GNU/Linux Open Hardware PowerPC Notebook Project

#1

Post by type0 » Sat, Sep 18, 2021, 5:58 PM UTC

GNU/Linux Open Hardware PowerPC Notebook Project
powerpc-notebook.org

Re: GNU/Linux Open Hardware PowerPC Notebook Project

#2

Post by quanticle » Sat, Sep 18, 2021, 6:51 PM UTC

Using PPC in a laptop form factor is a really confusing choice, given that Apple abandoned PPC [1] in their laptops for Intel because they judged that there was no way that IBM was ever going to come out with a PPC chip that was ever going to be as power efficient as the comparable Intel parts. Their "Why PPC" page [2] makes no mention of power or thermal efficiency, and just states that PowerPC is better because the original version of the ISA was invented after x86 and ARM. By that logic Itanium is the best ISA of all!

[1] https://indianexpress.com/article/technology/opinion-technol...

[2] https://www.powerpc-notebook.org/why-powerpc/

Re: GNU/Linux Open Hardware PowerPC Notebook Project

#3

Post by pigeons » Sat, Sep 18, 2021, 6:54 PM UTC

quanticle wrote: post #2

Using PPC in a laptop form factor is a really confusing choice, given that Apple abandoned PPC [1] in their laptops for Intel because they judged that there was no way that IBM was ever going to come out with a PPC chip that was ever going to be as power efficient as the comparable Intel parts. Their "Why PPC" page [2] makes no mention of power or thermal efficiency, and just states that PowerPC is better because the…

Because Open hardware.

Re: GNU/Linux Open Hardware PowerPC Notebook Project

#4

Post by ronsor » Sat, Sep 18, 2021, 7:05 PM UTC

I hope it's not big endian. A lot of modern software now just expects everything to be little endian, and won't work properly.

Re: GNU/Linux Open Hardware PowerPC Notebook Project

#5

Post by Y_Y » Sat, Sep 18, 2021, 7:10 PM UTC

That website is a trainwreck on mobile firefox. Two screen-covering popups and wrong language detection.

Re: GNU/Linux Open Hardware PowerPC Notebook Project

#6

Post by threshold » Sat, Sep 18, 2021, 7:15 PM UTC

These guys can’t design a website I’m not giving them money to build a laptop. And why PowerPC? And if they have prototypes coming in October where are the photos? Not one photo of a PCB. This is vaporware.

Re: GNU/Linux Open Hardware PowerPC Notebook Project

#7

Post by zeckalpha » Sat, Sep 18, 2021, 7:17 PM UTC

quanticle wrote: post #2

Using PPC in a laptop form factor is a really confusing choice, given that Apple abandoned PPC [1] in their laptops for Intel because they judged that there was no way that IBM was ever going to come out with a PPC chip that was ever going to be as power efficient as the comparable Intel parts. Their "Why PPC" page [2] makes no mention of power or thermal efficiency, and just states that PowerPC is better because the…

Apple has since moved off of x86 for similar reasons. The issue is the fab process more than the architecture.

Re: GNU/Linux Open Hardware PowerPC Notebook Project

#8

Post by autoliteInline » Sat, Sep 18, 2021, 7:21 PM UTC

pigeons wrote: post #3

quanticle wrote: post #2

Using PPC in a laptop form factor is a really confusing choice, given that Apple abandoned PPC [1] in their laptops for Intel because they judged that there was no way that IBM was ever going to come out with a PPC chip that was ever going to be as power efficient as the comparable Intel parts. Their "Why PPC" page [2] makes no mention of power or thermal efficiency, and just states that PowerPC is better because the…

Because Open hardware.

I figure someone might as well go whole-hog on that and build a PC with just a big ol' FPGA.

Re: GNU/Linux Open Hardware PowerPC Notebook Project

#9

Post by flatiron » Sat, Sep 18, 2021, 7:29 PM UTC

autoliteInline wrote: post #8

pigeons wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because Open hardware.

I figure someone might as well go whole-hog on that and build a PC with just a big ol' FPGA.

Fpgas are very unsuitable general purpose computers. De10 nano is a very beefy fpga and can barely play doom acting like a general purpose 486 and lacks a fpga

Re: GNU/Linux Open Hardware PowerPC Notebook Project

#10

Post by lrvick » Sat, Sep 18, 2021, 7:29 PM UTC

quanticle wrote: post #2

Using PPC in a laptop form factor is a really confusing choice, given that Apple abandoned PPC [1] in their laptops for Intel because they judged that there was no way that IBM was ever going to come out with a PPC chip that was ever going to be as power efficient as the comparable Intel parts. Their "Why PPC" page [2] makes no mention of power or thermal efficiency, and just states that PowerPC is better because the…

Many, myself included, would gladly take a major hit in battery life if it means having a machine we can actually trust.

Trust means no ME backdoors, no random blobs which can be supply chain attack vectors.

Freedom means I can do anything I want to the software and firmware and repair anything as needed long term without the consent of a corporation that has a financial interest in seeing their hardware go to a landfill in 2 years so people buy the latest.