Parallella project on Kickstarter
I'm writing to draw fellow Debian ARM users' attention to the
Parallella project currently on Kickstarter. Link:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/adapteva/parallella-a-supercomputer-for-everyone
The project's founders are seeking funding for an arm-based
development board based around their 16/64 core multicore Epiphany
processor.
Apart from the Epiphany processor, the specs are comparable with other
arm-based dev-boards (Pandaboard etc.):
* Dual-core ARM A9 CPU
* Epiphany Multicore Accelerator (16 or 64 cores)
* 1GB RAM
* MicroSD Card
* USB 2.0 (two)
* Two general purpose expansion connectors
* Ethernet 10/100/1000
* HDMI connection
* Ships with Ubuntu OS
* Ships with free open source Epiphany development tools that
include C compiler, multicore debugger, Eclipse IDE, OpenCL
SDK/compiler, and run time libraries.
* Dimensions are 3.4'' x 2.1''
The project is especially interesting from a free software point of
view:
* Open Access: Absolutely no NDAs or special access needed! All
architecture and SDK documents will be published on the web as
soon as the Kickstarter project is funded.
* Open Source: The Parallella platform will be based on free open
source development tools and libraries. All board design files
will be provided as open source once the Parallella boards are
released.
* Affordability: Hardware costs and SDK costs have always been a
huge barrier to entry for developers looking to develop high
performance applications. Our goal is to bring the Parallella
high performance computer cost below $100, making it an
affordable platform for all.
On most extant ARM-based SoCs/dev.boards, the coprocessor (i.e. GPU)
is encumbered by NDAs, closed source drivers, binary firmware,
undocumented instruction sets, etc.
Originally, the plan was to release documentation when the project
reached its funding goal; however, they decided to release the
documentation early, in order to generate more interest, see
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/adapteva/parallella-a-supercomputer-for-everyone/posts/323691
The project is currently struggling to meet its funding goals; I would
encourage everyone interested in advancing the cause of free software
on ARM platforms to back Parallella, and to pass on the word to others.
Disclosure: I'm backing the project but am not otherwise affiliated
with its founders.
Tom Glover
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