Re: recommend a netbook for Debian deployment?
On Wed, Nov 6, 2013 at 7:08 PM, Mikhail Ramendik <mr@ramendik.ru> wrote:
>> no. you don't. *do not* get *anything* that has imgtec PowerVR.
>> ask anyone who's worked with intel embedded atom SoCs. ask anyone
>> who's had an intel atom laptop with a PowerVR GPU.
>
> Wait, is PowerVR rebranded as Intel HD Graphics? I'm getting confused
> - again probably my fault (just trying to understand how stuff works).
there was a time - which intel regrets - when they licensed PowerVR
for use with Intel Atom. poulsbo or something i think it was. this
galvanised them to actually do a decent job and to create a software
(libre) version of their 3D graphics driver for their *own* 3D
Graphics Engine.
> I'll look that up, but the question is whether there is an
> alternative. Although at the $300 mark, where the 1040 is aiming,
> there probably is, the AMD C-50, with its stellar GPU performance. But
> if no one is doing an open design based on that, there is probably a
> good reason for it that anyone more knowledgeable than I probably
> knows very well?
$40k NREs on designs will do it. at least with ARM SoCs you can - if
you're lucky - get away with $10k. we ended up spending around $12k
and got the EOMA68-A20 CPU Card done... just. i had to have a hand in
some of the last minute board changes for the final revision...
>> ok you won't, because it's a chassis. the CPU Card is a plugin
>> user-upgradeable module, reusing PCMCIA (PCCARD) if you remember that.
>
> Of course I remember PCMCIA. And it sounds like a very good idea.
i demonstrate it to people by bashing a CPU Card on the edge of a
table. it weighs only 40 grammes so makes a lot of noise with very
little in the way of actual damage.
>> the *first* in the series will be an Allwinner A10 module, which has
>> its own news page:
>>
>> http://rhombus-tech.net/allwinner_a10/news/
>>
>> yeees, that CPU Card runs debian. first thing i installed when i got it :)
>
> Cool. But I guess the A10 GPU (Mali400) is pretty basic compared to
> the aforementioned PowerVR?
we're using the A20 which is dual-core, but yes it is. part of the
issue there is that the moron in charge of MALI at ARM - the one who
thinks he's god - doesn't actually know what he's talking about, and
hasn't bothered to do any software optimisation of the parts of the
MALI libraries that run on the actual ARM cores.
luc verbeghen did a _really_ simple memory-management system in
limadriver and got a *whopping* 30% performance increase *above* what
MALI can do on the exact same hardware. and that's *without* having
done any other special kinds of optimisations.
but yes, if you're forced [for now] to use MALI, then yes it's a little slow.
but then you think, "hmm, if you pay $7.50 in 10k volumes for a
Dual-Core ARM Cortex A7 *and* its Power-Management IC the AXP209 and
it's a little slow but perfectly adequate and reliable, and i'm
comparing that against $19 for a Quad-Core A7 where the 3D GPU is
twice as quick but it can crash at any time and take out the OS", i
know which one i'd go for.
>>> and, of course, how you can attach a keyboard. It does seem you are going
>>> for non widescreen which is kinda cool :)
>>
>> lots going on - the first tablet will be 1024x600 (i'm not keen on it
>> personally, but the client's client are). after that we'll have cash
>> to make a whole stack of products whahey!
>
> I'll keep watching the space, as if I go for a tablet at all, it has
> to be 9+ inch non-widescreen and with a wired keyboard case. But THAT
> would be a real incentive to go for it (basically it would replace two
> devices that I need).
there will be more. there's an engineering board coming out very
soon. i also have a design for a router (using the same gigabit
5-port RTL8366 IC that's in some OpenWRT-compatible TP-Link routers).
again, you just pop out the CPU Card and slot it into the router.
boomf, now you have an intelligent router. if you're managing
customer sites that means diagnosing problems or doing upgrades would
involve swapping out the whole CPU Card instead of trying to do hairy
on-site live upgrades. customer: "oops it didn't work". you: "ok,
sorry: put the other card back then please".
easy.
l.
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