Non-x86 Platforms Thread: for all your ARM, RISC-V, SPARC, and PDP-11 needs

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > Non-x86 Platforms Thread: for all your ARM, RISC-V, SPARC, and PDP-11 needs

BlankSystemDaemon: Mar 13, 2009

Twerk from Home posted:

Well, we are trying anyway: https://www.reuters.com/technology/export-controls-hit-chinas-access-arms-chip-designs-ft-2022-12-14/.

https://www.theregister.com/2023/08/23/china_arm_tradewar/

Neoverse V2 is already illegal to license to a Chinese company, and ARM is scared that they'll be blocked from licensing other designs in the future.

I'm not Hadlock but it's super easy to buy into a "Cold War 2" mindset with all the coverage around this. It's also not like we can restrict any ARM licensing anyway, if a regulation changes then whoever used to be making them will just keep making them without a license. I guess it would dramatically slow down the introduction of new ARM reference designs.

To BobHoward's point, Clancy isn't the only one with weird ideas about how China as single entity can somehow be prevented by a few export controls from developing their own expertise.

# ¿ Dec 24, 2023 17:44

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# ¿ May 14, 2024 08:58

BlankSystemDaemon: Mar 13, 2009

Hadlock posted:

RISC-V is almost exclusively supported by Linux, so it's (probably) just a RISC-V Linux binary and talks to the kernel for audio video bindings. Presumably whatever custom kernel was compiled for the device should have adequate GPU support and whatnot. Ubuntu has had official support for RISC-V since the April 2020 release so presumably by the time this ships RISC-V will have been mainline for 4 years

I'm increasingly of the opinion that the US government missed the boat on containing Chinas CPU capacity by about five years

RISCV64 builds on FreeBSD, and it was booting the HiFive Unleashed 4 years ago:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZsBp0Gbg_8

The unmatched is also supported.

# ¿ Jan 20, 2024 10:31

BlankSystemDaemon: Mar 13, 2009

Yaoi Gagarin posted:

Check out his older one he links at the end, "There is no such thing as a general purpose processor". That's really good too

David Chisnall has some really good articles for the association of computing mastery, including when he (in)famously wrote about how C is not a low-level language and how there's no such thing as a general-purpose processor - both of which sparked quite a lot of conversation.
I think his most interesting work is on CHERI, though.

# ¿ Feb 23, 2024 22:25

BlankSystemDaemon: Mar 13, 2009

ConanTheLibrarian posted:

Are those conversations collected or summarised somewhere?

The parts I�ve seen were in IRC, and some also happened on mailing lists - though not all of them are public.

I�d recommend marc.info for finding mailing lists about it, though

# ¿ Feb 25, 2024 18:00

BlankSystemDaemon: Mar 13, 2009

Well, Nuvia was interesting because it wasn�t just one person, who�d previously worked on Apple silicon - and so far as I know, all the interesting people are still at what�s now Qualcomm.

# ¿ Mar 1, 2024 12:47

BlankSystemDaemon: Mar 13, 2009

in a well actually posted:

We're talking about the Qualcomm product, Oryon, by the Nuvia people.

I am skeptical. While there's a lot of space in chip design for different optimization choices, the design considerations and market positions that put Apple in the performance lead aren't changing.

Sure, but if Qualcomm can manage to shrink the performance gap considerably, it's not like it'll be a bad thing.
Also, is Oryon actually going to be a non-mobile chip like Qualcomm has talked about for years?

# ¿ Mar 1, 2024 14:17

BlankSystemDaemon: Mar 13, 2009

in a well actually posted:

I've seen some rumors that the Nuvia Qualcomm server side chip is cancelled, following the previous two Qualcomm arm server cancellations.

Also ARM is suing Qualcomm claiming Nuvia's server license didn't transfer with the acquisition.

# ¿ Mar 2, 2024 13:30

BlankSystemDaemon: Mar 13, 2009

Subjunctive posted:

That doesn�t look like majordomo?

Majordomo 3.x has some pretty strange notions that make it unsuitable for a lot of places that had existing 2.x installations - so various projects have either found or made alternatives.

# ¿ Mar 7, 2024 23:14

BlankSystemDaemon: Mar 13, 2009

Subjunctive posted:

anyone know what sort of FPGA you need to run the CHERI implementation? thinking about making a dumb purchase

The ARM Morello is what they're using for CheriBSD, and is available here. There's also a simulation available for free.

BlankSystemDaemon fucked around with this message at 00:22 on May 8, 2024

# ¿ May 8, 2024 00:19

BlankSystemDaemon: Mar 13, 2009

Subjunctive posted:

I don�t think the ARM Morello is an FPGA, but yes that�s true.

Oh, yeah it's just an ARM processor based on the Neoverse N1 with CHERI extensions - I just forgot to include the links to get it in my post, so I've edited them in.

# ¿ May 8, 2024 00:24

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# ¿ May 14, 2024 08:58

BlankSystemDaemon: Mar 13, 2009

Subjunctive posted:

it�s OK

does anyone know what kind of FPGA you need to run the CHERI implementation?

I linked the ARM Morello board, because unironically it's probably easier to get ahold of than the Terasic DE4, which is almost $6000.
Maybe you got a Altera Stratix 4 GX230 lying around, though? If you do, you'll need BERI.

# ¿ May 8, 2024 00:28

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > Non-x86 Platforms Thread: for all your ARM, RISC-V, SPARC, and PDP-11 needs