Altivec not active in OSX?

[makkystyle]

I just had a chat with a senior apple service technician and he was describing to me how Altivec was not used at all by OSX? He said it was mostly important for OS9. Anyone have anything to add to this?

 

[strider42]

Re: Altivec not active in OSX?

Originally posted by makkystyle
I just had a chat with a senior apple service technician and he was describing to me how Altivec was not used at all by OSX? He said it was mostly important for OS9. Anyone have anything to add to this?

He's so wrong its not funny. OS 9 hardly used altivec at all, os X relies on it a lot more. Just because he's an apple service tech doesn't mean he knows what he's talking about.

 

[patrick0brien]

-Hmm

Somebody's in need of retraining! (senior apple service technician)

 

[barkmonster]

Maybe they have a weekly misinformation competition at apple and there's some prize involved for the best story leaked out

I can imagine a few of them already...

Most far fetched software rumour award *

Most unrealistic release schedule award **

Most outlandish new software product award

* related to current software

** related to rumoured hardware or 'just anounced' hardware being released early

The winner gets a free GAP voucher valid for 1 turtleneck and 1 pair of blue jeans

 

[makkystyle]

Yeah I thought what he was saying sounded like a load of crap. I mean I'm no genius when it comes to the inner workings of my PB but I do read enough to know the basics. He was trying to explain to me that the old problem with OS9 memory allocation (where 1 program would suck up most if not all of the memory) was the reason for "Altivector" and that because of OSX's UNIX underpinnings the OS didn't need altivec anymore to control multiple CPU's. First it's for RAM now it's for the processor?

If anyone from TypeTech in Ireland reads this thread, your "senior service technician" is an idiot.

Thanks for the reinforcement on this guys.

 

[Megaquad]

Originally posted by makkystyle
Yeah I thought what he was saying sounded like a load of crap. I mean I'm no genius when it comes to the inner workings of my PB but I do read enough to know the basics. He was trying to explain to me that the old problem with OS9 memory allocation (where 1 program would suck up most if not all of the memory) was the reason for "Altivector" and that because of OSX's UNIX underpinnings the OS didn't need altivec anymore to control multiple CPU's. First it's for RAM now it's for the processor?

If anyone from TypeTech in Ireland reads this thread, your "senior service technician" is an idiot.

Thanks for the reinforcement on this guys.

LOOL this is funniest thing i read in my life..
a bit sad too..

 

[strider42]

Originally posted by makkystyle
Yeah I thought what he was saying sounded like a load of crap. I mean I'm no genius when it comes to the inner workings of my PB but I do read enough to know the basics. He was trying to explain to me that the old problem with OS9 memory allocation (where 1 program would suck up most if not all of the memory) was the reason for "Altivector" and that because of OSX's UNIX underpinnings the OS didn't need altivec anymore to control multiple CPU's. First it's for RAM now it's for the processor?

If anyone from TypeTech in Ireland reads this thread, your "senior service technician" is an idiot.

Thanks for the reinforcement on this guys.

wow, I can't believe he would say that. altivec has absoltuely nothing to do with ram, and even less to do with memory allocation, nor is it even remotely involved in multiprocessing situations (the processors obviously use altivec, but altivec isn't involved in making multiple processors work). I've heard some people say things that are pretty dumb, but for a trained guy to say that and have it have no basis in reality is sad. You should really tell his supervisor about it.

 

[iJon]

yep they are right, since he is a senior tech he probably knows less. from my experience, the sales people know all this, while the service people know more on fixing the things, and they try to play as sales people and give off misinformation.

iJon

 

[makkystyle]

Yeah, it was at this technology 'fair' kind of setup they had here at Trinity College today. There was a table with all of the new Macs laid out so they could generate interest with students (they had the 12, 15 and 17 PB's all lined up next to each other, which is a BFD here in Ireland because as far as I have heard from the stores only a few 17 inchers have even made it to this country). Anyway this guy starts telling me about all this and, looking back after reading iJon's post, I think this was the first time this guy had been out of the repair shop in what must have been years. So he wanted to spout off about everything he "knew" about the macs. Yes, kind of sad

Although, I do have to say that there were a bunch of companies that had setup a stand in the arts block of campus including Fujitsu-Siemens, Dell, Microsoft and a few other smaller tech companies and the apple stand was the best looking well laid out area. It looked like they were at a proper trade show even though it was only a small college fair.