Re: [NTLK] ARM processor powers iPhone?

On 16/01/2007, at 1:40 AM, Gareth Jan Wells wrote:
> Based on best guesses, it might be an ARM, which might mean there
> could be just a little bit more of the Newton in the iPhone. Unlike
> the
> Keynote, the article does name-check the Newton a few times and has
> links to a Wikipedia article.

Just because it's an ARM processor has nothing to do with if it's a
Newton. The Newton OS acts as an interpreter between the interface
and the machine code which the processor understands. It's like
comparing a Pentium 4 and an 8086. They're both Intel processors, one
has a higher instruction set than the other, but you could run linux,
dos, etc. It all depends on what the OS is and if you can remove what
the iPhone runs and put in your own arbitrary code OS. If the
iPhone's processor is an ARM with a similar instruction set, we might
be lucky, but seeing as it is all OS X graphics interfaces, it will
likely be different for interfacing with the GPU and I/O's
differently. We have to remember that the ARM processors in our
newtons are at least 10 years old and aren't getting any younger. ;-)

Regards,
   - Adam Goddard

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