Author: James B. Shearer
Date: 22:37:52 05/18/99
Go up one level in this thread
On May 18, 1999 at 07:42:16, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>On May 17, 1999 at 22:37:30, James B. Shearer wrote:
>
>>On May 17, 1999 at 09:28:31, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>>
>>>On May 17, 1999 at 00:36:39, James B. Shearer wrote:
>>>
>>>>On May 14, 1999 at 09:52:14, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>On May 14, 1999 at 01:38:11, Gregor Overney wrote:
>>>>
>>>> <snip>
>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>2) You still need to write the correct algorithms to make this chip work. And
>>>>>>those algorithms are pretty complex (see evaluation functions etc.)
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>But it has _already_ been done. All that is left is to use the "new" fab
>>>>>process to increase density and clock speed.. DB's chess chips only ran at
>>>>>20-24 megahertz. running that up to 16x faster seems quite easy with todays
>>>>>silicon capabilities as that would still be a modest < 400mhz processor.
>>>>
>>>> This assumes:
>>>>1) Hsu's startup has the right to use the IBM deep blue code.
>>>
>>>He's already publicly stated that he is doing this, so I would assume that
>>>permission has already been granted?
>>
>> I have not seen any such statement.
>>
>
>Then pick up the current issue of IEEE Micor and you will. :)
>
>
>
>>>
>>>>2) The IBM deep blue code (written for the big endian power chips) can be
>>>>trivially ported to the (little endian) Intel chips used in PCs.
>>>> I would doubt both of these assumptions.
>>>> James B. Shearer
>>>
>>>(2) is a non-issue. IE 'crafty' is much more 'endian' aware than DB, yet it
>>>runs on big-endian and little-endian machines with no problems at all. The
>>>PCI interface could 'correct' the endian-order of the data without the chip
>>>ever knowing...
>>
>> (2) might be a non-issue if the deep blue code was carefully written to
>>be endian independent. Is crafty naturally endian independent or carefully
>>written (and tested) to be endian independent? There are often major problems
>>in porting code to other endian machines if this was not considered and designed
>>for from the start.
>> James B. Shearer
>
>crafty is endian-sensitive, and has been specifically written to work with
>big-endian _and_ little-endian architectures. In the case of DB processors,
>since they sit outside the PC processor, and behind a PCI interface, the PCI
>interface itself can easily handle the endian issue if they have one.
Perhaps we are referring to different things. I was talking about the
program running on the host processor (RS/6000 for deep blue, IBM PC for Hsu's
new chip) which does the top plies of the search and feeds positions to the
chess chip. Writing this program from scratch would require substantial effort.
All of these start up costs require financing. I think Hsu will find it
difficult to raise sufficient funds since the revenue potential for a custom
chip based chess program is in my opinion insufficient to make this an
attractive investment.
James B. Shearer
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