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View Full Version : ARM + AMD, Been toying with an idea :)



Regenweald
October 8th, 2009, 01:15 AM
Recently I've been daydreaming about a strategic partnership between AMD and ARM, basically the muscle of AMD and the power-efficiency of ARM with their reduced instruction set, then thought about how systems like Linux, Haiku, Opensolaris and *BSD (to name a few) could benefit from something other than x86. High performance server clusters running 3Ghz quad core ARMs low heat production, less power/AC bills..... anyways, like i said, I was just musing.

Still though, this is pleasing and intriguing:
http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Desktops-and-Notebooks/AMDSpinoff-Globalfoundries-Arm-Partner-for-SoC-Chips-324325/

http://www.windowsfordevices.com/c/a/News/ARM-and-AMD-spinoff-Globalfoundries-partner/

Not exactly my daydream, but i'll wait and see.

joey-elijah
October 8th, 2009, 01:49 AM
How fantastic would that be?!!

Regenweald
October 8th, 2009, 01:57 AM
From the new articles about, eweek and such, it would seem that arm is really on it's way into devices, smartbooks and such. Are you seeing the links i posted joey ? I don't know what's going on with chromium....:) I can't see them.
With a 28 nm process, ARM could certainly afford to add a little beef to the mix, if they wanted :)

Warpnow
October 8th, 2009, 02:50 AM
A netbook under $100 running linux with a non-glossy screen is all I care about. Its totally possible, too, because the hardware required to do it exists in devices at that cost, for the most part. The Zune has a pretty strong cpu, the dingoo I want to buy can do quite a bit, that zipit is $50 and being made into a netbook by hackers...

3rdalbum
October 8th, 2009, 03:19 AM
then thought about how systems like Linux, Haiku, Opensolaris and *BSD (to name a few) could benefit from something other than x86. High performance server clusters running 3Ghz quad core ARMs low heat production, less power/AC bills.....

...no Flash Player, no Skype, no Gizmo, no Java, no fast proprietary graphics drivers, no Wine, no Virtualbox... don't get me wrong, most of those things could be ported, but until then most users will not like Linux on ARM.

Most users don't care about energy efficiency either; they might just pay it lip-service. What I'm really hanging out for is two computers in the one chassis, connected via a common data bus and able to draw windows onto the same screen. If you're doing two really intensive tasks at the same time that are slowing down your computer, you could just migrate one of them to the other computer so your third task is still responsive.

Regenweald
October 8th, 2009, 03:27 AM
...no Flash Player, no Skype, no Gizmo, no Java, no fast proprietary graphics drivers, no Wine, no Virtualbox... don't get me wrong, most of those things could be ported, but until then most users will not like Linux on ARM.

Most users don't care about energy efficiency either; they might just pay it lip-service. What I'm really hanging out for is two computers in the one chassis, connected via a common data bus and able to draw windows onto the same screen. If you're doing two really intensive tasks at the same time that are slowing down your computer, you could just migrate one of them to the other computer so your third task is still responsive.

Well flash is now working on ARM and as for the rest, with adoption comes the software. Opensolaris has had an arm port since 2009.06 So soon if not already, that knocks off virtualbox and java. Wine, i get you, skype...meh :) Graphics drivers, good point.

But then, on an ARM device already capable of 1080p playback and flash, I don't see much of a need for 3D effects. Lets keep track of this platform though. Only time I go portable is on ARM.

Warpnow
October 8th, 2009, 03:34 AM
Most arm cpus are system on chip meaning graphic drivers would likely be useless as the video chip would also be ARM.

hobo14
October 8th, 2009, 01:43 PM
...no Flash Player, no Skype, no Gizmo, no Java, no fast proprietary graphics drivers, no Wine, no Virtualbox... don't get me wrong, most of those things could be ported, but until then most users will not like Linux on ARM.
....

No Java?? I've been using Java on ARM for years...

3rdalbum
October 8th, 2009, 02:28 PM
Oh really? Sun Java? I stand corrected then.

Virtualbox can be ported, but it would only be able to run other ARM distros unless it became a CPU emulator; at which point there would be little point as Qemu can do this.

Anyway I guess this has little bearing on the actual topic of the thread.

zekopeko
October 8th, 2009, 02:49 PM
Recently I've been daydreaming about a strategic partnership between AMD and ARM, basically the muscle of AMD and the power-efficiency of ARM with their reduced instruction set, then thought about how systems like Linux, Haiku, Opensolaris and *BSD (to name a few) could benefit from something other than x86. High performance server clusters running 3Ghz quad core ARMs low heat production, less power/AC bills..... anyways, like i said, I was just musing.

Still though, this is pleasing and intriguing:
http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Desktops-and-Notebooks/AMDSpinoff-Globalfoundries-Arm-Partner-for-SoC-Chips-324325/

http://www.windowsfordevices.com/c/a/News/ARM-and-AMD-spinoff-Globalfoundries-partner/

Not exactly my daydream, but i'll wait and see.

AMD left that business behind.
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2009/10/arm-takes-aim-at-intel-sends-cortex-a9-to-globalfoundries.ars

openfly
October 8th, 2009, 03:09 PM
Hey guys, remember transmeta!?!

oh... right..

Regenweald
October 8th, 2009, 03:38 PM
AMD left that business behind.
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2009/10/arm-takes-aim-at-intel-sends-cortex-a9-to-globalfoundries.ars

Yes, AMD sold global foundries and it's graphics SoC to qualcom but up until recently was the foundry's only customer.