What is Digg?Sponsored by newegg
Ready. Set. Shop view!
newegg.com - Newegg.com Black Friday Sale starting 11/25 3PM PST. No Lines, No Crowds, Click and Save.
18 Comments
- HonoredMule, on 10/07/2009, -0/+7ARM and x86 tech space is converging more and more, and it looks like AMD/Global Foundries is going to be at the fulcrum. I wouldn't be surprised to see AMD get directly back in the ARM game, either. Change is coming, but 9 months ago it was still too far away for a struggling company to weather at its forefront, and until Microsoft comes around, that will probably remain the case. In the mean time, little forays help acclimatize the in-house talent for what the future offers.
Global Foundries, on the other hand, isn't held back in the least by software concerns, and is showing how the freedom of silicon printer from x86 developer can help blow a gaping hole in the status quo. - TheRealMisterd, on 10/07/2009, -1/+7Too bad the ARM CPUs can't do windows.
But given the fact that 90% of Joe-Six-Packs out there only use a laptop for email and surfing,
a Linux OS running on ARM is probably best:
-Doesn't crash
-starts up fast
-Not the main target of virus writers = Almost virus proof - codyman, on 10/07/2009, -0/+6Well, real competition sure can only really help the customer's pocketbooks... more bang for buck sounds good to me
- mweathr, on 10/07/2009, -1/+6"Too bad the ARM CPUs can't do windows."
You've got that backwards. - zer0mass, on 10/07/2009, -1/+6Your doing it wrong.
- thatcat, on 10/07/2009, -0/+5Your old Dell doesn't have an ARM based chip in it either...
- xedd, on 10/07/2009, -0/+4Maybe you've got some bad RAM, there, emjaysea. You should check it out.
- zer0mass, on 10/07/2009, -0/+4"until Microsoft comes around"
It's looking more and more like hardware makers won't wait and will just use Linux. Take away High end games and there is no reason Linux is not a drop in replacement for most tasks. - HonoredMule, on 10/07/2009, -0/+2"It's looking more and more like hardware makers won't wait."
That's very true, and I personally can't wait for some sweet ARM gear running Linux. However, much of the consumer market will wait for Microsoft--both for Windows on small devices and for ARM on bigger business machines and networks. Like it or not, there are many reasons why a wider market *does* still need Windows, as well as a few reasons people will /think/ they need Windows.
As a consequence, the best devices will take much longer to arrive at appropriate commodity prices. It's a shame MS wants to ride the tail of this revolution rather than help pioneer it, but I suppose they've got an established grapevine of tendrils through the x86 industry and too little control over ARM hardware. That makes ARM support a fearful proposition without first forging similarly strong business ties with Cortex, Qualcomm and the like. - JQP123, on 10/07/2009, -0/+2The technology dustbin is littered with processors that were "better" than x86 ... but x86 and Intel are still here. Competition in this space is as much (if not more) about manufacturing prowess than it is about design. In other words, manufacturing advances and production efficiencies can make up for design deficiencies. And when it comes to manufacturing, Intel is king.
ARM doesn't manufacture anything. They license their designs so others can manufacture them (AMD/GlobalFoundries for example, see the article). The problem with this is that not only do the manufacturers have to compete with Intel ... they also have to compete with one another. This limits the volume of any one manufacturer to levels well below that of Intel which in turn limits their ability to compete. - HonoredMule, on 10/07/2009, -0/+2Please don't make this a parade for Linux fanboyism. I'm trying to foster intelligent discussion here, and it's not about Linux. It's about better hardware.
- JQP123, on 10/08/2009, -0/+1"ARM chips: Just about every portable device and appliance that requires a processor."
Not true. Most appliances that require one have an 8-bit processor. Shipments of 8-bit processors currently outnumber *all* 32-bit (x86+ARM+all others) by a factor of 7x according to ARM's own web site.
http://www.arm.com/news/hottopics/15298.html - ryanmsean, on 10/08/2009, -0/+1Yes, Windows CE can run on ARM cpus... what do you think the Zune HD and Windows Mobile phones use?
Right now ARM cpus are much more power efficient compared to x86 chips in the same space (Atom), but I will assume that will change once Intel has its new Atom SoCs out on 32nm. - magus_melchior, on 10/08/2009, -0/+1Ah, but consider the volumes of Intel chips vs. ARM chips.
Intel chips: Pretty much all modern desktop, laptop, and server computers except AMD, IBM Power, SPARC, and MIPS processors.
ARM chips: Just about every portable device and appliance that requires a processor.
For every Intel chip in someone's house, there are probably 3 or 4 ARM chips in the same house. That's a lot of royalties and contracts, and ARM is more than happy to just license their designs to chip fabs. That's incredibly smart, given Intel's near-monopolistic position in silicon-- they don't have to sink billions in not just expensive foundries, but also the nanometer arms race. - mweathr, on 10/07/2009, -1/+2What OS will you run on this better hardware if not Windows? It's going to be a *nix of some type, so Linux is perfectly relevant to the discussion.
- emjaysea, on 10/08/2009, -0/+0I think the RAM is fine, I could use more, and the system is just plain old, and it doesn't really crash so much as freeze up, or not wake up. Hey, I put Linux on it 'cause Windows XP was really sucking eggs. I'm actually very happy with its performance under Linux.
- Bicep, on 10/07/2009, -3/+3High end games(more than just the many titles that work just fine in WINE) and an MS-Visio replacement need to come to GNU/Linux. But until then, I'll be right here on GNU/Linux waiting anyway.
Seriously, Free yourself from the damn MS-Tax... use GNU/Linux!! - emjaysea, on 10/07/2009, -6/+2I guess you better tell the old Dell I have running on Ubuntu to stop crashing, 'cause it didn't get the memo from Linux.
© Digg Inc. 2009
— Content created and posted by Digg users is