Rebirth of the Tech Madman

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No matter how dazzling the trailer of the movie Titanic appeared at this year's Zheru Spring Developers Conference, it was just to better demonstrate the technical achievements. Focus on the it topic itself.

In fact, streaming media and online sales, two high-value applications, reflect the many achievements of the Internet up to now.

For example, the trailer of Titanic played in the form of streaming media shows that the Internet bandwidth has reached a level capable of transmitting video; Fangyuan, Zheru Software, and EA officially launched the Internet online sales system, which shows that the background includes A complete set of systems, including the database, has the ability to cope with the simultaneous bursting requests for thousands of connections in the Internet state.

On the other hand, the client computer, where the user directly experiences the user experience, can process the streaming media data transmitted from the network in real time, and finally play it on the display; Introductory materials for multimedia products, including animation, streaming media, etc., must have sufficiently strong performance.

If the previous generations of Fangyuan personal computers focused on how to improve the processing speed of hardware chips and enrich the functions of the software platform, then the sixth generation of Fangyuan personal computers introduced at the Zheru Spring Developers Conference will be Committed to solving the bandwidth bottleneck of the entire system.

It's as if, before urban construction, we only paid attention to the high-rise buildings on the ground, but as a result, severe waterlogging occurred when it rained, and we had to turn to increase the handling capacity of the underground pipelines.

With the popularization of many intensive data processing represented by multimedia applications, in addition to fast enough computing speed, the subsystems of personal computers must also increase the throughput of data transmission—and the first part that bears the brunt is the memory.

When it comes to memory, the term that is first linked to, or even equivalent to, is basically dynamic_random_-dynamic random access memory or dram.

The reason for this is mainly because static_random_ corresponding to dynamic random access memory—static random access memory is sram. The structure is relatively complicated, resulting in high cost, and it is mainly used in occasions such as high-speed buffering inside the CPU.

The structure of DRAM is so simple that each bit of data can be processed with only one capacitor and one transistor, which is far lower than the six transistors usually required for one bit of SRAM, so it has a very high density and is more suitable for computer needs. In case of large capacity memory.

The main difference between the two lies in this one movement and one stillness - due to the phenomenon of leakage in the capacitor in reality, the potential difference of the memory unit of the DRAM with too simple structure is insufficient, resulting in the disappearance of information , so the capacitor needs to be dynamically refreshed by periodic charging, while the static random access memory with a relatively complex structure does not have this problem-as long as the power is not turned on, the information is always stored in the memory unit.

As for the disadvantages of slow access speed and high power consumption brought by this difference to DRAM, it is not a problem for memory-the advantages of higher capacity and lower cost per unit volume are enough. One handsome cover one hundred ugly.

There are different types of DRAM used in personal computers, and it is a gradual development process.

after all. Products such as personal computers with increasingly obvious consumer electronics attributes are different from workstations and servers. As long as the technology is good, they can be used regardless of cost-there is a trade-off between performance and cost.

For a long time, the memory used by personal computers belongs to asynchronous dynamic random access memory.

The general meaning of this asynchronous is that the DRAM, which acts as a memory, operates asynchronously with the frequency of the external bus of the CPU.

In order to improve the data throughput capacity of the memory,

Asynchronous DRAM has naturally been optimizing and moving forward, from the earliest page_mode_dram—page mode memory is pm_ram, to fast_page_mode_ram with a maximum data throughput of 176mb per second—fast page mode memory is fpm_ram, and then to the maximum The data throughput is increased to 264mb per second of extended_data_output_ram—the extended data output memory is edo_ram.

At this stage, edo_ram has become the mainstream memory specification for personal computers. The further improvement on this basis is burst_extended_data_output_ram——explosively extended data output memory is bedo_ram.

However, the industry generally believes that asynchronous DRAM has reached this point, and there is not much room for improving data throughput, so it turns to find a solution on synchronous DRAM.

As the name suggests, the general meaning of this synchronization is that it acts as a dynamic random access memory for memory, and the operation is synchronized with the frequency of the external bus of the cpu.

Famous research and development results include: synchronous_dynamic_random_ - synchronous dynamic random access memory (sdram), direct_rambus_dram (drdram), the exclusive patent of rambus company.

In fact, regardless of the synchronous DRAM or the asynchronous DRAM, there is a delay between the CPU and the external bus during operation.

The problem with sdram at this stage is that because of the additional logic unit in the structure, the speed is inferior to bedo_ram, which belongs to asynchronous dynamic random access memory.

Drdram does not have such a problem, and there are good application examples-just last year, Nintendo released a new generation of home video game console n64. In addition to being equipped with a 64-bit risc microprocessor like the fourth-generation Xiaobawang game console, it also uses drdram, with a data throughput of 562.5mb/s.

However, the technical solution of drdram itself is not so perfect. It has the disadvantages of complex manufacturing, high delay, and high heat generation that have been criticized-n64 has to use a passive cooling system for the rdram module to cool it.

More importantly, Tang Huan didn't want to see Rambus's way of operating drdram.

Obviously, Zheru is also developing various memory technologies, but for DRAM, the main starting point is to avoid being stuck with patents, and the manufacturing is handed over to authorized manufacturers such as Samsung Electronics and Micron.

After all, the position of DRAM in the semiconductor industry is not so high, and it is also in line with the goal of sharing interests and making the ecosystem bigger and stronger by handing it over to followers who specialize in capital-intensive industrial operations.

