> they did state that the 8610 was going to remain available for several years
> (making it a better bet for long term production).

My impression was that they were stating this about the 8610 because the PowerDeveloper project is about the 8610. I didn't read it as if the 8610 is supposed to be any longer in production than the 8640 will be.

> Since you pointed out to me that there have already been posts (on MorphZone) on the
> recent introduction of the first Titan based Soc, I'm sure you're aware of the advantages
> of that processor (PCIe 2.0, etc.).

Yes, of course I am. Btw, PCIe 2.0 is also featured in QorIQ P4 series (e500mc based, i.e. the one with "real" FPU).

> The main problem I see with QorlQ (or Titan or, for that matter, the 8640D) is that
> they're multicore processor (and, as you've repeatedly pointed out, MorphOS doesn't
> support SMT).

MorphOS can be programmed to ignore every core except one. That's how MorphOS will run on (one CPU of) dual-CPU G4 PowerMacs. Thus, I wouldn't regard it as real problem, just as a little wastage maybe ;-) As it looks now, e500mc based QorIQ will have four cores at least, which would result in a waste of three cores. 8640(D) is available as single core variant, which would result in no waste at all. Titan based APM 83290 will be available dual-cored, resulting in one wasted core.

> While there are a few single core variants they're still limited in speed

Both 8640 and 8640D max out at 1.25 GHz. Single core QorIQ (of P1 and P2 series, e500v2 based) - while being slower (1.2 GHz) than P4 series (1.5 GHz) - are not suitable for MorphOS anyway.

> making the multicore variants more attractive - if we could take advantage of them

We can, but unfortunately only one single core of them.