Specifications

For more information about the technologies mentioned in this developer note, you may wish to consult some

of the references listed in the following sections.

For information about older models of Macintosh computers, refer to the developer notes archive at

http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Hardware/hardware2.html

Apple Technical Notes

Apple Technical Notes answer many specific questions about the operation of Macintosh computers and the

Mac OS. The notes are available on the Technical Note website at

http://developer.apple.com/technotes/

PowerPC G5 Microprocessor

Information about the PowerPC G5 microprocessor is available on the World Wide Web at

http://www-306.ibm.com/chips/techlib/techlib.nsf/techdocs/AE818B5D1DBB02EC87256DDE00007821

Velocity Engine

Velocity Engine is Apple’s vector processor in the PowerPC G5 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 Apple website, at

http://developer.apple.com/hardwaredrivers/ve/index.html

Motorola's implementation of Apple's Velocity Engine is named AltiVec. The 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 documentation site on the World Wide Web, at

Supplemental Reference Documents