Velocity Engine (AltiVec)
Velocity Engine is Apple’s name for the AltiVec vector processor in the PowerPC G4 microprocessor. Apple
provides support for developers who are starting to use the Velocity Engine in their applications.
Documentation, development tools, and sample code are available on the World Wide Web, at
http://developer.apple.com/hardwaredrivers/ve/index.html
and
http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Performance/Conceptual/vDSP/vDSP_Library.pdf
AltiVec Technology Programming Environments Manual (AltiVec PEM) is a reference guide for programmers.
It contains a description for each instruction and information to help in understanding how the instruction
works. You can obtain a copy of the AltiVec PEM through the Motorola AltiVec site on the World Wide Web,
at
http://www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/site/overview.jsp?nodeId=02VS0l81285Nf2
Mac OS X
Mac OS X version 10.2 is installed by default on the PowerBook G4 17-inch computer. For access to Apple’s
developer documentation for Mac OS X, see the Apple Developer Connection (ADC) website at
http://developer.apple.com/documentation/index.html
O'Reilly & Associates publishes a series of books about Mac OS X development. The books in this series have
been technically reviewed by Apple engineers and are recommended by the Apple Developer Connection.
I/O Kit
The I/O Kit is part of Darwin, the operating system foundation for Mac OS X. The documentation for I/O Kit
is available on Apple’s Darwin website at
http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Darwin/Darwin.html
Open Firmware
The software architecture implemented on current Macintosh computers follows the standard defined by
the Open Firmware IEEE 1274-1994 specification. Three Technical Notes provide an introduction to Open
Firmware on the Macintosh platform. They are:
TN1061: Open Firmware, Part I, available at
http://developer.apple.com/technotes/tn/tn1061.html
60
Velocity Engine (AltiVec)
Legacy Document | 2003-03-01 | © 2003 Apple Computer, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
APPENDIX A
Supplemental Reference Documents