1.91Mhz CPU running WinXP???

[Mephistopheles]

From The Inquirer:

But, the FPGA is still able to run Windows XP- even though it's working at a measly 1.91MHz (not a typo) at 97% processor load.

What's this all about? Multicore? Efficiency? What's going on? What's the point?... 8O

 

[microgiant]

XP likes memory more than processor, at 4mb there must have been lots of disk swapping.

 

[sithscout80]

The point is that an FPGA can run Windows. FPGAs have been known to be very high in power consumption and not be able to process information that quickly. This is just showing the progression in FPGA, that it can include all the needed x86 instruction and run a traditional application.


If you don't know what an FPGA, here is a quick explanation.
There are a lot of fets on a piece of silicon and applying voltage to some of them to turn them on or off will change the internal logic of the circuit. That is a very basic view of them.

Here is more information.

 

[bliq]

XP likes memory more than processor, at 4mb there must have been lots of disk swapping.

It's "running" WinXP as a console... no gui and no services started up. basically a state that most people couldn't use it. But it ran. Maybe it was to show that the kernel didn't take up all that much space in memory...

 

[npilier]

It seems like this a high-capacity chip with a dedicated number of FP units in array. This might be one reason why -out of the many variables- why the such primitive setup, can run WinXP sucessfully. The article refers to the technology as "Tera-Scale," probably describing the performance of the programmable "logic" cores -can't know for sure how many since they don't tell- as they quote Weinrib, from Intel, making reference "that parallelism in inevitable." I mean they talk about making full use of "bandwidth and usability," so they could be using a different flavors of cisc, risc, or mimd and memory arch solutions.

Also, besides memory requirements XP requires a pretty decent & powerful FP unit so that might explain the system's -embedded FPGA core with its logic FP units working in tandem- extraordinary performance. Something to note is, that they don't talk about the how much memory the system was actually using.

Bottom line, is good to the end consumer and enthusiast!