[PS3] IBM, Sony and Toshiba Unveil Full Details of the Cell

[Turrican3]

Ecco una MoBo IBM con il CELL...  :stralol:

(chiedo venia per la qualità men che discreta...  )

[.:|Physalis|:.]

IMMAGINI


IBM, Sony, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc., (Sony and SCE together referred to as "Sony Group") and Toshiba today announced the release of key documents that describe technical details of the revolutionary Cell Broadband Engine architecture.

The documents are available at ibm.com and http://cell.scei.co.jp. Toshiba will release the documents once it completes its customer support structure.

Today's announcement is the next major milestone in the Cell project, which began with the formation of the STI (Sony Group, Toshiba and IBM) Cell Design Center in Austin, Texas in March of 2001. High level technical specifications were released in much-anticipated papers delivered at San Francisco's International Solid State Circuit Conference (ISSCC) in February 2005.

By opening up a wide set of detailed technical specifications to software developers, business partners, academic and research organizations, and potential customers, IBM, Sony Group and Toshiba continue their work to aggressively stimulate the creation of Cell-based applications. The goal: establish a thriving community of interest and innovation around Cell, allowing all interested parties to rapidly evaluate and utilize Cell technology.




Specifically, the companies will make available documents describing the following components of the Cell microprocessor:


The Cell Broadband Engine Architecture -- defines a processor structure directed toward distributed processing and multimedia applications. The architecture contains a control processor based on the Power Architecture, augmented with multiple high-performance SIMD Synergistic Processor Units and a rich set of DMA commands for efficient communications among processing elements.


The Synergistic Processor Unit Instruction Set Architecture (SPU ISA) -- discloses the high performance SIMD RISC processor designed to accelerate media and streaming applications for systems based upon the Cell Broadband Engine Architecture.


Synergistic Processor Unit C/C++ Language Extensions, Application Binary Interface, and Assembly Language specifications -- which aid software developers in unleashing the full processing power of the SPUs.


SPU Application Binary Interface Specification -- which defines the ABI of the SPU and aids software developers in unleashing the full processing power of the SPUs.


SPU Assembly Language Specification -- which describes the specifications of the SPU assembly language and aids software developers in unleashing the full processing power of the SPUs


"IBM and its partners are committed to providing the development and open source communities with comprehensive, early access to the Cell Broadband Engine architecture and to encouraging those exploring the infinite possibilities of Cell," said Jim Kahle, IBM Fellow. "We strongly support an environment that removes virtually all barriers to building innovative applications based on Cell."

"We believe that the Cell architecture disclosure will allow more people to freely access the core technologies," said Masakazu Suzuoki, deputy senior vice president, Semiconductor Development Division, SCEI. "Through this we aim to firmly support software development technology in the mid to long term, particularly for middleware, and to accelerate the dissemination of Cell to stimulate the industry as a whole."




"The release of these technical documents is important for our customers, allowing them to see for themselves how the Cell Broadband Engine and its superb capabilities can support them in developing breakthrough applications," said Mitsuo Saito, chief fellow, Toshiba Corporation Semiconductor Company. "We will now reinforce our support for Cell with solution proposals based on combining Cell with other resources we have developed, including the 'Super Companion Chip' dedicated peripheral LSI, software, reference sets and system development environment. These tools will allow our customers to create powerful, remarkable systems."

[Turrican3]

Toshiba Announces Cell Based A/V Reference Design

Toshiba Corp. has developed a "Cell" next-generation microprocessor based A/V reference design for consumer electronics manufacturers. Shipments are expected to start in the second quarter of 2006.

What first draws attention is this reference design contains almost every necessary peripheral such as an HDD, a DVD drive, a terrestrial digital broadcast tuner, a D4 terminal, an AC power supply and a cooling system. The reference design, which looks like a completed product, is well ahead of other semiconductor manufacturers' current development platforms. "This reference design was a challenge for us," said a company spokesperson. "We intended to show our commitment to the idea that today's semiconductor manufacturers must offer a platform to this extent to enable development of digital consumer products."

