the image of footprints in the sand.

A dream for many geeks.

So not only do they have very good programmers working for them, (Linux et al), they also have semi-decent marketing types too.

Cool.

exactly

If I were inventing a new chip that is supposed to revolutionize the industry, I certainly wouldn't pin my hopes on getting Microsoft to port its operating systems onto it for a bunch of reasons:

1) Their operating systems provide subpar performance and never really made some of the easier chip-technology leaps that have already happened. They're having enough trouble porting their wares to Intel's Itanium chips, which are less revolutionary than what Transmeta is alegedly making.

2) Try as they might otherwise, they are still joined to Intel, and if I had a new wonderful process to protect, I wouldn't wave it anywhere near Intel.

3) Ultimately, it would be up to MS to decide whether and how well to support the new chip.

4) It doesn't look like this chip will even be competing on the normal pc part of the spectrum, which makes sense if Allen is hoping to keep his paper billions from crashing about his ears.

Hiring Linus makes perfect sense, because if they want a non-MS operating system to run on this chip, their best bet is Linux, and if they're therefore betting hard on Linux, it is in their best interest to make sure the maintainer of its kernel is secure in that position. They also get the bonus of getting to develop their own modified kernel in house while subtly steering the public kernel in a direction most favorable to the sudden incorporation of their modifications when the chip is finally unveiled.

A few facts...

1. Their web server is running Linux.
2. They hired Linus.
3. Linus has been talking more and more about small computers being the future lately.
4. One of the big thrusts in kernel development has been pda's and small environments.
5. The Transmeta web site promises new hardware and software for mobile computing.
6. Transmeta have been very tolerant of Linus' foibles as far as spending time on Linux at the office.

Boys and girls... I will leave the conclusion to the student. Hint: processor's are cool... But the did say and software

woohoo!

reverse vaporware

i love it.. the concept of vaporware in reverse. By waiting until they actually have something definite to speak up, everyone tries to theorize about what you could be doing, analyses your every action, gives you as much free publicity as you could possibly need. And that way, since you aren't the one giving out the "information", the information can be incredibly innaccurate without any kind of backlash against you. Also you avoid the "vaporware backlash" inevitable if you spend _any_ amount of time actually making the product worth shipping instead of just shipping whatever you have on the date you gave earlier.

Apple has been attempting this for years with their "we do not comment on unannounced products" policy, but never have they done it so successfully as Transmeta has here.
although take a warning from apple's experience: This kind of thing _can_ backfire. Look, for instance, at the ibook; through apple's silence, the mac rumors sites constantly talked about the ibook even when there was nothing to report, whipped up everyone into such a frenzy over the upcoming P1/consumer portable/ibook/ebook that apple was basically forced eventually to release the ibook despite the fact that it would appear they weren't quite _ready_. In fact, apple was frequently accused by relatively respectable people and news outlets of engaging in "vaporware" with the ibook-- despite the fact they had never really admitted the ibook existed, just a vague mention in Steve Job's speech the previous year they'd like to create a "consumer portable".. (if they had had time to _get_ ready, clearly they would have chosen colors other than blue and orange.. :)

Anyway, i am looking forward to the transmeta Crusoe chip, built using 100% Technology Stolen from Alien Spacecraft.

Other interesting things on their site

http://www.transmeta.com/images/ [transmeta.com] - their img dir including a few files not visible on their index page; for some reason I was redirected to http://www1adm.transmeta.com/images/ [transmeta.com] once

http://www.transmeta.com/legal.html [transmeta.com] - the least interesting thing you've seen in a long time

http://www.transmeta.com/robots.txt [transmeta.com] - why don't they have one? tsk tsk

I've got it!

I finally figured out Linus's connection! According to the secret message, come January we will "have access to all of the real details". In other words, the information is going to become open. But then, if you turn to the processor's name, Crusoe, you'll quickly realize as I did that it's just an anagram for SOURCE. Transmeta's processor is going to be OPEN SOURCE!

Hallelujah!

out of order Source = Crusoe?

Ok, let's take it a bit more seriously.

We already know that they have a patent on a microprocessor which should be able to run other processor instructions.
+
Crusoe = out of order sourCe.

Ok, here it is: It's a multiprocessor that, given any instruction set, figures out ways to parallelize the code as much as possible by performing instructions out of order.

RJB Consultiing

check out all the domains they have registerd
BR> GO-CRUSOES.COM
GO-CRUSOES.ORG
GO-CRUSOES.NET
GOCRUSOES.NET
RJBAKER.COM
GOCRUSOES.ORG
CRUSOE.COM
CRUSOES.NET
GOCRUSOES.COM
CRUSOES.COM
CRUSOES.ORG
CYBERBORG.COM
Y2KSANDIEGO.COM
FROTZ.COM
MOBILE-PROCESSOR.ORG
MOBILE-PROCESSOR.COM
MOBILEPROCESSOR.NET
GO-CRUSOE.ORG
GO-CRUSOE.COM
MOBILE-PROCESSOR.NET
GOCRUSOE.ORG
GO-CRUSOE.NET
MOBILEPROCESSOR.ORG
GOCRUSOE.NET
MOBILEPROCESSOR.COM
GOCRUSOE.COM

[doc brown voice]1.21 giga-hits![/doc brown voice]

[doc brown voice] "...The only problem with a Slashdot effect is that you never know when one's going to strike!"[/doc brown voice]

[marty mcfly voice] "We do now! January 19th, 2000! 12:00am! http://www.transmeta.com [transmeta.com]!" [/marty mcfly voice]

