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Message started by Oldfeller on 05/27/12 at 04:18:10

Title: MicroSoft, Google and Apple see Cortex A-15 coming
Post by Oldfeller on 05/27/12 at 04:18:10

http://www.androidauthority.com/arm-a9-vs-arm-a15-87559/

Now, if you read the above and didn't get a glimmer of hope for the future, I'll try to explain why you should.

Cortex A-15 can run ANY operating system. It can run Direct X, so normal games can run on it. It is 30-50% faster than the fastest phone chip out there right now. It can run a PC at normal speed, or a tablet, or a laptop, or a really beefy phone and still get longer battery life than what we have now.

Apple has already committed A-15 to their next tablets and notebooks (yes, long play times and power and increased glitz means Apple has already locked up the first year's supply of this new chip from their favourite vendors)

So, what happens in 2014-15? MicroSoft either makes it big in phones and in computers and in tablets with Windows 8 or they become pretty much irrelevant in this same period.

Android moves from phones to tablets to laptops and PCs. Google won the lawsuit with Oracle over Java -- Android is unencumbered now and Google just bought Motorola Mobility so they now own 17,000 patents that can be swapped or counter-charged against any other sorts of Oracle type lawsuit moves somebody might make.

Android 4.0 is free to use, open code that can run on phones, tablets and computers (yup, it has mouse and keyboard interfaces now all built in natural style). You can finger stroke, tap, click and keyboard to your heart's content, it will sense what you have hooked up and let you use it.

Development of Android now continues (lawsuit is over) ..... 5.0 might well be the "combine point" of Chrome OS and Android we were told was gonna happen way back from the very beginning.

so ....

Look to the Far East and the Allwinner chipsets for the world shifting changes that are just starting to break.

Allwinner lags behind like 1 generation to the ARM big boys and they are just now shipping their 1.2 ghz dual core A-8 ARM processors which are being shipped out TODAY in Android set top boxes that function like little $74 computers. And yes, they cost $74.

Same little Allwinner A-8 chips are showing up in cute little Chrome OS boxes .....

..... and little Raspberry Pi like Linux stick computers .....

And MicroSoft and Intel are scrambling and floundering like crazy because they missed the wave completely and although they have lots of money to throw at it, right now they got no traction at all in phone space.

And, with the advent of the powerful enough to do anything/everything A-15 Arm chip, licensed to anybody that wants to build it -- phone space is rapidly becoming every space.

Title: Re: MicroSoft, Google and Apple see Cortex A-15 co
Post by 360k+ on 05/27/12 at 11:29:03

Never ceases to amaze me the technology you can carry around in your pocket nowadays. This chip is impressive!

At Apple many years ago we had prototypes in engineering based on the Dec Alpha chip. The chip had programmable microcode, which means it could potentially run other chip's binaries in native mode; meaning it could run Windows, MacOS, Unix, etc... without interpretation. The only problem was we couldn't talk Jobs into finishing the system and releasing a marketable product.

Title: Re: MicroSoft, Google and Apple see Cortex A-15 co
Post by Pine on 05/27/12 at 18:43:11

Good stuff, though it start making my head spin pretty quick. Which is sad as I have been programming for over 30 years.

What would excite me is if theses things would show up in Home NAS boxes and bring down the price of devise Synolgy NAS boxes. I would love to a stack of these things in a home, one as a file server, one as a media server, one as VPN/firewall device...

Of course what I want seems contrary to where the world is going.. ie cloud stuff, with no data kept at home. I am backwards that way I guess.

As for phones.. I ahve yet to jump on the smart phone bandwagon. Not becasue they arent cool, I just refuse to be ripped off by the current data plans.

Title: Re: MicroSoft, Google and Apple see Cortex A-15 co
Post by 360k+ on 05/27/12 at 19:10:03

I hear you on the smartphones... I worked in tech all my life. I knew at age 14 I wanted to be an engineer, building my own tube ham rig in high school. Later, I was a member of the famous (or infamous) homebrew computer club in Sillyvalley back in the 70's. In those days we wirewrapped our 8 bit hardware and wrote most of the software for it ourselves. Today, my 27 year old son has far surpassed me and many times makes me feel technically challenged. And the future... well, it can't even be imagined.

Title: Re: MicroSoft, Google and Apple see Cortex A-15 co
Post by Starlifter on 05/27/12 at 22:05:54

They say your phone today has much more computing power than the on-board computers of the Apollo moon missions. Just amazing.

Title: Re: MicroSoft, Google and Apple see Cortex A-15 co
Post by Oldfeller on 05/28/12 at 22:07:27

Star,

Your old dumb cell phone had more computing power than the Apollo moon mission on board computers.

The newer dual and quad processor smart phones (and the desktop you are typing on right now no matter how old it is) have more computing power than the Cray 1 supercomputer had that modeled the hydrogen bomb and cracked all of everybody else's secret codes during the cold war.

:o

Here is a series of pics of these little 1.2 ghz Allwinner based Android PCs that you can buy for less than $80.

