 Re: PowerPC ruminations; was Re: LCIII->PowerPC?
Organization: Stanford University
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Distribution: usa
NNTP-Posting-Host: morrow.stanford.edu

In article <>,
 writes:
>In article <>,   writes:
>> In article <1qksuq$>, 
>>  writes:
>> |> Hi. I own an LCIII and I recently heard an interesting rumor.
>> |> I heard that the LCIII has a built in slot for a PowerPC chip.
>> |> Is this true? I heard that the slot is not the same as the PDS
>> |> slot.  Is that true?
>> |>
>> |> Thanks
>> |> David Mirsky
>> |> 
>>
>> Well, I also have an LC III.  Popping the top revealed:
>>
>>       One "socket" for an additional VRAM SIMM
>>
>>       One "socket" for a 72-pin RAM SIMM
>>
>>       One socket for a flat-pack FPU
>>
>>       A processor-direct slot  identical to the LC/LC II, but with
>>       an additional set of connetions to one side (for the full 32-bit
>>       data path that the LC/LC II lacked
>>
>> That's it.  I guess a board with a PowerPC chip could be made that would fit
>> in the PDS, but that's the only place.
>>
>So, will it be possible to have a NuBus or PDS PowerPC upgrade, or will it
>require a logic board swap? It would be interesting for Apple to come out with
>a NuBus PowerPC that allowed use of the CPU's 680x0, like RocketShare. But I
>guess that's getting a bit fantastic!
>
>I was wondering, since MacWeek reported that developers were 'seeded' with
>PowerPCs on a NuBus card.
>
>Also, any word on machine arrivals or estimated speed? Last I heard, the
>estimates were around 3-4 times the speed of a Quadra in native RISC mode. I
>heard an Apple employee mumble something about the arrival of PowerPC machines
>at a much earlier date that Q1 94, but I doubt it's true.
>
>Finally, is the PowerPC developer's CD 'mini-course' available? I saw it
>advertised in the developer's university calendar, and I'd like to know if it's
>at all *interesting*.
>
>Sean
>--------------
>

Radius speculated, publicly, that they could provide a PowerPC-based
Rocket for existing Macs. It would have the plus of RocketShare and
the minus of NuBus accelerators - no true boot off the accelerator,
NuBus bottleneck to video and other I/O.

Apple, it seems, will not compete with third parties here -- except
perhaps for not-yet-available Macs like Cyclone, where a PowerPC
slot might be advertised. Look for Daystar and such to make PowerPC
accelerators.

One potential problem with any accelerator, though, is that it will
need a ROM companion and Apple has licensed only Radius, with
Rocketshare, to use any of its proprietary code.

Apple is, between the lines, trying to let us know that PowerPC Macs
will have simplified logic boards due to the magical nature of RISC
and that these boards should be much cheaper to build than those in
existing 68040 Macs. Perhaps, then, we'll see groundbreaking
prices in Mac-logic board upgrades, much the same way we've seen
much cheaper high-performance CPUs this year.

First generation PowerPCs, 98601s, will also hopefully have socketed
CPUs so that they'll be chip upgradeable to 98604s a year later.
This should be possible in much the same way that 486s can be pulled
for clock doublers. If there is too much technical   baggage  to do
this, perhaps we can have CPU daughterboard, a la Powerbook, as
standard to facilitate better CPU upgrades. This is an area where
Apple has fallen far behing the Intel-based world. Perhaps catchup
is in order.

By the way, last week's PC week had an excellent story on PowerPC,
Pentium, MIPS R4000, DEC Alpha . Worth reading for technojunkies.
Also, the latest PC has a cover story on Pentium. Read it, and all
the other stories about how Intel is unstoppable and preeminent
right now.

Once anyone is this secure, they are due to fall. Intel's market
position will never again be as dominant as it is today . The competition from all fronts is gearing up for an awesome
battle. Apple users should be excited that PowerPC, while not
guaranteed dominance, is a guaranteed winner, even if its one of
several.

Mark
