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To: lwn@lwn.net
From: Kai Staats <kstaats@terraplex.com>
Subject: Altivec


TERRA SOFT SOLUTIONS ANNOUNCES ALTIVEC TECHNOLOGY SUPPORT IN BLACK LAB LINUX

The Supercomputer Comes to Linux!

LOVELAND, Colorado -- 23 March 2000 -- Terra Soft Solutions, Inc., the
leading developer of Linux solutions for PowerPC(TM) microprocessors, today
announced full development support for Motorola's AltiVec(TM) technology,
also known as the "Velocity Engine" in the Apple Macintosh community.
Black Lab Linux running on Motorola's MPC7400 PowerPC microprocessor, the
first of the G4 family of microprocessors, enhances development of parallel
solutions for desktop and embedded systems.

"In working with Motorola, we were able to implement patches for the
AltiVec technology and offer an AltiVec enabled Black Lab Linux kernel.
PowerPC Linux developers may now enjoy 150-300% increase with some Linux
applications running in excess of 10 times [1,000%] their normal
performance," states Troy Benjegerdes, software engineer for Terra Soft
Solutions, Inc.

Black Lab Linux offers the GCC compiler with support for the AltiVec C and
C++ extensions, as well as Linux kernel run-time support for AltiVec
enabled applications offering a native development environment. Developers
may accelerate their applications on MPC7400 microprocessors running linux
to unprecedented performance levels.

"AltiVec technology provides a quantum boost in vector processing
capability and software performance for the PowerPC architecture in a
variety of desktop and embedded markets," added Kalpesh Gala, Motorola's
AltiVec technology product manager. "Motorola was pleased to provide
architecture and tools support to the Terra Soft development team for an
AltiVec enabled linux."

With compilers enabled for AltiVec technology developers of custom DSP,
image processing, scientific computation, and encryption software can take
advantage of 128 bit vector processing unit for dramatic performance
improvements. Terra Soft customers General Dynamics, University of New
Mexico High Performance Computing Center, and Northrop Grumman Corporation
are already putting Black Lab Linux on G4 hardware to the test.

About Terra Soft Solutions, Inc.
Terra Soft Solutions, Inc. is a leading developer of innovative
technologies for PowerPC Linux. Champion Server, their flagship product,
has boosted viability of Linux for PowerPC in a wide range of server
applications. Black Lab Linux provides an advanced Linux distribution for
development, parallel computing, and embedded systems. For more
information, please visit http://www.terrasoftsolutions.com and
http://www.blacklablinux.com/

Press Contact:
Kai Staats, CEO
Terra Soft Solutions, Inc.
970.278.9243
kstaats@terraplex.com


Linux is a trademark of Linus Torvalds. PowerPC is a trademark of IBM Corp.
Motorola is a registered trademark and AltiVec is a trademark of Motorola.
Apple, Macintosh, and Velocity Engine are registered trademarks of Apple
Computer Inc. All other names and trademarks are the property of their
respective owners.