> Traversal is going to be subject to many of these concerns.
Timothy, any thoughts on using a DSP? (e.g. TI DM6443 or perhaps
Sigma EM8510 or EM8560) Most of the hardware patent liability would
be TI or Sigma's problem. If the software has a patent problem,
it would be a lot easier to change than hardware. The software
could be provided by a seperate entity, avoiding liability to TT.
Patents that allow use by free software would not be a problem.
Pros:
No ASIC to design -> faster time to market
No $$$$$ ASIC mask to buy.
TI and Sigma probably have reference designs that could
shorten design time even more.
Supposedly these things can decode HD video all by themselves.
We'd want to verify this, and make sure no shortcuts are being taken.
Programmable. Fewer worries about forgetting some feature.
New codecs could be handled with software.
Patents -> TI/Sigma or software. Much less exposure to TT.
I still haven't found a max power consumption for the DM6443,
but the numbers I found are like 1.25-1.5 Watt, so probably
2-2.5 Watt worst case (wild guess here). Pretty low power.
The DM6443 has UARTs, so it would be easy to provide RS-232.
So no chicken-and-egg video mode problem. And also could
provide a rs-232 console for debugging, linuxbios development,
people that need remote console, VT100 emulator, etc.
The DM6443 has Ethernet, so a standalone box would be easy
to do. Maybe easier than an expansion card. It might even
be feasible to design a board that could be used either way.
(Yes that last idea is a bit of a long shot.)
Could put an X11 server on board. Someone was wanting that to
make X more responsive. The standalone box version would
definitely benefit from this.
Assumptions:
I'm assuming these chips are sufficiently documented.
If these things are fast enough to decode HD video, I
assume they could handle a 3D GUI button and such.
Cons:
Probably couldn't support the 2 dual-link DVI that is planned
for OGC. Or at least would probably need extra hardware to do it.
But single-link is supposed to be good for 1920x1200. (I'm
assuming for the moment that these can support single-link DVI.)
The only monitors I know of bigger than that are the 30" LCDs from
Apple and Dell.
There may be some gottcha that I'm missing.
Awhile back, there was a brainstorming session to find a product that
could be done quickly, to get money coming in for the ASIC. A card or
box based on a DSP could be that product. Then resume work on the
ultimate ASIC with the 2 dual-link DVI, and with the pressure to get
something out the door off, there would be time for extra features.
E.g. go straight to the second generation ASIC, saving a mask.
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