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NetBSD on the last G4 Mac mini and making the kernel power failure proof

tenfourfox.blogspot.com

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Re: NetBSD on the last G4 Mac mini and making the kernel power failure proof

#31

Post by MrRadar »

mromanuk wrote: post #30
MrRadar wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

PPC is far from dead. You can buy brand-new POWER9 workstations with up to 44 cores (with SMT4 for 176 threads) from Raptor Computer Systems. They are also about as open as a modern computer can be with board schematics included with every system and only one component with closed firmware (the BCM5719 network controller, which is currently being reverse-engineered so an open firmware can be developed).

Wow, didn’t know that, amazing. What is the main use of those machines?

They are primarily intended for people who need lots of threads for high-end workstation uses (see Phoronix's benchmarks[1]), people who want open computers (whether for security/auditability or ideological reasons), or just people who want something different from the mainstream.

[1] https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=power9-t...

Re: NetBSD on the last G4 Mac mini and making the kernel power failure proof

#32

Post by UncleSlacky »

tomxor wrote: post #15
ianai wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Long way from reports of fires. I’ve only heard of lithium batteries doing that

No it's the chips, these machines didn't exactly have the most user friendly heat dissipation design, on both models the CPU heat conducted straight through to the top case. maybe not cook an egg very fast but uncomfortable to touch for more than a second... maybe 1 EPH (one egg per hour) :)

The early Intel MacBooks weren't much better - my black 2007 2,1 model gets pretty hot and has a serious lack of ventilation holes.

Re: NetBSD on the last G4 Mac mini and making the kernel power failure proof

#33

Post by classichasclass »

mromanuk wrote: post #30
MrRadar wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

PPC is far from dead. You can buy brand-new POWER9 workstations with up to 44 cores (with SMT4 for 176 threads) from Raptor Computer Systems. They are also about as open as a modern computer can be with board schematics included with every system and only one component with closed firmware (the BCM5719 network controller, which is currently being reverse-engineered so an open firmware can be developed).

Wow, didn’t know that, amazing. What is the main use of those machines?

The Talos II I'm typing this reply on is just my regular workstation. I have a dual-4, which is 32 threads, and it runs Fedora. Most things work just fine and it's a very nice daily driver. I'll probably upgrade it to a dual-8 in the near future for even more parallel goodness.

I also have a Blackbird, which does streaming video in the home theatre and is also a test system. It's a single-4, but it can take an 8-core part if desired.

Re: NetBSD on the last G4 Mac mini and making the kernel power failure proof

#34

Post by mritun »

MrRadar wrote: post #28
MuffinFlavored wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why the obsession with PPC? Don't you feel you could put your time + effort into something more modern that isn't dying?

PPC is far from dead. You can buy brand-new POWER9 workstations with up to 44 cores (with SMT4 for 176 threads) from Raptor Computer Systems. They are also about as open as a modern computer can be with board schematics included with every system and only one component with closed firmware (the BCM5719 network controller, which is currently being reverse-engineered so an open firmware can be developed).

Nonsense. PowerPC in old PowerMac and modern POWER 9 have about as much in common as Pentium Pro and a modern Xeon!

PowerPC is a dead platform, POWER9 is not - but they are not the same!

Re: NetBSD on the last G4 Mac mini and making the kernel power failure proof

#35

Post by classichasclass »

mritun wrote: post #34
MrRadar wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

PPC is far from dead. You can buy brand-new POWER9 workstations with up to 44 cores (with SMT4 for 176 threads) from Raptor Computer Systems. They are also about as open as a modern computer can be with board schematics included with every system and only one component with closed firmware (the BCM5719 network controller, which is currently being reverse-engineered so an open firmware can be developed).

Nonsense. PowerPC in old PowerMac and modern POWER 9 have about as much in common as Pentium Pro and a modern Xeon! PowerPC is a dead platform, POWER9 is not - but they are not the same!

