CNet: Apple has Intel inside—sort of
It's not the product some have been hoping for, but there is already one Apple Computer machine that has "Intel Inside," according to CNet News.com. "For a long time, people have suggested that Apple make its Mac OS X operating system work with Intel chips. While the Mac maker has not done so, it has used Intel processors in one of its recent products— the Xserve RAID storage system... According to Intel marketing materials, the Xserve RAID uses Intel's IOP 331 chip, a derivative of the XScale processor. The IOP chip, which is used in many storage systems, is designed to speed the task of shuttling data in and out of a computer system." However, its noted that the use of an Intel chip does not appear to be part of a broader trend, and as recently as last month, Apple Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer reiterated that Apple has no plans to offer Mac OS X on anything other than the kinds of chips it currently uses.
26 Comments
Isnt PCI and USB technology from Intel as well?
Yeah, USB was basically bought out from... err... jeeez, 1997 is so long ago. Ah well, anyway Intel is behind it and I think gets a royalty for every chipset/port a computer ships with.
Like Apple and Firewire.
I dont know what the status is, but it used to be 25cents per Firewire chipset?port? that went to Apple.
This isn't a huge deal. Apple uses processors from a wide variety of sources, as suited to purpose. Motorola and IBM are the obvious ones, but iPods use ARM processors. Neither the iPod nor the XServe Raid runs MacOSX, so this story isn't really relevant to the question of porting MacOSX to... well to what. It isn't just Intel boxes that we're considering here - there are other sources of compatible chipsets.
Isnt PCI and USB technology from Intel as well?
Yeah, USB was basically bought out from... err... jeeez, 1997 is so long ago. Ah well, anyway Intel is behind it and I think gets a royalty for every chipset/port a computer ships with.
Like Apple and Firewire.
I dont know what the status is, but it used to be 25cents per Firewire chipset?port? that went to Apple.
I think it was Entrega who invented USB. They sold it to Intel and remained a manufacturer of USB hubs, etc.
XScale is an ARM-derived design, IIRC. So the IOP isn't *entirely* an Intel product...
Like Apple and Firewire.
I dont know what the status is, but it used to be 25cents per Firewire chipset?port? that went to Apple.
They go to The 1394 Trade Association - not Apple - but Apple is a member.