RISC, CISC, EPIC and The Cell
Almost from the inception of the microprocessor, a philosophical debate has been raging as to what design is better. A dumb processor capable of only a few simple procedures, referred to as a RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) processor, could do simple operations very fast. A smart processor, capable of performing more complicated procedures, called a CISC (Complex Instruction Set Computer), would be slower with simple tasks but faster with complicated operations. For instance, a RISC processor capable only of addition and subtraction of whole numbers could be faster in performing sorting tasks, but would require extensive software instructions to perform a floating point multiplication that a CISC processor could perform immediately with its built-in hardware. RISC had the additional disadvantage that its programs had to be larger than similar programs for CISC processors, a big disadvantage in the days that computer memory came at a premium. On the other hand, the greater complexity of CISC processors made them more expensive to make.
In the mid-90s Apple decided to use RISC processors (e.g. the Motorola 68000) in their computers, while IBM-PC clone makers settled on the CISC architecture, even though IBM was pushing RISC processors. For reasons that have little to do with chip architecture, the Wintel community ended up outselling Apple about 20:1, making the CISC chips the clear winners.
In recent years processor chip designs have begun to merge, where RISC chips have more complex instructions and CISC chips are more efficient. Intel referred to the Pentium II as a CRISC design. Intel's major competitor, AMD, started out with a RISC design but still manages to produce chips that are compatible and competitive with Intel's Pentiums.
The next major advance in computer architecture is the use of multiple processors working together, dubbed EPIC (Explicitly Parallel Instruction Computing). This calls for rewriting computer programs if they are to make use of the new architecture. Many computer applications can be divided into separate operations that can be run simultaneously. Mathematical simulations such as those involved in weather forecasting are one example. Playing World-Master class chess is another one, and large sorting programs and spreadsheet-type manipulations are easily run in parallel fashion. Intel and AMD have both announced that upcoming powerful desktop computers will have multiple processors.
And now history repeats itself. Sony, Toshiba and IBM (STI) have announced a new microprocessor called The Cell. Cells are designed, RISC-like, to do just a few things very fast but also to work together to achieve optimum results. It might be called an EPIC RISC. Few details about The Cell have been published, other than the basic patent issued in 2002. According to IBM on its Web site: "IBM expects Cell to define an entirely new way of operating. Cell's underlying architecture will enable it to manifest itself into many forms for many purposes, helping to open up a whole new set of applications. Incorporating this architecture, chips will be developed for everything from handheld devices to mainframe computers."
Four of the Cells will power Sony's next-generation games console, the PlayStation 3. However, it is expected that The Cell will also be capable of powering super-fast desktop computers. An excellent article about The Cell can be found in The Economist (February 12, 2005, thanks to Louis Ritz). There is also a summary in PC Magazine (April 12, 2005).
In Brief
Several months ago Google announced a new, free desktop search program. It is still under development and does not (yet) index Acrobat .pdf files. Other search programs immediately came up with competing versions. According to PC Magazine (3/22/05) the best of the free desktop search programs at present is Yahoo's desktop search (desktop.yahoo.com), a lite version of the outstanding $75 X1 that they rate best of show.
Those miserable spyware intruders continue to get more sophisticated and the anti-spyware producers are in a constant battle to provide the best protection and, if necessary, removal tools. Yesterday's champions, AdAware and Spybot Search & Destroy have been overtaken by newcomers Spy Sweeper 3.5 ($30, www.webroot.com) according to PC Magazine (2/22/05) or CounterSpy 1.0 ($20, www.sunbeltsoftware.com) according to PC World (April 2005) which rated the earlier version 3.2 of Spy Sweeper as a close second best. Take your pick.
Do you depend on Quicken to download your financial data from banks and brokers? Well, Quicken is ending online services and tech support for Quicken 2001 and 2002 so you'll need to upgrade to Quicken 2005. And that version will no longer support importing data via the .qif format and will only support the .ofx format in its WebConnect and DirectConnect features. Microsoft Money 2005 will also support online services for just two years. PC World (April 2005).
Linspire (nee Lindows) has released its long-awaited version 5 of its user-friendly Linux distribution. They report that it took 3 years to develop and cost $20 million. Subscribers to its Click 'N Run library of self-installing Linux-based programs can download the new distribution for free and burn it to a self-booting CD-ROM. As a long-time user and promotor of the Linspire programs I eagerly obtained the new version to evaluate its new features. Sorry to say, Linspire 5.0 confirms the maxim that odd-numbered versions of major programs are often buggy and are best avoided. Fortunately, the distribution comes on a "live" CD that can be used to boot the computer and run the program without making any changes to the computer's hard drive or settings. I tried to boot the Linspire CD on my old Inspiron 3800 laptop, the one I have used daily for more than a year with Linspire 4.5 -- laptop edition. The screen assumed all sorts of weird color effects and the program hung, presumably. Shutting the computer off fortunately left it unharmed by the experience and still capable of running the older Linspire version. On my newer Inspiron 5150 laptop the CD seemed to boot OK, but the mouse was stuck at the edge of the screen and the programs did not respond to keyboard inputs. Again, no joy, but no harm was done. Finally I actually installed Linspire 5.0 on my desktop computer in partitions on a second hard drive that I have used previously to evaluate Linspire as well as other Linux distributions. This time the install was successful, but the Grub boot manager did not recognize the presence of Windows ME on the other hard drive, making Windows essentially inaccessible -- not an acceptable result. I had the same problem with the Mepis Linux distribution, which also uses the Grub boot manager. So for now I am sticking with the old and proven Linspire 4.5 distribution until they work the bugs out of 5.0.