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Cavium Is an Arm Server Contender

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Re: Cavium Is an Arm Server Contender

#31

Post by monocasa »

Cyberdog wrote: post #18
monocasa wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a little more than a stretch to refer to a current iPad with Bluetooth keyboard as a laptop. But sure, it shows how Apple is inching in that direction.

Well, it's a stretch for me to consider iOS as a usable laptop OS, so I guess we're both stretching. :P But to play the devil's advocate, how is it not sufficiently laptop-ish for you? Because the keyboard is detachable? Because it has a touchscreen?

I think it will morph into a usable laptop OS as Apple pushes it into that direction.

> But to play the devil's advocate, how is it not sufficiently laptop-ish for you? Because the keyboard is detachable? Because it has a touchscreen?

Lack of a mouse equivalent. Having to move your hands off the keyboard to do anything other than type is a pain in the ass.

Re: Cavium Is an Arm Server Contender

#32

Post by zitterbewegung »

Cyberdog wrote: post #3

Yesterday: ARM in your phones Today: ARM in your toys (RasPI, Nintendo Switch) Tomorrow: ARM in your servers Next week: ARM in your desktop/laptop? The iMac Pro will have an ARM co-processor: https://www.macrumors.com/2017/11/19/imac-pro-a10-chip-hey-s... - Arguably for "Hey Siri" and other mobile-inspired functionality, but wouldn't it be interesting if it were also an ARM-on-the-desktop beachhead? I, for one, welco…

I had the idea about a beachhead too but I think it would be different. What if you had an A10 to do all of the iPhone features that you would want on your laptop or desktop. Then use the Intel for the performance . You would increase battery life and both platforms would have feature parity (something I would like a bunch ).

Re: Cavium Is an Arm Server Contender

#33

Post by antongribok »

If anyone wants to play around with a 96-core Cavium ThunderX system for 10 cents an hour, https://www.packet.net/ has some deals on their spot pricing sometimes.

With their out-of-band console, you can watch it boot from the very beginning.

Not affiliated, just sometimes use them when I need to play around with a physical box, and can't do so at work...

Re: Cavium Is an Arm Server Contender

#34

Post by MarkyC4 »

melling wrote: post #25
nine_k wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ChromeOS is already capable of running Android apps. What makes a laptop a laptop is a decent keyboard and a reasonably large screen. There is a fundamental mismatch between the screen size comfortable for the eyes, keyboard size comfortable for typing, and device size comfortable for holding in hand. Because of this, I don't think phones and laptops will ever converge; tablets and laptops are already actively conver…

So, you simply need to add an optional large screen, keyboard, and mouse to your phone. It has already been done. Now it just needs to be done a little better? https://www.samsung.com/us/explore/dex/

See also: Microsoft Continuum, Motorola Atrix (probably the first Android that turned into a laptop)

Re: Cavium Is an Arm Server Contender

#36

Post by throw2016 »

ARM on desktop or server will be tightly controlled closed SOCs with zero driver support. These will be nothing like the relatively open systems in the PC world, so there is nothing to look forward to.

This is ARM's model and they have shown no interest in improving things beyond kicking open source developers between the ARM and SOC vendors each blaming the other for years on end.

Intel, even with something as nasty as ME, look like an angel in comparison.

Re: Cavium Is an Arm Server Contender

#37

Post by StudentStuff »

grawlinson wrote: post #19
wyldfire wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Next week: ARM in your desktop/laptop? And it's not just coprocessors, next year we will see real ARM SoCs - https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/18/16495010/microsoft-windo... Next year^H^H^H^Hdecade: RISC-V in your ______

I'd love to see RISC-V become a huge presence, but ARM IP seems a lot more refined & hassle-free. A bit similar to Linux/FOSS not having any decent CAD alternative to proprietary ones.

OpenSCAD is very good, having designed quite a few things using it, and FreeCAD is quite serviceable for working with legacy shapes made in other CAD software. The ecosystem has definitely improved thanks to 3D printing.

Re: Cavium Is an Arm Server Contender

#38

Post by leggomylibro »

monocasa wrote: post #6
Cyberdog wrote: post #3

Yesterday: ARM in your phones Today: ARM in your toys (RasPI, Nintendo Switch) Tomorrow: ARM in your servers Next week: ARM in your desktop/laptop? The iMac Pro will have an ARM co-processor: https://www.macrumors.com/2017/11/19/imac-pro-a10-chip-hey-s... - Arguably for "Hey Siri" and other mobile-inspired functionality, but wouldn't it be interesting if it were also an ARM-on-the-desktop beachhead? I, for one, welco…

To be fair, ARM has been in Mobile Nintendos since 2001. And laptops have had ARM coprocessors for quite a while. Power management controllers, disk controllers, NICs, etc.

Hey yeah, I remember my first ARM programming was on the NDS' two 66/33MHz processors. I think it basically dedicated one to each screen, fun stuff.

Are the laptop co-processors you're talking about the 'R' lines? I know 'M' is for low-power mobile stuff and 'A' is for "Real Computer" stuff, but I was never too clear on the 'Realtime' lines.

Re: Cavium Is an Arm Server Contender

#39

Post by pvg »

Cyberdog wrote: post #3

Yesterday: ARM in your phones Today: ARM in your toys (RasPI, Nintendo Switch) Tomorrow: ARM in your servers Next week: ARM in your desktop/laptop? The iMac Pro will have an ARM co-processor: https://www.macrumors.com/2017/11/19/imac-pro-a10-chip-hey-s... - Arguably for "Hey Siri" and other mobile-inspired functionality, but wouldn't it be interesting if it were also an ARM-on-the-desktop beachhead? I, for one, welco…

ARM's already been in most of those places, in nearly reverse order of your timeline. It started as a desktop CPU, was then in a PDA (Newton), game console (3DO) and phone (Nokia) - all of them by 1997.

Re: Cavium Is an Arm Server Contender

#40

Post by wmf »

Symmetry wrote: post #35

I'd sort of been expecting that ARM would begin making HPC inroads when SVE[1] was ready to go. But I guess those two Neon units provide enough horsepower? [1] https://community.arm.com/processors/b/blog/posts/technology...

It seems like Intel/ARM processors are just needed to launch CUDA kernels these days.
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