MicroNova, California.
"Stop! Stop! Stop!"
Vivian quickly reached out to stop Lin Lixin, who was still rambling on, her expression strange. "Lin, do you really know what it means to build a 32-bit processor architecture from scratch?"
She suddenly felt a headache.
Since Lin Lixin brought this up, given his personality, he'll probably do it sooner or later.
But this is not as simple as it sounds.
Let alone the fact that they designed an entirely new processor architecture from scratch.
Even if you were to purchase an ARM or MIPS license now and iterate and modify it on top of their architecture, it wouldn't be a project that could be implemented quickly.
Even if they did receive alien assistance and develop a new architecture, they would still need to completely reconstruct everything at the software level.
The sheer amount of work involved is already staggering.
"Let me be frank, unless we can have a super AI that works 24/7 without needing to sleep, and it also needs to master computer organization, electrical engineering, automation, RTL code, Verilog writing, ISA architecture, top-level mathematics, graphics capabilities, and so on, otherwise just developing an ALU that can run the most basic 32-bit mathematical calculations will take a lot of Kung-Fu Master."
Vivian mentally reviewed the technologies that might be needed for this project.
Just thinking about it gives me a headache.
If they were to do this, the Micro-Nova R&D team could basically abandon all other projects for the next year or two.
"I know."
Although Lin Lixin neither confirmed nor denied Vivian's words, he remained calm, saying, "That's why I came here specifically."
"Putting that aside for now, has the new equipment from Lam Research been delivered?"
He waved his hand and started talking about something else.
Whether this project can be successfully implemented depends on more than just personal talent; it's not enough for someone to have extraordinary abilities.
The processing technology must be up to par.
Therefore, the help of his equally surnamed Lin, a charlatan, was indispensable.
"Why----"
Seeing that she couldn't persuade her otherwise, Vivian sighed helplessly, "It's been delivered, but the Class 1 cleanroom is still under construction, so Umbrella can't do this job."
Cleanrooms are the foundation of wafer fabs.
For a chip measured in micrometers, or even nanometers in the future, any tiny particle could potentially destroy the entire wafer.
In the past, Lin Lixin simply spent money to buy Micron's existing production lines, so he didn't have much need for them.
Now that expansion is needed, the construction of the cleanroom has become a major problem.
A Class 1 cleanroom is the highest level that current technology can achieve.
According to the quote provided by the construction company, the cost of a cleanroom starts at tens of thousands of US dollars per square meter, not including the supporting ventilation system.
A simple estimate reveals just how staggering the construction costs of the new wafer fab are.
The cost of cleanrooms alone can easily reach hundreds of millions of dollars.
"Looking at it this way— Sega is really cheap—"
Lin Lixin's lips twitched. With $200 million, he could easily acquire absolute control of Sega; with $400 million, he could take Sega away in one fell swoop.
However, if $400 million were poured into the semiconductor industry, it would only amount to a lot of noise.
That's $400 million back in 1988!
"Hurry up, without 0.5-micron-level photolithography, this thing will just be electronic waste."
"So you're really going to do it? Seriously, if we had the financial resources, wouldn't it be better to just buy MIPS and modify it?"
"Taking the long way is the shortcut, Vivian."
Lin Lixin shook his head.
This was destined to be a losing proposition, and it would likely involve taking many unnecessary detours.
But it is indeed a project that will benefit future generations.
It can completely distinguish game consoles from general computing devices.
If it's a device for gaming, then it should be specifically designed for gaming.
"In short, don't worry about the design issues; I'll find a way to solve them."
"Your job is to ensure that the 0.5-micron CMOS production line can go into production, and that at least 4 million transistors can be packed into an area of 100 mm². Ho Kwok Yuen and Jensen Huang are still in charge of the graphics projects as usual. These projects are equally important and cannot be taken lightly."
After saying that, Lin Lixin brought up another matter, "By the way, what about the server room? We don't need a cleanroom here, do we?"
Since the recent success of several network projects, NEXUS's business needs have expanded exponentially.
The ever-increasing demand has now overwhelmed GAMENOVA's existing servers.
Not to mention that those devices were originally designed entirely for telephone line communication.
Server rooms only require constant temperature and humidity and uninterrupted power supply. Although the construction of such rooms is not easy, it is a piece of cake compared to cleanrooms.
"That's done. The handover should be completed in the next couple of days."
Vivian nodded. This project was much more practical than the chip project they had just discussed.
