Motorola ARM-based Palm chip to go 0.13 micron in 2002

Makes of faster, more energy efficient PDAs - if Palm can come up with a 32-bit OS

Motorola will shrink its upcoming ARM-based additions to the Dragonball processor family to 0.13 micron next year.

Dragonball CPUs power most of the world's PDAs, in particular those based on the Palm OS.

Motorola unveiled its partnership with ARM late last year. The first fruit of the alliance will be a 32-bit ARM-based chip fabbed at 0.18 micron and due in the second half of this year.

In 2002, Motorola will follow it up with two CPUs, tentatively called the Dragonball-ARM+ and the Dragonball-ARM 2, DigiTimes reports. Both will be fabbed at 0.13 micron to support faster clock speeds at the same or lower power consumption levels.

How soon the parts will appear in Palm-based devices depends, of course, on Palm's ability to get a 32-bit OS out of the door. If it doesn't, Motorola will be on hand to offer its 32-bit PPSM-GT operating system. PPSM (Personal Portable System Manager) is aimed at wireless comms devices. ®

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