In a direct affront to the Wintel cartel Gateway decided to use the newly developed Transmeta Crusoe processor and the mobile Linux operating system for the Internet devices it is co-developing with AOL.
Gateway, which took a financial stake in Transmeta last month, and AOL will start selling the devices this fall through Gateway’s retail operation and online at AOL. Gateway and AOL could not be contacted for further details on the upcoming products, but these are expected to come in desktop Internet appliance and wireless device formats.
The Santa Clara, Calif.-based Transmeta introduced the Crusoe series of chips last January. The TM3120 version is slated for use in the Gateway/AOL device. This line comes in speeds of 333Mhz and 400Mhz and was designed for use in environments where low power consumption is a major factor.
The processor order is the first for Transmeta and should be expected to alleviate the fears some analysts expressed at the chip’s launch that the company did not have industry support. A processor vendor normally will announce several PC partners when it launches a new product, which Transmeta did not raising questions as to the chips viability.
For company links see…
Gateway
Transmeta
AOL
For previous TWICE Online coverage of this topic see…
Long-Awaited Transmeta Mobile Processor Unveiled, Jan. 20, 2000
