Wait, MIPS still exists and has worthwhile technologies?
I keep expecting this to be a retro branding exercise on something fundamentally different, like a Fiat 500 or a modern VW Beetle.
I keep expecting this to be a retro branding exercise on something fundamentally different, like a Fiat 500 or a modern VW Beetle.
MIPS has been relevant only in the embedded space for the last 10 years, if not more, and even saying that it is relevant in the embedded space is kindda pushing it at this point. The widespread availability of reference designs has ensured a pretty long lifespan in industries where that's especially relevant (see e.g. Atheros) but I think they're pretty much near the point of no return, where either they find a few niches that ARM can't (or won't) fit in, or they finally go the way of the Dodo.
I think there are places in the market where there's room for them, and MIPS has its strongpoints (e.g. multithreading) that make it useful in some fields, such as real-time systems.
To be honest, I have doubts that the people running the show will be able to pull it off but I really hope I'm wrong.
The last I heard of MIPS was some Chinese-fabbed chip that used the unencumbered set of MIPS opcodes--probably MIPS II--and a mostly-GNU OS to build the only computer on Earth (at the time) completely free of patent or licensing restrictions. It sounded like a stunt then, and I haven't heard anything about it since, so it probably was.