Word: powerpc
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Dates: during 1993-1993
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...PowerPC refers to a family of microprocessors--the "brain" of personal computers and workstations--made in a joint effort by IBM, Apple and Motorola. It implements the so-called POWER architecture--how the microprocessor itself works as well as how it interfaces with the other components of a computer--originally developed by IBM and used in its successful RS/6000 series...
...only PowerPC model currently available is the 50MHz 601, whose internal crystal clock ticks 50 million times per second. The PowerPC adheres to the RISC, or Reduced Instruction Set Computing, standard, which aims at achieving high computing speed by having a small number of machine instructions that can be executed quickly...
Last month IBM rolled out a line of workstations based on the PowerPC 601 chip (another term for microprocessor). While the chip itself costs only half as much as a Pentium chip from Intel Corp., the cost of the IBM machines is driven up by power features and priced toward the workstation market. Rumor has it that both IBM and Apple will release PowerPC-based personal computers next year...
...best selling point of the PowerPC is not its raw speed--after all, Digital Electric Corporation's Alpha can now run four times as fast, at 200MHz--but its promise to run a host of different operating systems. With backing from both Apple and IBM, PowerPC computers will be able to run programs written for the Macintosh, MS-DOS, Windows, OS/2, UNIX and other platforms, although such compatibilities must be provided through software...
...another potentially powerful player in the PC processor market is the PowerPC, jointly developed by IBM, Apple and Motorola. Like the Alpha, the PowerPC belongs to the clan of CPUs that has as its motto "Simple Is Beautiful." Known as reduced instruction set computers (RISC), these systems attempt to execute simple-instructions as fast as possible...