I'm not sure that's an apt comparison. If you were saying that 32-bit PPC is dead, then the answer is probably yes at least in general computing, though there are still lots of 32-bit PowerPC parts in embedded systems. However, 64-bit PowerPC systems have substantially more in common with "big" POWER. The G5, which was clearly positioned as a member of the PowerPC family (PPC970) but descended from the POWER4, would be the classic example.

Re: NetBSD on the last G4 Mac mini and making the kernel power failure proof

#36

Post by andai »

MrRadar wrote: post #31
mromanuk wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, didn’t know that, amazing. What is the main use of those machines?

They are primarily intended for people who need lots of threads for high-end workstation uses (see Phoronix's benchmarks[1]), people who want open computers (whether for security/auditability or ideological reasons), or just people who want something different from the mainstream. [1] https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=power9-t...

Found the store! https://www.raptorcs.com/content/base/products.html

Re: NetBSD on the last G4 Mac mini and making the kernel power failure proof

#37

Post by georgemcbay »

MuffinFlavored wrote: post #23
classichasclass wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Author here. Thanks for the kind word. :)

Why the obsession with PPC? Don't you feel you could put your time + effort into something more modern that isn't dying?

The same reason some people still use Amigas with 680x0s... rampant nostalgia.

I kinda don't get it on a personal level, but accept that different people are into different stuff and sometimes people get really attached to specific things, and sometimes those things are computer architectures.

Re: NetBSD on the last G4 Mac mini and making the kernel power failure proof

#38

Post by darkpuma »

classichasclass wrote: post #33
mromanuk wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, didn’t know that, amazing. What is the main use of those machines?

The Talos II I'm typing this reply on is just my regular workstation. I have a dual-4, which is 32 threads, and it runs Fedora. Most things work just fine and it's a very nice daily driver. I'll probably upgrade it to a dual-8 in the near future for even more parallel goodness. I also have a Blackbird, which does streaming video in the home theatre and is also a test system. It's a single-4, but it can take an 8-core…

With that kind of hardware, is hardware decoding and encoding of media a possibility? A DLNA server with hardware transcoding is something I've been thinking about recently.

Re: NetBSD on the last G4 Mac mini and making the kernel power failure proof

#39

Post by nickpsecurity »

mritun wrote: post #34
MrRadar wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

PPC is far from dead. You can buy brand-new POWER9 workstations with up to 44 cores (with SMT4 for 176 threads) from Raptor Computer Systems. They are also about as open as a modern computer can be with board schematics included with every system and only one component with closed firmware (the BCM5719 network controller, which is currently being reverse-engineered so an open firmware can be developed).

Nonsense. PowerPC in old PowerMac and modern POWER 9 have about as much in common as Pentium Pro and a modern Xeon! PowerPC is a dead platform, POWER9 is not - but they are not the same!

PowerPC is dead for the larger market but sticks around in specialty markets. Mainly NXP (formerly Freescale):

https://www.nxp.com/products/processors-and-microcontrollers...

Also, the separation kernels that met NSA's highest standards of security initially targeted that for cross-selling into aerospace market. They buy a good chunk of PPC for some reason. Example that was among first certified with data on what was expected:

https://www.ghs.com/products/safety_critical/integrity-do-17...

Re: NetBSD on the last G4 Mac mini and making the kernel power failure proof

#40

Post by gjs278 »

classichasclass wrote: post #33
mromanuk wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, didn’t know that, amazing. What is the main use of those machines?

The Talos II I'm typing this reply on is just my regular workstation. I have a dual-4, which is 32 threads, and it runs Fedora. Most things work just fine and it's a very nice daily driver. I'll probably upgrade it to a dual-8 in the near future for even more parallel goodness. I also have a Blackbird, which does streaming video in the home theatre and is also a test system. It's a single-4, but it can take an 8-core…

what browser do you use? can it compile chromium?
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