http://www7.tomshardware.com/cpu/00q1/000203/index.html
My impression from talking with a few hardware engineers, was that Transmeta is cool stuff, but not the earthshaking revolution many were hyping, based on expectations that hiring a Llinus Torvalds would mean overthrowing wintel.
the main attributes:
1.) focus on mobile computing
2.) Linux ported to instruction set
3.) very low power
no fan needed
extended battery life
4.) code morphing
from the link above:
"It consists of a hardware engine that is logically
surrounded by a software layer with the engine being a 128-bit
VLIW (very long instruction word) CPU capable of executing up to
four operations in each clock cycle. The VLIW's native instruction
set bears no resemblance to the x86 instruction set, but the
software layer gives x86 programs the impression that they are
running on x86 hardware. Transmeta calls this software layer Code
Morphing software because it dynamically morphs x86 instructions
into VLIW instructions.
In the underlying technology the Transmeta's designers have
decoupled the x86 instruction set architecture (ISA) from the
processor hardware which allows this hardware to be very different
from a conventional x86 implementation. One advantage is that the
hardware can be changed radically without affecting legacy x86
software. Each new CPU design only requires modifying the Code
Morphing software to translate x86 instructions to the CPU's
native instruction set. Fundamentally the Code Morphing software
is a dynamic translation system, a program that compiles
instructions for an instruction set architecture. It is the only
program written directly for the VLIW engine, resides in a ROM and
is the first program to start when the processor boots. Even
though the chip is able to run any x86 code it does not support
SIMD - yet. 'We are working on it', said Transmeta's engineering
team at the press conference, 'if we implemented it right now SIMD
would consume too much power.'"
Rumours based on this code morphing capability led people to believe Transmeta was creating a chip would could run apps written for many architectures, Mac, WinXX, Unix, etc. and hence the huge hype. And the secrecy with which Transmeta worked on this chip added extra helpings of hype.
Les Schaffer