Comment Re:Rambust (Score 2) 112
It had all been done before, but Rambus added the idea of doing it -- for RAM!
A protocol bus -- for RAM!
Terminated, controlled-impedance transmission lines -- for RAM!
Differential (actually threshold-based pseudo-differential) signaling -- for RAM!
Source synchronous clocking -- for RAM!
Delay-locked loops -- for RAM!
Bidirectional signalling using (current-mode drivers) -- for RAM!
When I worked there I patented the principle of linearity when it is used in time-domain simulations -- for RAM! (One of the less valuable but most crazy ideas.)
All that silliness aside, I don't think Rambus' 2.5% royalty justifies the price premium for RDRAM. However, the fancy wafer-scale packaging, the impossibility of production testing at 800Mbps in the year 2000 and the horrific heat generated by those 28-ohm current-mode drivers was enough to kill the technology.
A protocol bus -- for RAM!
Terminated, controlled-impedance transmission lines -- for RAM!
Differential (actually threshold-based pseudo-differential) signaling -- for RAM!
Source synchronous clocking -- for RAM!
Delay-locked loops -- for RAM!
Bidirectional signalling using (current-mode drivers) -- for RAM!
When I worked there I patented the principle of linearity when it is used in time-domain simulations -- for RAM! (One of the less valuable but most crazy ideas.)
All that silliness aside, I don't think Rambus' 2.5% royalty justifies the price premium for RDRAM. However, the fancy wafer-scale packaging, the impossibility of production testing at 800Mbps in the year 2000 and the horrific heat generated by those 28-ohm current-mode drivers was enough to kill the technology.