Crusoe Road Map
The Crusoe processor currently coming onto
the market in Sony, Fujitsu, and NEC notebooks is the TM5600, and in the web
arena, the TM3400. A look to the future for Crusoe shows two distinct areas of
development, the TM5x00 series and the TM3x00 series.
TM5x00 series Crusoe processors are the heavy weights and are
designed to run in conjunction with the Microsoft OS. These Crusoe processors
can be found in sub-notebooks, and their variants, and contain better
power management then their cousins.
The TM3x00 series are destined to be running x86 instructions in
the Linux (or Mobile Linux) environment. These Crusoe processors are meant for
the Web Pad or Internet Appliance market, an area which has only just begun to
develop.

Crusoe Road Map:
|
TM3x00 series
(Web Pads) |
TM5x00 Series
(Notebooks) |
|
TM3120 |
TM3200 |
TM3300 |
TM3400 |
TM5400 |
TM5600 |
TM5800 |
Maximum Speed Range (Mhz) |
400 |
333-400 |
400 |
366-500 |
500-700 |
533-800 |
600-1000 |
Level 1 Cache (data) |
96KB |
32Kb |
64Kb |
64Kb |
64Kb |
64Kb |
64Kb |
Level 1 Cache
(instructional) |
N/A |
64Kb |
64Kb |
64Kb |
64Kb |
64Kb |
64Kb |
Level 2 Cache |
None |
None |
None |
256Kb |
256Kb |
512Kb |
512Kb-1Mb |
PCI bus interface |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
SDR SDRAM controller |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
DDR SDRAM controller |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Power management |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
LongRun power management |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
VLIW instruction length |
128 Bits |
128 Bits |
128 Bits |
128 Bits |
128 Bits |
128 Bits |
128 Bits |
Die technology |
.22 micron |
.22 micron |
.18 micron |
.18 micron |
.18 micron |
.18 micron |
.13 micron |
Available |
Cancelled |
Cancelled |
2001 |
2001 |
2000 |
2000 |
2001 |
The processor getting
the most publicity at the moment is the TM5600, which has debuted in
the Sony Vaio C1VN, Fujitsu Biblo Loox S & T, NEC LaVie MX, and will
soon pop-up in a Hitachi notebook. Gateway and AOL are still in
development of a WebPad using the TM5600.
It will be interesting to see how the TM5800 compares when
Transmeta introduce this processor with the potential to reach
1.0Ghz.

At the moment the WebPad roadmap for
the TM3x00 series looks like it has reached its zenith. With the TM3400
currently in both the FIC Aqua, and FrontPath's ProGear, it's implementation is a year ahead of
the projected timeframe.
News that the TM3200 has been shelved means unless
Transmeta has another TM3x00 iteration up their sleeves this is the final Crusoe
destined for this market segment at the moment, or for the foreseeable future
(you decide...). Odd, as this is perhaps the area where Transmeta can foster the
highest growth. What could be better than a largely
untapped market? What is your opinion? Post it here!