The main board is embedded with two terrestrial digital broadcast tuners, a satellite broadcast tuner, a terrestrial analog tuner, main memory, a power supply network and other components. The case houses peripherals including a DVD drive and an HDD capable of storing HDTV content. Its output interfaces include HDMI and D4 jacks. Toshiba's "SCC (Super Companion Chip)," announced at the "HOT CHIPS" event in August 2005, is used as a Cell companion chip.

[Turrican3]

Toshiba ha mostrato una applicazione di "virtual mirror" realizzata con il Cell, dove in tempo reale viene applicato a piacimento, ad un volto acquisito tramite telecamera, trucco e acconciatura virtuali.
C'è persino un video... enjoy! http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/lsi/images/toshiba_cell.mpg

Dal momento che il Cell verrà utilizzato nella futura console Sony non è escluso che un software di questo tipo in combinazione con un Eye Toy nextgen possa dar vita a qualche applicazione "ludica".

fonte: Nikkei

Toshiba's Cell-based Technology Recognizes Human Face, Composes Computer Graphics with Diverse Makeup and Hairstyles

At the "CEATEC JAPAN 2005" event held from October 4, 2005, Toshiba Corp. demonstrated image recognition technology dubbed "Digital Kagami (mirror) F-type" using the "Cell" next-generation microprocessor. The technology recognizes a human face in real time, and imposes various virtual makeup styles and hairstyles over the image and then displays it on the screen. With real time motion tracking, it looked like a virtual mirror (3.6 M video file is available).

The demonstration consisted of two key applications. They were the "3D makeup simulation" technology that varies virtual makeup styles and the "3D hairstyle simulation" technology that changes virtual hairstyles. Both applications detect key features of a user's face and estimate a 3D map of the face using the same processing manner. First, the applications capture a user's face with a camera and detect the position of key features of the face, including the eyes, nose and mouth, using image recognition technology. By matching the 2D positions of these key features to a computer graphic image using a 3D face model, the applications estimate what direction the user is facing and the 3D positions of the face's 500 features. The camera at the front bottom of the display takes pictures of a face through a half mirror located in front of the display. This results displayed images looking more like they are reflected in a mirror, because the camera's viewpoint meets the user's visual line.

In detecting facial features, outlines including the "chin" are said to be one of the most difficult facial parts to figure out. Typical methods use facial outline models called "SNAKE" instead of real images. In the demo, a Toshiba's operator manually designated the outline just before the demonstration, without using such existing methods.

After processing a 3D map of 500 facial features, the 3D makeup simulation technology adds on a makeup texture, which looks like shading on Kabuki actors, onto a 3D model and displays it on the screen in front of the user. Using alpha blending technology, real images such as eyeballs and the mouth viewed through the camera were displayed without modification in areas with no makeup. "The application detects facial features so finely that observers can even distinguish the user's facial expressions, but it transmits a real image in areas with slight shades and shadows, which cannot be rendered by the technology," said a company spokesperson.

Unlike the makeup simulation, 3D hairstyle simulation technology employs a method called "image-based rendering," as it is difficult to render computerized graphics of each hair in real time. In the image-based rendering method, an image is selected and composed in line with the position and direction of the user's face using a database storing 50-100 images shot from different angles for a hairstyle on an on-demand basis.

[Rot!]

Veramente incredibile.
Mi viene subito da pensare ad un bel viggì in cui possiamo schiacciarci i brufoli...
Oppure, che so, ora che anche i veri uomini possono permettersi di avere cura del proprio aspetto (con tutte le paranoie che ne derivano) potremo testare diversi tipi di fondotinta...

Non capisco bene che notizia sia, e neppure cosa ci sia di eccitante.

:notte:

Saluti

[Turrican3]

IBM e Sony rilasciano patch, documentazione e strumenti di sviluppo Linux per il Cell. Direi che non si può escludere il rilascio di un apposito kit per l'installazione del SO del pinguino sulla falsariga di quanto proposto un paio di anni fa su PS2.

