Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Alibaba cloud FPGA: the $200 Kintex UltraScale+

essenceia.github.io

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 102 posts

Re: Alibaba cloud FPGA: the $200 Kintex UltraScale+

#91

Post by Joel_Mckay »

poizan42 wrote: post #90
Joel_Mckay wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure if it potentially will break the Win11 reboot unsigned install method: https://youtu.be/ETqvtZomqV8?si=-gd34UzaLNDNNDc7&t=50 If at some point I can recall the interview from earlier this year, than I will post a link. Otherwise, we will both have to wait and see. Best regards. =3

What is "it" that might break something? There is nothing that is going to happen. The AI-slop you linked doesn't mention anything that is going to happen. It's just a summary of changes that have happened in the past and a list of pros and cons of the driver signing requirement from more than a decade ago. There is nothing to "wait and see" for.

It goes well beyond strict USB-C port WHCP compliance rules if I recall correctly, and is not about just banning old WinRing 0 nuisance drivers ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_O5JtBqODA ).

I can't put any significant time into a proper search right now, but if I recall the interview I'll post a URI. Have a great day. =3

Re: Alibaba cloud FPGA: the $200 Kintex UltraScale+

#92

Post by Joel_Mckay »

taneq wrote: post #88
Joel_Mckay wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many Chip VID:PID listed in > lsusb or C:\> Get-PnpDevice -PresentOnly | Where-Object { $_.InstanceId -match '^USB' } | Format-List are considered copyrighted IP in North America. Many of the paid device codes are often not like other Communication Device Class drivers or free generic HID devices listed in the USB standard. Early next year Windows 11 will be locking out unsigned drivers from the OS. Good for keeping…

I can kinda see where the idea of "copyrighting a number" makes sense when you're talking about a number that's multiple kilobytes in size, but trying to stake a legal claim to one of the 65536 possible 16-bit numbers is just wrong imo.

Indeed, the USB standards body prevented allocated company VID reuse, and thus greatly simplified identifying the correct hardware. There is also additional generic information like company name (often Trademarked) or serial number that may be queried from many devices as well.

If it were free or cheap, than people would have just started another domain squatting business. That could have been far worse. =3

Re: Alibaba cloud FPGA: the $200 Kintex UltraScale+

#93

Post by imtringued »

throwaway48476 wrote: post #32
le-mark wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why the downvotes? My understanding ai is not a use for fpgas because models require a lot of ram (preferably fast ram) and fpga themselves don’t have a lot of it. An fpga will have pins you can attach fast ram, but then board layout and layering traces becomes very non trivial. Hence gfx cards (and a lot of them) are more suited.

FPGA will never be as fast as an ASIC. NV data center chips cant do graphics anymore, just compute.

This doesn't actually matter in practice, because either nobody produces your specific architecture in the first place, or the existing architectures are significantly more power inefficient.

FPGAs run at reduced clock speeds, but then again, you'd have to run the GPU or CPU at the same clock speed to obtain the same energy efficiency.

Re: Alibaba cloud FPGA: the $200 Kintex UltraScale+

#94

Post by eqvinox »

jhallenworld wrote: post #52

I just used the Raspberry-PI V to bring up the PCIe interface on a Lattice Certus-Pro NX "Versa" board, it's very convenient. What's cool is that the Raspberry-PI V is just fast enough to run modern desktop software, including (ack!) Microsoft Teams. I was able to give a live demo of my FPGA design by sharing the desktop during a conference call. My only complaint is, of course, lack of SoC documentation from Broadco…

> Say what you will about Intel, but they do provide full chip documentation if you go through their NDA process.

Unfortunately, we are unable to support individuals or smaller entities. Please reach out to your local Intel sales office for assistance.

Are we talking about the same Intel?

(This is the reply I got trying to sign their NDA in order to access datasheets. Even my 15-people employer wasn't worth their time.)

Re: Alibaba cloud FPGA: the $200 Kintex UltraScale+

#95

Post by eqvinox »

mk_stjames wrote: post #68

I don't see if they found out the pinouts for the SFP connectors on the back. If those were documented, and the PCI-e lanes were documented, I could see someone having some real fun with these building some bespoke fiber networking gear. SFP transceivers are just that- transceivers, they will spit out what you put in, so you could even build some interesting bespoke fiber optic signaling gear with these, and a PCIe b…

> SFP transceivers are just that- transceivers, they will spit out what you put in

This is only valid for ≤10Gbaud SFP(+) transceivers. SFP28 have CDR chips in them that will balk at doing anything other than supported rates, e.g. {25.78125, 26.5625, 27.952…} Gbd. Even supporting 10.3125Gbd is not a given.

