[CoLoCo] Parallella kickstarter T-24 hrs: Ubuntu with low-power parallel hardware for $99?

[David Overcash]

Maybe we should start a new thread to discuss - but I don't see the reason
for this necessarily ..  I see Raspberry Pi filling the low-end "find out
what ARM can do for you!" market - and I see other manufacturers putting
out hardware with strong Linux compatibility ( i.e. BeagleBoard, Calxeda,
etc. ) for the high end of the ARM market...

Is this trying to fill some middle ground?  Or simply be completely open?
 I think there's definitely merit to creating fully open hardware ( at
least, as much as possible given firmware, drivers, etc. ) - but I'm also
interested in getting a really strong device for very cheap - and so far
that seems to only be available in semi-proprietary flavors.

Feel free to throw me under the bus...  :)  and yeah - maybe we should
change the thread subject.

-David

On Sat, Oct 27, 2012 at 7:50 AM, Michael Haney <thezorch at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Fri, Oct 26, 2012 at 6:15 PM, Paul Hummer <paul at eventuallyanyway.com>wrote:
>
>> If the Raspberry Pi is teaching people about computers for a low price,
>> this is going to teach people about parellel processing for a very low
>> price.  It's hard to find a cheap system with comparable specs (dual core
>> ARM and 16 RISC epiphany cores) for parallel processing.  If all you needed
>> was a media center, this is probably not the device you want.  If you're
>> wanting to explore parellel computing, this is definitely a good system to
>> experiment with.
>>
>> The $99 level also comes with a book they promise to be writing about
>> parallel computing.  Most books on Parallel Processing are either expensive
>> text books or Windows specific.
>>
>> I backed it, and I hope it works out.
>>
>>
> Apparently this uses an implementation of OpenCL on a copy-left license.
> They had to make some modifications to make it work for with the Epiphany
> chip, and released the source for those changes. The only thing that isn't
> open about this is the design of the Epiphany hardware itself. According to
> the videos on the Kickstarter page the desktop performance of this hardware
> is pretty good. Its using a dual-core ARM Cortex A9, which is equivalent to
> the SoC used in the 3rd generation iPad. The new Nvidia Tegra 3
> is equivalent to the new A6X used in the newest iPad design.
>
> Essentially, as Alexander said this a Raspberry Pi on steroids.
>
> --
> Michael "TheZorch" Haney
> https://sites.google.com/site/thezorch/
>
> "Faith is not faith in anything. Faith is the trust, without any proof or
> supporting evidence, that all is well and that all will be well."
> -Q'uo
>
> "When you change the way you look at something, what you look at changes."
>
> -Ancient Wisdom
>
> Free Your PC, Open Your Mind www.ubuntu.com
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