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Author Topic: ARM or x86 with FPGA emulator  (Read 21533 times)

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Offline Romanujan

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Re: ARM or x86 with FPGA emulator
« on: August 18, 2014, 05:16:58 PM »
Why do you still want the PowerPC? Look here:

http://www.7-cpu.com/

The fastest G5 is not that much faster than Cortex A-15. But the G5 takes 75-100W power... and it doesn't seem there is going to be a successor.

What the PowerPC Amiga is going to look in 5 years? 3000$ machine with half the processing power of 300$ cell phone? Or maybe POWER8 monster so expensive, that hardly anyone can afford it, where using more than 1 core or more than 2GB RAM would require apps written in some strange, inefficient way - just to allow the system to maintain binary compatibility with legacy software ? Don't be silly - PowerPC is a dead end, ditch that bitch!

There are two reasonable ways to go: x86 and ARM. And don't even think about OS4/MorphOS-style m68k compatibility! We need multicore support. And 64 bit - 2GB RAM is what my tablet has, I really expect a desktop (even thin desktop) machine to have more (reasonable minimum for the photo processing software I use is 64-bit system with 4GB RAM...). This means API rework, so AROS-style would be the only possible way to achieve m68k compatibility. Help Toni Willen to integrate QEMU into UAE, and you will also be able to have PowerPC compatibility in a similar way.
 

Offline Romanujan

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Re: ARM or x86 with FPGA emulator
« Reply #1 on: August 18, 2014, 05:52:47 PM »
So what? How much did this Power8 box cost? Will the average Amiga fan be able to buy it (afford it)? How can the current AmigaOS software use the potential of this machine? How much potential can you use by utilizing current API/ABI?

One more thing - we also need memory protection and multiuser. Ultimately, a way to run ARM software on x86 or vice-versa using the JIT engine (QEMU again?). Sorry - XXI'th century...
 

Offline Romanujan

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Re: ARM or x86 with FPGA emulator
« Reply #2 on: August 18, 2014, 09:30:28 PM »
Quote from: biggun;771121
Over $100,000

And yes this box is big and has 80 cores , and _no_ Amiga OS does not support it.

There a big POWER machines build today and also bought for a lot of money.
So POWER is by far not dead.


What your interest is in "very small" machines.

Because I'm just a poor, simple guy -  there is no way I can spend $100,000 on a home machine. Core i7 4790k (one chip, no more) based PC is really the maximum I could possibly afford.

Quote from: biggun;771121
But POWER is now "open".
You know this right?
This means "Mr Chinese company" could take a POWER Chips design today
and tomorrow sell a POWER based laptop, or netbook or what ever.
This could happen or maybe not - I don't know - you don't know.

Quote from: biggun;771121
Believe me the people have choosen PPC for their systems for a reason.

Believe me - no "Mr Chinese company" is currently selling a POWER based laptop for a reason. AmigaOS / MorphOS teams can either wait till this happen ("two more weeks"?), or use the currently available chips. What do you think, which choice is more likely to result in a product ready to sell?

Even if we would have such a Power chip at affordable price and decent performance - what changes would the AmigaOS / MorphOS need to fully utilize its capabilities? Would it be possible to keep the current API, or maybe some big jump would be needed, comparable to ARM/x86 migration?
 

Offline Romanujan

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Re: ARM or x86 with FPGA emulator
« Reply #3 on: August 18, 2014, 10:00:12 PM »
Great! Where can I buy a brand new one?
 

Offline Romanujan

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Re: ARM or x86 with FPGA emulator
« Reply #4 on: August 18, 2014, 10:48:54 PM »
If these laptops are 10 years old PPC Macs, then go back to post #66.