I wonder what is the point of having top of the chart processing power?

[Binky]

So Craig's plan is to use chips labelled as ES, which should really be called works-but-don't-blame-us-if-it-doesn't?

 

[Exophase]

No. No SoC manufacturer will sell you chips with no liability attached. Nobody wants that.

 

[klapse]

But "expecting to get them in quantity" may mean different things is the quantity is 5,000 vs 500,000. At least that is what Craig has hinted-at. Is it possible that e.g. Omap5 SoCs become available in 5k batches before production scales up to hundreds of thousands?


I was given the impression that this is what happened with the Omap3s. Wrong?


(edit: It wouldn't be much of a market advantage unless the time span between 5k and 500k quantities were several months, so It is a bit of a mystery what information Craig bases his apparent P2 product strategy upon.)

 

[Exophase]

Lower volume production runs != engineering sample runs, even if engineering samples are selected from them.


If someone offers a small run to you ahead of what they're offering their much more substantial clients that's great, but it's naive to automatically expect this to happen. I don't know what happened with OMAP3, but it's hard to believe volume of the Archos PMPs that had them were so low when I could easily find them stocked in local stores. In fall 2008 I visited a Circuit City that had said PMP, which had both an OMAP3 and Pandora's LCD, or at least people were saying it did.

 

[Binky]

Nevertheless, the omap3 s used in pandora, and archos pmps, were called ES


Whatever they should have been called, this is presumably what Craig is referring to...

 

[Exophase]

Nevertheless, the omap3 s used in pandora, and archos pmps, were called ES


Whatever they should have been called, this is presumably what Craig is referring to...

No, they are still called ES. Does that even stand for engineering sample?


The real point is that Craig is saying you'll be able to get the best possible tech in Pandora 2 modules because they'll have access to chips before other companies can or will put them in new devices, not because they're named a certain way.

 

[Binky]

Possibly Criag's idea is that, with only a SOC module to design we can develop faster than Big Smartphone?


Seems kinda unlikely.


Or perhaps chip manufacturers will be persuaded to use the P2 as a testbed?

 

[WizardStan]

Or perhaps chip manufacturers will be persuaded to use the P2 as a testbed?

As I recall, that's what the P1 was supposed to be for the OMAP3. I doubt they'll be willing to have another go.

 

[Binky]

I didn't mean "pandora owners do hardware bug-checking"


I meant "big company buys its hardware devs some P2s for use when testing pre-release chips"


Hey! new prototype from the chip-making department. plonk it it a P2. play around. find weird flaws/instabilities/brokenness. work out whats causing them. fix cad file


Having said that, I know nothing about the process used to design processor chips.

 

[overgauss]

Can we get back on topic please?

Who is this in response to?


Anyway, this is how I use the term engineering sample, and the reason for my speculation on the use of ESs in a consumer product.


Web definitions

• Engineering samples are the beta versions of CPUs that are meant to be used for compatibility qualification or as demonstrators . They are usually loaned to OEM manufacturers prior to the chips commercial release to allow product development/display. ...
  

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engineering_sample_(CPU)

 

[2bit]

How come Nintendo no longer markets the NES ?


In my opinion it was and is simply the overall best mass market video game system ever . But Nintendo no longer markets it because everybody wants a shiny piece of tech .

 

[3_bit]

Another problem we would run into is that, we are not going to get any graphics-intense exclusive programs. The extra power of the P2 would just be wasted.


There are other concerns as well, such as even you can play silent hill 2 on the P2, you have to have a massive SD card to store all the images. A lot people would not bother with it, they may just want to play with the classic consoles after done a few emails and processed some documents.

I don't want the P2 to be some /netbook/ placed under a shrink ray with a gaming controller!

 

[3_bit]

I didn't mean "pandora owners do hardware bug-checking"


I meant "big company buys its hardware devs some P2s for use when testing pre-release chips"


Hey! new prototype from the chip-making department. plonk it it a P2. play around. find weird flaws/instabilities/brokenness. work out whats causing them. fix cad file


Having said that, I know nothing about the process used to design processor chips.

Methinks they probably have a much more advanced and better system that could emulate any machine to test their processors. The P2 wouldn't be versatile and they'd need things like direct memory access. Not only that, but it's hard to build a computer when you don't know what the processor can interface with.

 

[thatgui]

I don't want the P2 to be some /netbook/ placed under a shrink ray with a gaming controller!

What else should it be ?