But Rambus is very tricky about the authorization card, as if it is counting on this thing to make a fortune-if it really becomes bigger and becomes the mainstream specification of memory used in personal computers, then Tang Huan has a good grasp of the personal computer industry behind the scenes was threatened.

Therefore, when introducing the sixth-generation Fangyuan personal computer, Tang Huan made it clear that he would adopt and support the sdram specification.

You know, a word from the richest man may be related to the direction of an industry and the rise and fall of a company.

Therefore, industry reporters with a keen sense of smell specifically asked questions about memory in media interaction occasions.

For example, what is the prospect of sdram? Will drdram find its way into PCs?

Tang Huan further explained that from the progress of Samsung Electronics, the delay problem of sdram has been better resolved. In this way, sdram is the perfect specification for personal computer memory. Furthermore, Zheru has developed the sgram specification for the video memory of the graphics card on the basis of sdram. These large-scale applications are enough to illustrate the bright future of sdram.

As for drdram, Tang Huan's answer was rather vague, and he only mentioned that maybe high-end products such as workstations and servers in the future will introduce drdram, which currently has an advantage in data throughput.

Originally, Mr. Richest Man's statement was definitely mature and prudent, but he couldn't help the followers who didn't get a satisfactory answer, which caused a psychological gap.

As a result, relying on the model of Nintendo n64, the stock of Rambus, which had just successfully IPO on Nasdaq not long ago, changed from a thriving prosperity that investors were placing high hopes on to an uncertainty that caused doubts in their hearts, and the stock price wobbled upwards. down.

Tang Huan not only created the tragedy of Rambus with a casual sentence, but also caused internal strife in the noise alliance through an unintentional action.

It turned out that when the richest man introduced the sixth-generation Fangyuan personal computer, he inadvertently started a program. Although the time for showing his face was very short, it was still enough for many people to see the Zheru software java virtual machine from the projection typeface.

Now the industry and the media are in a state of confusion—what does this mean?

As we all know, Sun Microsystems is definitely the backbone of the noise alliance, and the relationship with Zheru software can be imagined, but why did Zheru software suddenly create a virtual machine for the opponent's java? What about its own c#?

Tang Huan was anxious to be questioned, so he just laughed and said, Well... I don't know the specific job content - maybe I made a mistake, or it was a joke made by a certain programmer...

Of course, this kind of answer cannot satisfy everyone. In the end, Sun Microsystems gave a clear explanation-very simple, Zheru Software Company has obtained the authorization of java.

As soon as the news came out, some good people noticed that Netscape CEO Jim Barksdale went to the headquarters of Sun Microsystems with a gloomy face, but was sent by the other CEO Scott McCrenny. When he came out, his face was full of anger.

Without the need for gossipers to get to the bottom of it, Netscape immediately announced that it would cancel its plan to develop a new generation of browsers using the java language.

Now everyone understands - there are no permanent enemies, only permanent interests. Faced with Zheru Software's dominant market share, in order to promote java, Sun Microsystems chose to defect from the noise alliance and instead cooperate with rivals that had been in trouble.

However, strictly speaking, the noise alliance is just a word of mouth. The parties have not signed any offensive and defensive alliance. It's useless, who told you that you don't have enough bargaining chips to exchange benefits.

The exciting drama in the it circle can be described as one after another.

As soon as Zheru's Spring Developers Conference ended, there was a news that Dec, the former overlord of minicomputers, ended its 40-year glorious history and was acquired by HP. The transaction involved an amount of up to 9 billion US dollars, which made dec's shareholders very satisfied.

However, it is said that the $9 billion was not paid by HP alone. Fangyuan, Zheru, and Zheru software also came out.

Obviously, this is another loot sharing action by the big players, and the more eye-catching results include - HP got the 64-bit risc microprocessor alpha; Fangyuan inherited a contract with Raytheon, which was worth nothing Big, is a multi-million dollar service for the e-2 airborne early warning aircraft.

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Ignoring all kinds of discussions caused by this, Mr. Richest Man, who temporarily put an end to the affairs of the IT circle, began to really care about the movie Titanic in which he invested a lot of money.

To be honest, the movies that Tang Huan, who can manage a lot of things, personally intervened are Titanic and The Matrix in which he published novels.

Twentieth Century Fox reported a marketing fee of 40 million US dollars, and the richest man waved his hand-the publicity should be further strengthened, and I will give you another 20 million US dollars to send Titanic to the Cannes Film Festival in France first. lap.

In fact, although the preparations were sufficient, the project of Titanic was too big, and the whole production process was full of twists and turns. In addition, the director James Cameron, who felt the pressure, was very strict in his work, and he was even cast in the Tang Dynasty. The hallucinogens were injected into the film to retaliate, and dozens of people on the production team were knocked down.

All kinds of negative news have made critics regard Titanic as the next Water World.

You know, the production cost of Water World reached 175 million U.S. dollars. As a result, after its release in the summer of 1995, the North American box office revenue was only 88 million U.S. dollars. Fortunately, the overseas box office performed much better. Twice that of the total box office in North America-176 million US dollars, this allowed the film to escape becoming the most money-losing film in history.

Now, although the big ship Titanic set sail as scheduled, and the effect of the trailer is also good, but the beginning performance of Water World was also very good, and the result is not a cliff-like cold reception!

The outside world instinctively questioned——Will Titanic make the history of the richest man good at investing a record of discredit?