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[Trev]

Here's a bit of speculation that I haven't seen posted yet, though I may have missed it, from http://stevecheney.posterous.com/the...tical-platform by way of Slashdot:

This analysis is not yet mainstream, but will add tremendous fuel to the fire that perhaps the A4 is NOT an ARM architecture. In fact, it’s highly possible that the A4 is a dual core Power Architecture, which is what the PA Semi team worked with, prior to Apple buying them in 2007.

What's funny is that if this is true, then a PowerPC-native iPhone OS 4.0 will very quickly replace AmigaOS 4.x as the operating system behind the "OS4" moniker. ;-)

[bloodline]

It is ARM, I have written an App for it

Proof: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4C0PNrUC9jE

[Trev]

That's part of the speculation, though--that the current tools compile for ARM and the code runs on an emulator, paving the way for iPhone OS 4.0 and the XCode stack to support native PowerPC binaries. EDIT: Can't watch the vid at work. Will have to look later....

[bloodline]

Originally Posted by Trev

That's part of the speculation, though--that the current tools compile for ARM and the code runs on an emulator, paving the way for iPhone OS 4.0 and the XCode stack to support native PowerPC binaries. EDIT: Can't watch the vid at work. Will have to look later....

I have to specify the architecture when producing a binary, and I know that my App wouldn't run very well on an emulator (my gfx engine is totally CPU, no OpenGL yet).

The iPad is an ARM Cortex-A8

-Edit- The iPad's CPU runs twice as fast as the iPhone 3GS... and a quick check on the internal timer in my App, shows that the code is running about twice as fast on the iPad as the iPhone.

[Trev]

Or, Apple could have implemented a very effective emulation. You wouldn't necessarily have a way to determine this within your app. Or you could be right. Either way, it's a fun bit of speculation. ;-)

[bloodline]

Originally Posted by Trev

Or, Apple could have implemented a very effective emulation. You wouldn't necessarily have a way to determine this within your app. Or you could be right. Either way, it's a fun bit of speculation. ;-)

If they have, then Apple tech is far far in advanced of the rest of the world!

[Trev]

You never know. Video recording was sprung on an unsuspecting audience at a radio and television industry conference, for example, and while dynamic recompilation was in use as early as the 1970's, the UltraHLE Nintendo 64 emulator still caught the gaming industry completely off guard.

[Karlos]

It's an ARM based CPU designed by the people formerly of PASemi, which apple bought up for 278M USD a few years ago.

I don't imagine those guys would have any problem designing ARM based processors any more than they did PPC ones.

[Karlos]

Originally Posted by bloodline

It is ARM, I have written an App for it

Proof: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4C0PNrUC9jE

I never knew you were an oriental lady's thumb (just watched cutiemish's related link).

[bloodline]

Originally Posted by Karlos

I never knew you were an oriental lady's thumb (just watched cutiemish's related link).

I have a reply to that... but this is a family board

[adz]

Originally Posted by bloodline

I have a reply to that... but this is a family board

That's never stopped you before oh glorious Sock Master

[Trev]

@Karlos

Which would make it not an ARM Cortex-A8. Still possible, though, since the PA Semi folks had experience with numerous architectures, yeah? Apple has extensive experience with PowerPC, ARM, and dynamic recompilation. I'm definitely not a PowerPC zealot, but a move back to the architecture would be interesting in terms of setting Apple apart from the competition (although it's certainly already capable of doing that using commodity chips).

[bloodline]

Originally Posted by Trev

@Karlos

Which would make it not an ARM Cortex-A8. Still possible, though, since the PA Semi folks had experience with numerous architectures, yeah? Apple has extensive experience with PowerPC, ARM, and dynamic recompilation. I'm definitely not a PowerPC zealot, but a move back to the architecture would be interesting in terms of setting Apple apart from the competition (although it's certainly already capable of doing that using commodity chips).

It has to be an A8, no other ARM core goes that fast, except the A9... But Apple are not using the A9

[Karlos]

I don't really get why the designers being PASemi preclude the A4 being an ARM based CPU.

Whatever hardware design principles they used in the design of their ultra low power PPC processor could equally be applied to an ARM processor, surely?

[Karlos]

Originally Posted by adz

That's never stopped you before oh glorious Sock Master

Indeed

<bribery>Say, does your co-developer know about this sordid history? What's it worth to keep schtum?</bribery>