Intel Innovates at Robert Pogson

Henry Kingman has written a piece describing some technology Intel has developed for the embedded/battery-powered space. It is still x86 but shuts down stuff when idling. The problem with that is that netbooks with GNU/Linux are multi-tasking devices that are never completely idle. This new design may work for cell-phones and the like but a PC is a different animal. x86 is still a resource hog for the number of bits it has to flip to do anything. ARM does not have that problem by design. Intel cannot fix that problem by power management.

It is good to see Intel pay attention to the low end. Where is AMD??? Picking the low-hanging fruit of servers and gamers, I suspect. I have long used AMD for just about everything but they no longer work for me. I need thin clients a lot more than I need hair driers. If I need one of those, I can use Intel. I need 64bit servers and 32bit clients. Where is AMD?

My Mission

My observations and opinions about IT are based on 40 years of use in science and technology and lately, in education. I like IT that is fast, cost-effective and reliable. I do not care whether my solution is the same as yours. I like to think for myself.

My first use of GNU/Linux in 2001 was so remarkably better than what I had been using, I feel it is important work to share GNU/Linux with the world. I have been blessed by working in schools where students and school systems have benefited by good, modular software easily installed in most systems.

I have shown GNU/Linux to thousands of students and hundreds of teachers over the years and will continue in some way doing that until I die in spite of the opposition.