(You can put other things on them, but you need to match a supported rate.)

Re: Alibaba cloud FPGA: the $200 Kintex UltraScale+

#96

Post by eqvinox »

djoldman wrote: post #24

""" dmesg log : [ 0.388790] pci 0000:00:00.0: [14e4:2712] type 01 class 0x060400 [ 0.388817] pci 0000:00:00.0: PME# supported from D0 D3hot [ 0.389752] pci 0000:00:00.0: bridge configuration invalid ([bus 00-00]), reconfiguring [ 0.495733] brcm-pcie 1000110000.pcie: link up, 5.0 GT/s PCIe x1 (!SSC) [ 0.495759] pci 0000:01:00.0: [dabc:1017] type 00 class 0x020000 ... Since most people might not be intimately as famili…

> Wouldn't it be really nice if dmesg had more info about devices?

No, it wouldn't, that'd just make the kernel another 1.5MB larger. It's large enough as it is. And if there is a driver for the device, the driver will print more things anyway.

Remember you're dealing with low-level system interfacing here. You're expected to bring some knowledge.

Re: Alibaba cloud FPGA: the $200 Kintex UltraScale+

#97

Post by nbernard »

rkagerer wrote: post #18

Lots still available on eBay https://www.ebay.com/itm/167626831054 I guess there aren't any GPIO's wired up to headers or such? Any suggestions on a project for it that's a good fit?

> Lots still available on eBay

Probably not for long: only 7 available now...

Re: Alibaba cloud FPGA: the $200 Kintex UltraScale+

#98

Post by jhallenworld »

eqvinox wrote: post #94
jhallenworld wrote: post #52

I just used the Raspberry-PI V to bring up the PCIe interface on a Lattice Certus-Pro NX "Versa" board, it's very convenient. What's cool is that the Raspberry-PI V is just fast enough to run modern desktop software, including (ack!) Microsoft Teams. I was able to give a live demo of my FPGA design by sharing the desktop during a conference call. My only complaint is, of course, lack of SoC documentation from Broadco…

> Say what you will about Intel, but they do provide full chip documentation if you go through their NDA process. Unfortunately, we are unable to support individuals or smaller entities. Please reach out to your local Intel sales office for assistance. Are we talking about the same Intel? (This is the reply I got trying to sign their NDA in order to access datasheets. Even my 15-people employer wasn't worth their tim…

Hmm, well the last time I did this was to get information for designing Intel Atom into an embedded system- this was ~2019 (I work for a small design firm). I remember you had to sign up for a premier account, sign a CNDA, then ask them to add the specific chipset documentation to your account. Maybe they were forgiving because these were low-end embedded chips.

Anyway, the information for the PCIe registers is in documents like this:

https://theretroweb.com/misc/documentation/324642-003-67f43c...

Re: Alibaba cloud FPGA: the $200 Kintex UltraScale+

#99

Post by eqvinox »

jhallenworld wrote: post #98
eqvinox wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Say what you will about Intel, but they do provide full chip documentation if you go through their NDA process. Unfortunately, we are unable to support individuals or smaller entities. Please reach out to your local Intel sales office for assistance. Are we talking about the same Intel? (This is the reply I got trying to sign their NDA in order to access datasheets. Even my 15-people employer wasn't worth their tim…

Hmm, well the last time I did this was to get information for designing Intel Atom into an embedded system- this was ~2019 (I work for a small design firm). I remember you had to sign up for a premier account, sign a CNDA, then ask them to add the specific chipset documentation to your account. Maybe they were forgiving because these were low-end embedded chips. Anyway, the information for the PCIe registers is in do…

This was the "sign a CNDA" step. They just refused to give one to sign. The specific case was about Thunderbolt controllers, I guess they fact that they're selling licenses to the Thunderbolt trademark might also be a factor. The datasheets themselves have leaked on Mac forums, but that's not enough to build a design on…

…so the alternate option now is ASMedia USB4 chips…

Re: Alibaba cloud FPGA: the $200 Kintex UltraScale+

#100

Post by nanibot »

rfoo wrote: post #62

That's cool. For those who happened to be in China right now, there's the same listing on a Chinese marketplace (idlefish) for only 480 CNY (~68 USD). That's... better than too good to be true. I'm going to have a try.

I checked out the listings on idlefish and I was able to find some with 350 CNY (~48 USD). That seems like a really really good deal. Please, do keep us updated with your findings after you've purchased it.
Post reply on HN