The low-cost 7100LC version of the Precision Architecture RISC that Hewlett-Packard Co is developing (CI No 2,067) is generating growing excitement, and could give the company a significant edge in winning space on the desktop of the future. According to Computer Reseller News it will incorporate parts of both the Motion Picture and the Joint Photographic Experts Groups algorithms, rendering it capable of running video at 30 frames a second without additional hardware. It will also handle both little and big endian byte ordering so as to be able to run personal computer operating systems such as Windows NT as well as Unix, although the company denied that it had any plans to support NT on it – the capability is simply there if anyone wants it in the future, the company said. The part, due to start appearing in products next year, will be clocked at 60MHz and will include on-chip cache controller and new graphics instructions.