Given 1-2 years, they will likely be sporting Allwinner's version of the A-15 ARM chipset, running Android 5.0 (or Win8 arm, or Linux, or you name it) at full speed, same size format, using even less battery power.

If it is stationary, it will use a little cell phone charger as the power supply.

http://liliputing.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/apc.jpg

http://liliputing.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/mk802.jpg

http://liliputing.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/z900.jpg

http://liliputing.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/cotton-candy.jpg

These are simply the first swelling of the wave, she's a coming .... she's a coming.

Title: Re: MicroSoft, Google and Apple see Cortex A-15 co
Post by 360k+ on 05/30/12 at 07:12:17

I don't really see it as a new wave swelling so much as a wave of technology that began around 1970 with the first single chip CPU (Intel's 4004), and steadily progressing from there. The components just keep getting smaller and more powerful. Speaking of which, remember the old Commodore 64? Well here's the NEW one on steroids; about 1,800x faster than the original...

http://www.commodoreusa.net/CUSA_C64.aspx

Title: Re: MicroSoft, Google and Apple see Cortex A-15 co
Post by Oldfeller on 05/30/12 at 10:40:31

What you say is true enough, but the froth at the top of this wave is the shift away from Intel/MicroSoft to free software OS systems that were birthed on the cell phone platform.

Android has started to ship on "desktop boxes" (seems hard to call them that since they are only 3 times bigger than a thumb drive). Android has a pretty much complete software cosmos that is doubling every half a year, while software development in the PC world is relatively stagnant right now (with prices rising all the time due to lack of competition).

I think having a 5" screen super phone that sits quietly in your pocket while you look at and type on existing blue tooth driven monitor/keyboard/mouse arrangements both at work and at home has a little something going for it. Same phone uses the touch screen while you are at dinner or at the mall. This is possible now, but with even more power (A-15 has that power) it becomes even more possible.

Title: Re: MicroSoft, Google and Apple see Cortex A-15 co
Post by Oldfeller on 06/01/12 at 12:00:01

http://liliputing.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/201242614137386-e1338558414271.jpg

These cute new little boxes keep rolling on out of the Far East faster and faster and faster. Phone users in the orient understand the Android operating system totally, to them it is like giving them a little bitty XP box was to us.

http://liliputing.com/2012/06/mini-x-is-a-78-android-2-3-tv-companion-with-allwinner-a10-cpu.html

They are not what you really want just yet, give them a year or so to roll up to the newly "cheap" A-15 dual or quad chips and the current version of Android, then they will have lots of horsepower to go with the tiny tiny size.

http://liliputing.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/mele_01.jpg

Android is showing the potential now to be accepted by billions of people (yeah, Indochina & Orient -- I know) as a mainstream OS. But think about it, they have a cell phone data plan already and NO phone lines or cable lines in their area -- these were never put in as they were "old tech" when the industrialization wave came through their country in the last 5 years.

To all these brand new billions of tech users MicroSoft and Intel are way too expensive to even consider.

Plus, their governments are embracing Android and putting it (tablets) into primary and secondary schools as a way of avoiding the very high yearly costs of physical text books.

Kids are growing up on Android right now -- everything they need or do is on Android.

Title: Re: MicroSoft, Google and Apple see Cortex A-15 co
Post by Oldfeller on 06/01/12 at 18:44:54

Here is a guy trying to see if his current generation android phone really could "expand out" to be a full desktop replacement using bluetooth, standard cables, etc.

Looks like he made it go. He was surprised how responsive and powerful it could be.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_--zcmqIyRI[/media]

source article is here

http://androidcommunity.com/this-is-what-a-galaxy-nexus-desktop-computer-looks-like-20120210/

Title: Re: MicroSoft, Google and Apple see Cortex A-15 co
Post by Boule’tard on 06/01/12 at 19:17:07

The last time I pieced a computer together I bought a $150 metal case, to be my last computer case in life, you see, ;D , because it had the standard "ATX" motherboard footprint. Little did I know that there'd be these little things of totally different architecture that take 1/50th the power and don't sound like, and draw power like a vacuum cleaner.

As with all tech purchases, the longer you wait, the better the deal is.. not knowing when to buy is a great problem to have.. but I think I'll wait a liiiittle longer and let the nerds sort the bugs out.

Title: Re: MicroSoft, Google and Apple see Cortex A-15 co
Post by Oldfeller on 06/01/12 at 19:35:51

"sounds like a vacuum cleaner"

Reminds me of my monster mash, super powerful PC case, had 4 fans running all the time to air cool all that Athlon CPU and NVIDA video card goodness I was using at the time.

The sucker roared to life !!!

Now the funny part, it had a whole GIG of systems memory, a 75 gig hard drive and it had a monster powered 1.2 ghz AMD athlon chip under a big fan cooled heat sink. It was a 64 bit processor running a 32 bit operating system using (mostly) 16 bit legacy software suites.

The dual core 1.2 ghz allwinner ARM chipset is more powerful, has twice the system memory and has a better GPU than my monster box ever had.

:-?

..... I shudder to tell you this, but just my radial fan mounted super duper heat piped CPU cooler system cost more $$$ than these little boxes cost now-a-days.

