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Old 08-14-2007, 12:49 PM   #26
Ed_Ca22
Nameless Being
 
Quote:
All mainstream software packages run under Windows and even the OpenSource candiates often require x86 (FireFox, Thunderbird, OpenOffice).
Um, actually all of these OpenSource programs run on a multitude of platforms, including ARM (the ARM version of OpenOffice is only available from Debian though).

Quote:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Robert Marquard View Post
I do not see that it is really more powerful than a current PDA. 400 MHz is now standard and i am rather sure that an ARM core is faster than a Geode.
I wouldn't be so sure about that...

Pepperpad fans had similar doubts. Here's an interesting reading:
http://www.pepper.com/forums/showthread.php?t=196
As the link you posted rightly points out, the main reason for ARM processors being slow is that they have no floating point unit and a small cache, and generally no graphics acceleration. But ARM processors are very varied, and comparing a device like the XScale PXA270 to something like the OMAP ARM processors from Texas Instruments (e.g. OMAP 3430 http://focus.ti.com/general/docs/wtb...er+OT+omap3430) that have built in 2D/3D accelerators, the latest (and much much faster) ARM core and more built in peripherals than you can shake a very big sick at (built in USB 2 host, every type of video out, every kind of memory interface you can imagine...) is really pointless.

What I'm saying is that geode vs XScale is not the same as Geode vs ARM or x86 vs ARM. I guarantee you that there are (or will be very soon - cant actually say I've done performance tests) ARM processors that out perform the Geode, require less external components, provide more functionality and are cheaper and less battery hungry.

To me it seems that the main argument for Geodes is that you can run windows, albeit very slowly. But Ive never wanted to do that anyway!

Not wanting to flame anyone here, I'm just quite opinionated about this topic!
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