Author: Robert Hyatt
Date: 21:16:15 05/19/99
Go up one level in this thread
On May 19, 1999 at 22:39:24, James B. Shearer wrote: >On May 19, 1999 at 08:37:00, Robert Hyatt wrote: > >>On May 19, 1999 at 01:37:52, James B. Shearer wrote: >>> >>> 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. >> >>no reason to 'write it from scratch'. It already exists. The only endian >>issue I see is between the host and the chess processor, and since the chess >>processor sits on the PCI bus, the interface on the circuit board can do the >>byte-swapping stuff needed to make the endian issue disappear... Which means >>that the 'stock' DB software could be re-used (the code supporting the chess >>processors, etc). > > There are potentially other endian issues. It is easy enough to write >a program which only runs correctly on big (or little) endian machines. Perhaps >the "stock" DB has no such dependencies but it is not a given. > endian is only an issue _between_ machines. It is transparent on a single machine. And if the PCI interface 'hides' this from the PC architecture, then no problem would be apparent. Hsu, campbell, etc are not inexperienced programmers... any more than folks like Eugene and myself are inexperienced. We've had no problems in doing things like making the tablebase stuff work across endianness issues... And Crafty is a perfect example where it works on either big or little-endian architectures with no problems at all... This would seem (to me) to be a minor point that might take a couple of hours to resolve, if that... not a budget-affecting issue IMHO. >> >>>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 >> >>It sounds to me like a 'done deal'. IE he says "I have a start-up ..." >>not "I am testing the water to see if I can get a start-up funded and ..." > > Actually he said "forming" which does not indicate a "done deal" to me. >Also a start-up can be "formed" without complete funding. > James B. Shearer Yes, but I know Hsu, and he wouldn't/couldn't announce such a 'deal' without it being 'in place'. Because when you go to work for IBM the first thing you sign is an 'intellectual property rights' statement. Same thing where I work. I wouldn't have publicized offering Crafty freely without making sure that it was "ok" first. Doing such with a commercial entity like IBM would be suicide, because of the intellectual property rights, confidentiality, non-disclosure, non-competition, etc agreements you sign _before_ you start to work there... Which is why I said "I think that getting the rights to manufacture / redesign a new chip is a done deal." As to whether he has funding to build it, this is not going to cost a fortune. Custom ASICS are not horribly expensive at all...
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