From...

January 21, 2000
Web posted at: 10:17 a.m. EST (1517 GMT)

by David Needle

SARATOGA, Calif. (IDG) -- Transmeta's Crusoe microprocessor promises to shake up the market for mobile computing devices, including everything from handhelds to Net appliances to traditional PC notebooks.

That's because Crusoe, which was finally unveiled on Wednesday, is not just another Intel-compatible chip. Instead, it's a new chip architecture that emulates Intel's market-dominant x86 hardware in software. By breaking out the Intel emulation as a software component, Transmeta was able to design a processor that is as powerful as Intel's, yet smaller, with a fraction of the power requirements.

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"Three quarters of the [microprocessor's] complexity is in software," says Transmeta chief executive Dave Ditzel. And Ditzel says Transmeta can make fixes and enhancements to Crusoe over the Internet.

The initial target for Crusoe are Internet access devices and mininotebooks. Transmeta has developed two Crusoe chips for these markets. The TM3120 comes in 333- and 400-MHz versions, includes the Linux operating system, and is designed for Web Pads running a browser. The chip also supports Windows. The higher-end TM5400 comes in 500- and 700-MHz versions and is designed for notebook PCs running Windows.

Some existing Internet access devices support simple e-mail only, and won't open attachments or run multimedia software such as Macromedia's Shockwave. Ditzel stressed that Crusoe-based systems will support the full range of Windows applications and Web browser plug-ins.

No vendors announced yet

Transmeta disappointed attendees to its lavish coming out party at the swank Villa Montalvo estate here by not announcing any customers.

The company did reveal that IBM will be the primary manufacturer of Crusoe processors. And it did have a demo room full of working prototype Crusoe-based systems of its own design including Web Pads, handheld PCs, and notebooks running Windows 98.

Vendors using Crusoe in new systems may announce as early as this week, according to Jim Chapman, Transmeta's vice president of sales. Chip maker S3 will announce a Crusoe-based Web Pad on Thursday, according to a report in the San Jose Mercury News. Notebooks based on Crusoe are expected to start appearing the middle of this year.

"I was disappointed they had no hardware [suppliers] on hand," said Rob Enderle, analyst with Giga Information Group. Still, Enderle and other analysts give high marks to Crusoe's chances -- as long as it works as the company says it will. "I'm very impressed by what I saw," says Enderle.

Good-bye Windows CE?

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"Crusoe could kill Windows CE," says Enderle. Where battery life for Windows CE devices can be limited to as little as a few hours, a Crusoe-based Web Pad, for example, can run all day without a recharge. "Crusoe has a special deep sleep mode that uses only 20 milliwatts of power," says Ditzel. "You could leave it on and come back two weeks later and the device would still be running."

Notebooks represent about 17 percent of the overall PC market according to Dataquest, and Transmeta is going after the fastest growing segment of that market: lightweight, under-four-pound systems powerful enough to run Windows 98 and support CD and DVD playback. In terms of battery life, "Intel's most recent mobile chips miss the boat," says Enderle.

"Crusoe could generate all kinds of growth in mobile computing devices," says Keith Diefendorff, an analyst with Microprocessor Report. "Yes, mobile today is 17 percent of the PC market, but Crusoe could spawn products with new form factors that don't exist today, because it's easier to work with than competing RISC chips."

The Transmeta chip may even find its way into desktop systems. "Nothing prohibits us from moving to the desktop, but first thing's first," says Marc Fleischmann, a project manager at Transmeta.

Crusoe's small size and aggressive price could let a PC maker create a very compact, inexpensive, and quiet desktop system. (The Crusoe doesnât need a fan to dissipate heat.)

Torvalds is game

One of the reasons for the heavy industry buzz about Transmeta was the involvement of Linus Torvalds, leader of the Linux movement. Although not on the executive team, Torvalds is a key member of the software team at Transmeta and helped develop the code-morphing software that emulates the x86 hardware.

In one onstage demo, Torvalds used a Linux-based Crusoe system to play Quake against Dave Taylor, one of the creators of the popular game, using a Crusoe system running Windows 98. Taylor blasted his way to an easy victory, leaving Torvalds to sheepishly implore the audience not to blame it on Linux.