From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: References: <5778ffc079ca4ad7227b37b1158b29f1@proxima.alt.za> Date: Wed, 5 Feb 2014 17:40:33 +1100 Message-ID: From: Shane Morris To: Fans of the OS Plan 9 from Bell Labs <9fans@9fans.net> Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=001a11c12c60a1125704f1a308a4 Subject: Re: [9fans] Inferno and the Parallella Topicbox-Message-UUID: b68996e8-ead8-11e9-9d60-3106f5b1d025 --001a11c12c60a1125704f1a308a4 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Seems there is some interest in this chip, and the board. As you said Henry, state machines would run very quickly in parallel - I had some wad arguing that an FPGA is the only thing you need, but nothing beats a hard core for hard tasks. Grid it up in parallel, times sixteen, and thats a fair bit of processing power. I have already sent a few people emails concerning this, independently of the list, to garner their opinions. Out of four people, only one has replied, I suppose, Australia is on the other side of the world to most of you guys, time zones and all. But I'm going to make an open call - if a GSoC mentor in parallelism could be found, willing to advise the project, could this be a GSoC project? I suppose I should tender the idea on the wiki, but I'd rather not. Never played with wiki's, nor had the interest to try. Too busy designing robots. Tried a TAFENSW Moodle once, that was bad enough. On Wed, Feb 5, 2014 at 5:32 PM, Henry Millican wrote: > Parallella seems very cool. I'll probably pick one up when I have free > time. > > I've worked with the Zynq chip on board, which is also great. For $99 it's > one hell of a dev board, considering you get an FPGA with hard ARM cores, > as well as the Ephiphany chip. > > The Ephiphany processor fills in the gap between CPU and FPGA tasks in my > opinion. Things that would require complex state machines on an FPGA could > be done in parallel on the RISC cores very easily (and quickly). I can > imagine doing some image processing or something (that doesn't lend itself > well to FPGAs) of the like with this. > > I'll be following you guys and may have time to contribute, but I am just > a hardware guy after all. > -- > > Henry > > > On Tue, Feb 4, 2014 at 10:20 PM, Shane Morris wrote: > >> Oh, its ok. I like the GSoC idea. I just don't think I'm GSoC material, >> I'm hardware type, even if I will be a uni student this year going forward >> - "If it draws blood, its hardware" as the old maxim goes. >> >> The Parallella board is US$99, a far more modest investment in hardware >> than a GizmoBoard as I had previously suggested, and packs more power for >> the price, in terms of coding value. Whether it could be accepted as a >> coding project of the type for GSoC, a mentor for it found, and other >> logistical concerns are a issue for the GSoC organisers, but I suppose, >> could it happen? >> >> An abstract topic for the time being. >> >> >> On Wed, Feb 5, 2014 at 5:06 PM, wrote: >> >>> > Thoughts? Comments? Critique? Flames? >>> >>> I guess this is the real value of efforts like GSOC, if only they >>> could be extended to a much greater public either with an infinite >>> budget or by pushing a far more socially-aware ethos. >>> >>> I'll refrain from pontificating further. >>> >>> ++L >>> >>> >>> >>> >> > --001a11c12c60a1125704f1a308a4 Content-Type: text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
Seems there is some interest in this chip, and the board. = As you said Henry, state machines would run very quickly in parallel - I ha= d some wad arguing that an FPGA is the only thing you need, but nothing bea= ts a hard core for hard tasks. Grid it up in parallel, times sixteen, and t= hats a fair bit of processing power.

I have already sent a few people emails concerning this, ind= ependently of the list, to garner their opinions. Out of four people, only = one has replied, I suppose, Australia is on the other side of the world to = most of you guys, time zones and all. But I'm going to make an open cal= l - if a GSoC mentor in parallelism could be found, willing to advise the p= roject, could this be a GSoC project?

I suppose I should tender the idea on the wiki, but I&#= 39;d rather not. Never played with wiki's, nor had the interest to try.= Too busy designing robots. Tried a TAFENSW Moodle once, that was bad enoug= h.


On Wed,= Feb 5, 2014 at 5:32 PM, Henry Millican <henry@tehserv.net> = wrote:
Pa= rallella seems very cool. I'll probably pick one up when I have free ti= me.

I've worked with the Zynq chip on board, which is also great.= For $99 it's one hell of a dev board, considering you get an FPGA with= hard ARM cores, as well as the Ephiphany chip.

The Ephiphany processor fills in the gap between CPU and FPGA tas= ks in my opinion. Things that would require complex state machines on an FP= GA could be done in parallel on the RISC cores very easily (and quickly). I= can imagine doing some image processing or something (that doesn't len= d itself well to FPGAs) of the like with this.

I'll be following you guys and may have time to contribute, b= ut I am just a hardware guy after all.
--

Henr= y


On Tue, Feb 4, 2014 at= 10:20 PM, Shane Morris <edgecomberts@gmail.com> wrote:=
Oh, its ok. I like the GSoC= idea. I just don't think I'm GSoC material, I'm hardware type,= even if I will be a uni student this year going forward - "If it draw= s blood, its hardware" as the old maxim goes.

The Parallella board is US$99, a far more modest investment = in hardware than a GizmoBoard as I had previously suggested, and packs more= power for the price, in terms of coding value. Whether it could be accepte= d as a coding project of the type for GSoC, a mentor for it found, and othe= r logistical concerns are a issue for the GSoC organisers, but I suppose, c= ould it happen?

An abstract topic for the time being.
<= div>


On Wed, F= eb 5, 2014 at 5:06 PM, <lucio@proxima.alt.za> wrote:
> Thoughts? Comments? Critique? Flames?
I guess this is the real value of efforts like GSOC, if only they
could be extended to a much greater public either with an infinite
budget or by pushing a far more socially-aware ethos.

I'll refrain from pontificating further.

++L






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