The demand for servers is undeniably growing rapidly.
"I still feel that these few phases of computer labs aren't enough."
She made a casual joke, but to her surprise, Lin Lixin nodded in agreement.
"It's not enough; the upcoming new game projects will probably require a further bandwidth boost."
"Ha?"
Since the wafer fab has not yet been established, Lin Lixin has temporarily shelved the ATHENA Project.
However, this trip wasn't entirely fruitless.
At least the completion of the new server room allowed him to freely develop some more elaborate online games.
GAMENOVA Headquarters.
This new project was very simple, so simple that Lin Lixin only brought Will to the conference room for a brainstorming session.
"The widespread adoption of the internet is key to our future industrial development."
Lin Lixin began, "Although the emergence of the World Wide Web has facilitated this process to some extent, users' interest in the internet is still not very high."
This isn't actually a big problem; before the advent of scripting languages, the function of web pages was indeed very limited.
At least at this stage, World Wide Web is still only at the level of static web pages.
It can be used to display information and browse content, but apart from hyperlinks, it has virtually no interactive functionality.
Even the simplest button cannot be created using HTML.
In the original timeline, the solution to this problem was naturally JavaScript, a so-called simplified version of Java that, despite having Java in its name, had absolutely nothing to do with Java.
This thing has many problems, and it also has a lot of prerequisite technical requirements.
In addition, due to the still less-than-ideal internet penetration rate, Lin Lixin has never put it on the agenda.
"So, what is our mission this time?"
Will was somewhat confused after listening to Lin Lixin's account.
Judging from his tone, it seems he plans to develop this scripting language today?
But shouldn't this kind of task involve Carmack as well?
"Oh, don't get me wrong, we're actually making a new game this time."
Sensing that Will seemed to have misunderstood him, Lin Lixin then explained, "It's just that this time it will be a cross-platform online game."
Lin Lixin went to the whiteboard and wrote down a word that had absolutely no meaning.
[Akinator]
"Ah... Akinette? What does that mean?"
"It doesn't mean anything, it just sounds nice."
Lin Lixin chuckled, then added a subtitle below the word.
[ Web Genius ]
This time there are elements of the internet, but Will still doesn't get it at all.
In short, it's a guessing game.
Lin Lixin pondered how to explain how to use this thing.
He had already thought of this thing back when Will created the decision tree.
However, due to the complete lack of internet penetration in the early days, he shelved the project.
Scripting languages are still in their infancy, and the World Wide Web is just beginning to generate interest in the internet among ordinary people. This is a great opportunity to give it another push.
"How about we play a little game and you'll understand?"
19
Lin Lixin grinned, "I recently learned mind reading. Come on, think of any fruit in your mind, but don't tell me, I'll guess it right away using my mind reading ability."
"Ah?"
Will was completely dumbfounded and couldn't help but marvel at how Lin Lixin was truly omnipotent, even possessing superpowers like mind reading.
Although confused, he nodded and did as instructed.
"Next, I'll ask you a few questions. You just need to answer 'yes,' 'no,' or 'not sure.' Is it red?"
"----yes."
Are there seeds on the surface?
"Um."
total.
Is it a strawberry?
"Yes----"
"Slap"
Lin Lixin clapped his hands, striking a pose as if to say, "There is only one truth."
"Isn't that amazing? I used mind reading to guess that you were thinking of strawberries!"
Will fell silent, his lips twitching.
He really didn't know what to say.
After a long pause, seeing Lin Lixin's expectant expression, he finally spoke quietly, "Lin, isn't this... a binary tree?"
What kind of ridiculous mind-reading technology is this?!
Lin Lixin's past performances were simply too astonishing; Will had even thought he had actually obtained some secret technique and learned this move.
After all that, it turns out to be a binary tree!
The questioning process just now can actually be abstracted into a number guessing game using a binary tree.
If you think of an integer between 0 and 100, you can determine the answer in a maximum of 7 tries.
This is purely mathematical absurdity, and has absolutely nothing to do with any Buddhist mind-reading techniques.
"Tch, so clueless about the finer things in life. I should have asked Sam to do this."
Lin Lixin pursed his lips. Will was good in every way, except he was too dense. "Never mind, anyway, that's how it is. We'll develop a puzzle game using decision trees."
"Like when we were guessing fruits?"
"Yes! It can guess anything, and it lets the whole world guess together!"