So what is XMOS good for?

[mongo]

Tripitaka
 
Okay, except for embedded devices and video game consoles... which use 2+year old slower chips...Power pc is dead dead dead.
 
From wikipedia :
 
"In 2004, Motorola exited the chip manufacturing business by spinning off its semiconductor business as an independent company called Freescale Semiconductor. Around the same time, IBM exited the embedded processor market by selling its line of PowerPC products to Applied Micro Circuits Corporation (AMCC) "
 
What do you think about the future of power pc without the millions and millions of R+D by IBM and Motorola GONE? Intel/AMD wins hands down and thats that my friend. Freescale and applied micro circuits corporation don't have 5% of the budget of motorola or ibm.
 

IBM exited the embedded processor market not the PowerPC market (IBM has just recently announced the new PowerPC A2), and while I don't have the numbers, I would imagine Freescale spends about as much on semiconductor R+D as Motorola did.

[yssing]

What does integrated robotics or advance gate controller have to do with end users and their desktops?  Or for that matter on a pure hobby level, why wouldn't USB be enough for a hobby robotic controller?

I am just telling you what I can see it used for.

[dammy]

IBM exited the embedded processor market not the PowerPC market (IBM has just recently announced the new PowerPC A2), and while I don't have the numbers, I would imagine Freescale spends about as much on semiconductor R+D as Motorola did.

Freescale's main focus is on ARM market and not PPC.

[haywirepc]

I guess the blinders are really firmly placed on. I understand powerpc continues on in small markets, but it will never be a major part of
the desktop market ever again. NEVER.
 
For the record, I have no agenda, and I have and run AROS already. It would be fine with me if AOS continues to beat the dead powerpc horse.
 
I think it will be better for everyone is the future of amiga was open source, and that can never die or be controlled by people with blinders on, who refuse to accept the simple facts of the industry they are in, the same industry they are trying (and failing miserably) to make money in.
 
And finally, in answer to the original posters question "What is xmos good for?" - Nothing you can not do better on the host processor, or through a printer, serial or usb port on any 10 year old computer.
 
Steven

[hektic]

hmm ... lots of negative points!

I just hope they have something up there sleeves because most people seem to think the SAM boards are pricey, so if this thing is going to come out costing twice as much they may struggle to shift them!!

@PIRU ... Any ideas on what the XMOS "could" be used for?

[dammy]

I am just telling you what I can see it used for.

Your opinion is based on what, PR spin?  Here is a good place to inform me of what the virtues of having XMOS vs USB (2.x or 3.x) for those who want to use OS4.

[yssing]

Instead of being so extremely negative and shooting down every positive thing there is to say. BTW its very hard to have a debate with that attitude..

But please tell me what kind of mobo you, thats all you nay sayers, would have come up with?

I dont know what CPU it will use, I dont know the  price, so I would not say its under powered and way to expensive.

[mongo]

I guess the blinders are really firmly placed on. I understand powerpc continues on in small markets, but it will never be a major part of
the desktop market ever again. NEVER.

The Amiga will never be a major part of the desktop market, so what is your point?

[haywirepc]

Yes and it never will be when they stick to hardware no one has or can
afford to buy just to try it out.

I wish them the best but I don't understand what they are doing. I hope this computer comes out and is very useful and affordable, but I just don't see it happening. I can hope, and when all else fails, enter AROS.

[mongo]

Yes and it never will be when they stick to hardware no one has or can
afford to buy just to try it out.

Aren't you the one who said "I guess the blinders are really firmly placed on"?

The Amiga will never be a major part of the desktop market.

You could give away the hardware for free and it wouldn't change this.

[Piru]

Any ideas on what the XMOS "could" be used for?

Other than use it as a marketing gimmick, no.

[Karlos]

I don't really get the point of the XMOS chip, if I'm honest. All I know is that it's a low latency device suitable for handling IO events. In terms of processing power, what can it do that a few more tens of megahertz CPU power wouldn't?

For me, a far more pertinent set of X1000 questions would be:

1) Which CPU will be used and at what speed?
2) Why 4 DDR slots? That suggests a wide architecture. Assuming 64-bit operation is out of the question on the grounds of backwards compatibility, Is a 32-bit PAE style kernel planned?
3) Given the PCIe, which display cards will be supported? (I know RadeonHD drivers are being developed for OS4.x)

[Tripitaka]

Let's not forget that the XMOS has the Xorro slot available. What about a Xorro board with, say 8 sockets for XMOS chips (so they can be added as required) and a socket linking to another box with more Xorro slots each with a board with 8 sockets...etc...

This is an untried chip for desktop computing so I refuse to write it off quite yet.

[Karlos]

Let's not forget that the XMOS has the Xorro slot available. What about a Xorro board with, say 8 sockets for XMOS chips (so they can be added as required) and a socket linking to another box with more Xorro slots each with a board with 8 sockets...etc...

This is an untried chip for desktop computing so I refuse to write it off quite yet.

8 XMOS chips isn't even going to scratch the surface of what a modern GPU can do in terms of parallel processing, even using basic GLSlang (let alone CUDA, Stream or OpenCL).

[Tripitaka]

Well that's a bit sad isn't it. TBH I would have rather have seen a GPU in the space for the XMOS but as it is, the X1000 is still the fastest hardware Amiga OS can run on. That's something we should all at least be a little happy about.

BTW, love the value avatar.

I'm going over to Amigaworld forum now to see if anyone from Hyperion has made any comment that reflects the issues in this thread, I'll let you all know if I find anything positive.

[Hans_]

Drives up price.

Makes it look like they are making unique hardware that would be worth the cost.

Makes them look busy.

Uh, those XCore chips cost less than $10 US. I know that it's fun to be negative and piss on someone else's work, but do try to keep the criticism sane.

XMOS call their chips "software defined silicon." What I think that they mean with this** is that there are no built in peripherals. Instead, its low latency event-driven multi-threaded architecture means that you can create any peripheral I/O that you like using software. This is something that "normal" micro-controllers can't do (or would struggle to do reliably).

What would it be used for on the X1000? No idea exactly. It's greatest use is likely to be with the Xena slot. Forget about using it for graphics or emulation, because it's no processing powerhouse, unless you string a whole set of these cores together (via the Xena slot) and figure out how to use them as stream processors. Given its strength with low latency event driven processing, this would be useful for hardware hackers, people doing robotics stuff, etc.

"But that's not desktop," I hear some people say. Who cares? People call the Amiga a "hobby" computer, so why not put stuff in it that caters to computer/electronics hobbyists?

Why not just put it on a PCI card or on a USB dongle? Well, what's the point of having a low latency device if you then put it at the end of a high latency bus? Sure, you could still develop XCore stuff via a USB connected Xcore chip, but you would immediately take anything that would work better being tightly integrated off the table.

Why put the XCore chip on all machines instead of just the hobbyists who want to use it? Well, let us say that one of these hobbyists makes some cool gizmo that you like, and want to have. With standardized hardware you could ask the hobbyist to make you one, and plug it straight in.

All of this is completely hypothetical. We're not going to know what can be done with it until the machine is available, and in the hands of those who can develop stuff. If you don't see the point in the XCore chip, then maybe you should focus on the rest of the machine; multi-core >1.6 GHz, PCI-Express, etc. Surely that's interesting enough in its own right?

Hans

** I'm not familiar with their architecture, so I could be completely wrong