Press release completa a questo indirizzo: http://www.scei.co.jp/corporate/release/pdf/051110e.pdf

Linux™ Extensions, Key Software Development Tools Released for Cell Broadband Engine™ Microprocessor
New Cell Broadband EngineTM Software Development Kit Offers Programmers Open Access to Broad Array of Components, Services, Resources

Armonk, NY, November 9, 2005 – IBM, Sony Corporation and Sony Computer Entertainment Inc., (Sony and SCEI together referred to as "Sony Group") today announced the release of new software components and documentation achieved through the STI joint project - including extensions to Linux ™ that support Cell programming - for the groundbreaking Cell Broadband EngineTM Architecture (CBEA) technology. These resources are jointly located on developerWorks (http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/power/cell/), IBM's forum for developers and the University of Barcelona Supercomputing Center (http://www.bsc.es/projects/deepcomputing/linuxoncell/) and will also be published through http://cell.scei.co.jp/ run by SCEI.

"With this software and documentation IBM, along with Sony Group and Toshiba, are providing the means to explore as yet undiscovered uses for the Cell Broadband Engine through developing value-add software applications," said Jim Kahle, IBM Fellow. "Our joint commitment to open and early access to these technologies will continue the growth of a robust programming community able to fully exploit the amazing capabilities of the Cell Broadband Engine Architecture."

[mat_sox]

grande notizia

[Turrican3]

Adesso ci vorrebbe il porting di AmigaOS 4 (il CELL viene citato nel sito ufficiale... e svariate volte i programmatori del kernel hanno definito la cosa fattibilissima) e mi sentirei di nuovo "a casa"...   :cowjoy:

[mat_sox]

io speravo su aun macos su cell.... ma mi sa che la mia rimarrà una vana spranza

[Turrican3]

Eh dopo il salto (clamoroso) di Apple sulla corazzata Intel la cosa appare quantomeno improbabile. La "mia" è una speranza molto più concreta  :P    ;)

[Reiz]

Good news for PS3 launch supply

According to Warren Communications News, William Zeitler, Senior Vice President of IBM's Systems & Technology Group, told a news conference yesterday that "yield learning" on the Cell processor that forms the core of Sony's PlayStation 3 console has been "faster than on any chip we've done." In English, that means that IBM is learning quickly how to produce more working Cell processors per batch of chips they cook up. This bodes well for supply of this critical component if factories contracted by Sony to produce components for the PS3 are able to crank out lots and lots of Cell processors in record time once the PS3 heads into full production.

This doesn't necessarily mean that the PS3 won't be scarce at launch, though. Consoles are made of many components. A shortage of any single component can disrupt an entire plan, as Microsoft learned during the launch of the Xbox 360. Plus, IBM's Zeitler notes that the company was able to ramp up their production of Xbox 360 parts quickly as well. What this tells us is that if the PS3 is delayed or is hard to come by, it probably won't be IBM's fault.

Fonte Joystiq.com

[Turrican3]

Lo "yield factor" è fondamentale perchè permette di abbattere i costi al produttore.
Come utenti teoricamente è una cosa che può tornarci utile nell'ottica di riuscire ad assemblare un HW a costo ridotto, speriamo che facciano "ricadere" questi risparmi sul prezzo finale della console: di certo il precedente di PSP è di buon auspicio in tal senso (con quelle feature si temeva costasse uno sproposito)

[.:|Physalis|:.]

Finalmente smentita la cosa dei 2.8Ghz per il Cell...

LINK


News has just surfaced stating that the PlayStation 3 has passed FCC approval tests and that the final clock speed of the Cell processor is 3.2GHz. The FCC is the regulatory body in the United States which regulates communication through radio, television, wire, cable and satellite.

The clock speed of the PlayStation 3's Cell processor has been the subject of debate for some time, after certain internet news sites reported that it had been downgraded since the PlayStation 3 was first unveiled last year.

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Sony has yet to comment on this news or release any press material, however we can verify that the report is legitimate as it is currently on the official FCC site. The PlayStation 3 will launch on November 11th in Japan and on November 17th in North America. Launch dates for other regions have not been confirmed and have been estimated at March 2007.

View a PDF version of the full report here.

[Turrican3]

Ottimo.

[maxam]

 

INCREDIBILE!!!!!.....






....vedere Phy postare una notizia positiva su PS3.