REAL Transmeta Secret Message

If you view the source at:
http://www.transmeta.com/super/sekrut/message/in dex.html

From the source:
---------------------
!---Yes, there is a secret message, and this is it:
Transmeta's policy has been to remain silent about its plans for world domination until it had something to demonstrate to the world.
On January 19th, 2000, Transmeta is going to announce and demonstrate what Crusoe processors can do by destorying the capital city of every nation on Eatrh.
Simultaneously, all capital cities of an alien race known as the Juridians will be reduced to component atoms as payment for this new technology that we have accquired from a friendly alien race. Of course, all of the details will go up on this Web site for everyone on the Internet to see.
Crusoe will be cool hardware and software for military applications.
Crusoe will be unconventional, which is why we wanted to let you know in advance to stay away from any major cities. If you do this, then you can come look at the entire Web site after the attack in January. Please avoid viewing any of the public media in the mean time, so that you can avoid the alien propaganda, and get the full story and have access to all of the real details as soon as they are available.---

Transmeta domain names:

Transmeta domain names:

RJB Consulting (GO-CRUSOES2-DOM) GO-CRUSOES.COM
RJB Consulting (GO-CRUSOES3-DOM) GO-CRUSOES.ORG
RJB Consulting (GO-CRUSOES-DOM) GO-CRUSOES.NET
RJB Consulting (GOCRUSOES2-DOM) GOCRUSOES.NET
RJB Consulting (RJBAKER-DOM) RJBAKER.COM
RJB Consulting (GOCRUSOES3-DOM) GOCRUSOES.ORG
RJB Consulting (CRUSOE5-DOM) CRUSOE.COM
RJB Consulting (CRUSOES5-DOM) CRUSOES.NET
RJB Consulting (GOCRUSOES-DOM) GOCRUSOES.COM
RJB Consulting (CRUSOES4-DOM) CRUSOES.COM
RJB Consulting (CRUSOES3-DOM) CRUSOES.ORG
RJB Consulting (CYBERBORG-DOM) CYBERBORG.COM
RJB Consulting L.L.C. (Y2KSANDIEGO-DOM) Y2KSANDIEGO.COM
RjB Consulting / Frotz SubVersions (FROTZ3-DOM) FROTZ.COM
rjb consulting (MOBILE-PROCESSOR2-DOM) MOBILE-PROCESSOR.ORG
rjb consulting (MOBILE-PROCESSOR3-DOM) MOBILE-PROCESSOR.COM
rjb consulting (MOBILEPROCESSOR-DOM) MOBILEPROCESSOR.NET
rjb consulting (GO-CRUSOE3-DOM) GO-CRUSOE.ORG
rjb consulting (GO-CRUSOE2-DOM) GO-CRUSOE.COM
rjb consulting (MOBILE-PROCESSOR-DOM) MOBILE-PROCESSOR.NET
rjb consulting (GOCRUSOE3-DOM) GOCRUSOE.ORG
rjb consulting (GO-CRUSOE-DOM) GO-CRUSOE.NET
rjb consulting (MOBILEPROCESSOR3-DOM) MOBILEPROCESSOR.ORG
rjb consulting (GOCRUSOE2-DOM) GOCRUSOE.NET
rjb consulting (MOBILEPROCESSOR2-DOM) MOBILEPROCESSOR.COM
rjb consulting (GOCRUSOE-DOM) GOCRUSOE.COM

Mobility Means??

There is a body of research on mobile code and/or mobile programs. In short, code that can be run anywhere (e.g., java bytecode, Obliq, etc.).

This fits with the rumors on a meta processor; indepence from instruction sets. Are you marooned on a instruction set you'd like to get off of??

Then there is the mobile phone, mobile assistant, mobile computer.

While a low wattage speedy microprocessor would be interesting. Everyone who isn't trying to do an Intel clone is in this market. There's room for another player. However, a player who is going to give the VC firms a 10x return on their investment? The margins down here tend to be small.

So I'm not sure mobility necessarily means the latter here. Of course time will tell....

I'm reminded of the SEL 32

Some years ago I worked with a Systems Engineering Laboratories SEL 32. This was a very high-end minicomputer, in the form of a six-foot hunk of 19-inch rack, chock full of circuitry. Just under 1 Megabuck.

The computer itself was made of wire-wrapped socket boards stuffed full of standard chips, then tied together by a big backplane and some ribbon cables. It had downloadable firmware. Part of the standard documentation was the complete set of diagrams for the circuitry and complete listings of the firmware. You could get the listings of the OS if you wanted them.

So it was an totally open-source machine, at least to the customers. You could hack the OS, or use it as a base to write your own system. you could change the firmware. You could even rewire the beast itself.

Our hardware maintainence man was ex of SEL's own customer engineering (i.e. onsite-repair) department. He had a few tales to tell.

It seems that a bit over half their production was delivered to designated loading docks at apparently abandoned warehouses, and was gone the next day. The bills were paid. And they never had to go fix 'em. (Or almost...)

One time he DID have to go fix one. And they flew him there in an airplane with blacked-out windows, which did quite a few manouvers during several hours of flight. Then they took him from the plane to the building in a tent tunnel.

It seems the computer was very popular with the No Such Agency, for doing cryptography. They could fix it themselves, using generic parts. They could hack on it to add stuff they didn't want out of their sight and into the industry. And they could be sure that did exactly what they thought it did.

Or at least they could usually fix it. Which is why my collegue ended up in spookland for an afternoon.