An anonymous reader writes: NASA’s Perseverence rover, which is currently exploring Mars, has as it’s CPU a BAE Systems RAD 750 running at a 200 Mhz and featuring 256 Megabytes of RAM with 2 Gigabytes of storage. This is a radiation hardened version of the PowerPC G3, with specs roughly equivalent to the Clamshell Ibook that Reese Witherspoon used in Legally…
Tag: CPUs
Chrome Will Soon Lose Support For Some Ancient CPUs
If you’re one of the few people still using a PC with an x86 processor more than 15 years old, here’s another reason to upgrade: the devices will not work with future Chrome releases, starting with version 89 of the world’s most popular browser. TechSpot reports: The Chromium development team announced that CPUs older than the Intel Core 2 Duo and…
Intel Outsources Core i3 To TSMC’s 5nm Process
TSMC is to start making Intel’s Core i3 on its 5nm process in 2H21 says TrendForce. From a report: Market analyst Trendforce reports that foundry TSMC is to start making Intel’s Core i3 process later in the year on a 5nm process. This follows Intel’s well documented problems with its leading edge process technology at 10nm and 7nm. The Core i3…
Linux Kernel Developers Discuss Dropping a Bunch of Old CPUs
Charlotte Web writes: With Linux 5.10 having shipped as the latest Long Term Support (LTS) release to be maintained for at least the next five years, a discussion has begun over dropping a number of old and obsolete CPU platform support currently found within the mainline kernel. For many of the architectures being considered for removal they haven’t seen any new…
Rediscovering RISC-V: Apple M1 Sparks Renewed Interest in Non-x86 Architecture
“With the runaway success of the new ARM-based M1 Macs, non-x86 architectures are getting their closeup,” explains a new article at ZDNet. “RISC-V is getting the most attention from system designers looking to horn-in on Apple’s recipe for high performance. Here’s why…” RISC-V is, like x86 and ARM, an instruction set architecture (ISA). Unlike x86 and ARM, it is a free…
Speculation Grows As AMD Files Patent for GPU Design
Long-time Slashdot reader UnknowingFool writes:
AMD filed a patent on using chiplets for a GPU with hints on why it has waited this long to extend their CPU strategy to GPUs. The latency between chiplets poses more of a performance problem for GPUs, and AMD is attempting to solve the problem with a new interconnect called high bandwidth passive crosslink. This new…
‘Cyberpunk 2077’ Players Are Fixing Parts of the Game Before CD Projekt
Cyberpunk 2077 is here in all its glory and pain. On some machines, it’s a visual spectacle pushing the limits of current technology and delivering on the promise of Deus Ex, but open world. On other machines, including last-gen consoles, it’s a unoptimized and barely playable nightmare. Developer CD Projekt Red has said it’s working to improve the game, but fans…
Apple Introduces M1 Chip To Power Its New Arm-Based Macs
Apple has introduced the new M1 chip that will power its new generation of Arm-based Macs. It’s a 5nm processor, just like the A14 Bionic powering its latest iPhones. From a report: Apple says the new processor will focus on combining power efficiency with performance. It has an eight-core CPU, which Apple says offers the world’s best performance per watt of…
Hackers Can Now Reverse Engineer Intel Updates Or Write Their Own Custom Firmware
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Researchers have extracted the secret key that encrypts updates to an assortment of Intel CPUs, a feat that could have wide-ranging consequences for the way the chips are used and, possibly, the way they’re secured. The key makes it possible to decrypt the microcode updates Intel provides to fix security vulnerabilities and…
Firefox ‘Site Isolation’ Feature Enters User Testing, Expected Next Year
An anonymous reader shares a report: Site Isolation is a modern browser security feature that works by separating each web page and web iframes in their own operating system process in order to prevent sites from tampering or stealing with each other’s data. The feature was first deployed with Google Chrome in mid-2018, with the release of Chrome 67. Although initially,…