Intel Announces New Chips, Chipsets

Saud Hakim writes "Intel showed a prototype of an IEEE 802.11a wireless LAN transceiver created by using a 90-nm CMOS (Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor) fabrication. The chip can switch between different networks and frequencies; it is capable of tuning and tweaking itself. It is also capable of detecting what kinds of wireless networks are available nearby and shifting to the frequency that is most appropriate." Reader serox sends more: "Intel has two big news releases today and IntelFanboy has it covered. First up is the new Xeon processors have been released with a list of improvements. Second, Intel has revealed two significant milestones in the development of extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) lithography that will help lead to developing the next generation chip technology."

Cool - I'm going to get an x86-64 Dell (dude)

[Virtual PC Guy]

Yay - now it will be easy for guys like me (lazy people who don't feel like assembling machines by hand anymore) to get an x86-64 box from Dell:

http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/compare.a spx/precn?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd [dell.com]

Or should I say 'Intel® Extended Memory 64 Technology' (whatever guys - everyone knows that it is just AMDs tech)

a? wtf?

[rokzy]

isn't 802.11a the old one that had a few benefits in certain situations over 802.11b, but is now superceded by 802.11g?

10 GHz?

[Pusene]

Too bad this type of wireless sytem is not allowed to use in better parts of the world, due to the regulation of radio frequencies. Why not use this adaptive frequency model in CPUs. Let the clockspeed scale with the load on the processor! (I meen scale in 30 MHz increments or something, not step between two speeds like it does now on some CPUs!)

Re:Wake me when

[Anonymous Coward]

The specs are publically available. Instead of sitting around whining, why don't you get off your ass and write the drivers yourself?

Re:a? wtf?

[Jeff DeMaagd]

It's worth noting that 802.11a has a significantly shorter theoretical maximum range when compared to the 2.4GHz (802.11b/g) solutions.

That is true but it is also far less crowded, with five or eight available channels in most countries. With the recent FCC posting, "a" is considered an indoor technology. I get pretty good range with "b" - something pretty close to the claimed 1000ft with the equipment I have, but that is with no obstructions. I really don't need that sort of range. The range problems a lot of people have with APs typically involve poor location and nothing more.

Re:Cool - I'm going to get an x86-64 Dell (dude)

[Slack3r78]

Actually, EMT64 is an incomplete clone of x86-64 by most reports, and doesn't appear to be binary compatible with x86-64. The x86-64 bit Linux distros are having to hack in support for the CPUs that essentially still does paging in software.

On top of that, all the ALUs on the CPU are still 32 bit, and it does not support the NX bit. There's a reason why Intel is only touting it as an "extended memory" architechture. It's an incomplete hack on top of the existing 32 bit chips that seems like nothing more than an attempt to save face by Intel.

Re:Leakage Current and Heat

[nelsonal]

My very basic understanding of the relationship is this, it takes less power to cause a smaller semiconductor to switch states, however as you move wires closer together you start to have capacitive leakage and inductive effects from the wires. Up until a few years ago, you the former was signficantly larger than the latter, but in recent years they have become more equal in magnitude of effect.
I like to think of semiconductors (and most electrical things) in terms of fluid flow (not ideal but you can get the picture better). Imagine a water valve with both hot and cold water entry and leaving (they share a mixing area). When water arrives some processing is done that assigns it a path and when it hits the gate the force of the water opens the gate, after the water leaves it closes. If we shrink the valve down it will require less water arriving before it opens, however as we move the hot pipe closer to the cold pipe some undesired heat is transfered. This is something similar to the effects designers (and manufacturers are dealing with on semiconductors).