These little boxes run off a cell phone charger and don't even have a fan in them, anywhere.

No noise

Title: Re: MicroSoft, Google and Apple see Cortex A-15 co
Post by Boule’tard on 06/01/12 at 20:03:42

Heh heh. The last video card I bought (currently in use) has its own fan on it, the Nvidia ti4200 something-or-other, super badass at the time, and cost me about $200 and I was thinking "oh gee I'll never need any more video power than THAT!" ::) Of course, by today's standards it's crap. At some point I realized that unless you value computers as a hobby, It is foolish to buy the latest and greatest hardware.. I saw a computer way better than mine on freecycle but I was too preoccupied to go get it. :-/

Title: Re: MicroSoft, Google and Apple see Cortex A-15 co
Post by Oldfeller on 06/01/12 at 22:34:09

I gave the monster mash to my daughter's boyfriend to play with and bought the HP white box I am using now (it was very quiet and had slightly better power).

Now I run Linux on it because XP went antique on me and became unreliable (while Linux is boring and just keeps on working)

I'll pick up a little Linux something or nother one of these days, eventually.

Title: Re: MicroSoft, Google and Apple see Cortex A-15 co
Post by Oldfeller on 06/07/12 at 10:48:18

AMD is paying attention to the change wave and does get it and is on it completely !!!

Intel is still completely lost and floundering about, chasing Ivy Bridge this and that. MicroSoft has bet their entire farm on Windows 8 and is busy locking it down so Linux can't be added on to a windows pc (anybody say "lawsuit" for that little trick?) and so you have to buy all new windows office stuff if you put it on an ARM chipset.

Sad, how far the mighty duo have fallen.

AMD on the other hand has come out with a line of very low power requiring BRAZOS chips that have very very good built in GPUs that are performing on par to Intel's mid line chips (and outperforming all the various Atoms). You can run anybody's operating system as it is x86 compatible and is Linux friendly.

And looky here at the brand new AMD reference design for using these new low power high performance chipsets ..... doesn't require very much room when the video system is on the same chip as the CPU.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilFUdnHkmlY[/media]

Title: Re: MicroSoft, Google and Apple see Cortex A-15 co
Post by Oldfeller on 06/07/12 at 11:01:05

And here is another wee little fanless x86 mini box coming out of China using an Atom chipset ....

http://liliputing.com/2012/06/communication-technology-unveils-detsel-01-mini-pc-with-atom-cpu.html

http://liliputing.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/detsel-01.jpg

Title: Re: MicroSoft, Google and Apple see Cortex A-15 co
Post by verslagen1 on 06/07/12 at 11:37:00

Now if they have an adapter so I can use the display off an old laptop... sign me up!

Title: Re: MicroSoft, Google and Apple see Cortex A-15 co
Post by Serowbot on 06/07/12 at 12:01:56

Everything is coming... it never seems to get here... :-?...

Title: Re: MicroSoft, Google and Apple see Cortex A-15 co
Post by Oldfeller on 06/07/12 at 20:29:39

A-15 is here now, just locked up in "customized production" by Apple right now.

The first 2 foundries are in production, but all output has been sold already. Apple will stockpile the parts until they get enough for a large roll out, then will start building a new super-duper laptop and a super duper tablet to be released at about the same time late this year (Christmas).

The A-15 duo SOC as a product is gonna be hot (game shifting) so expect the rest of the big 5 to be in production by late year's end, with the little guys (like Allwinner) coming along about a year later.

(right about the same time the quad to octo A-15 combo SOC code named "A-8" starts rolling off from the big guys).

A-8 is expected to double to triple CPU and GPU throughput compared to today's very best current phone chips and it will equal intel's mid to upper level PC chips as A-8 will be a full throughput 64 bit chipset from the get go.

3 years until that A-8 stuff gets out of Apple lock, that is --- Apple buys the new ARM good stuff for the first year as a "customized exclusive".

But yes, like Joe's Crab Shack with the painted sign on the side of the building .....

Free Crab Tomorrow !!!

...... it always gets better and better. You can buy $160 tablets from Sears or Kmart right now that are MUCH better than last Christmas's best $250 tablets from Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

Title: Re: MicroSoft, Google and Apple see Cortex A-15 co
Post by Oldfeller on 06/07/12 at 22:32:57

Guess what I am .....

http://liliputing.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/clambook.jpg

and I am not alone, I have a brother who is made by somebody else ...

http://liliputing.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/xpc.jpg

.... and we are not made by cell phone companies -- they have all our cousins in development, including two that you don't have to take out of your pocket to have them run a display, mouse and keyboard at your desk.

Title: Re: MicroSoft, Google and Apple see Cortex A-15 co
Post by Oldfeller on 06/16/12 at 11:57:03

http://liliputing.com/2012/06/cx-01-53-android-4-0-pc-stick.html

http://liliputing.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/cx-01.jpg

These cute little things are proliferating like bunny rabbits -- $53 will buy an item that now has android and two full linux operating systems modified to work on it and it will act as a TV streaming device as well as doing normal PC stuff, all over your home router's wifi system.

MORAL OF THE STORY -- NEXT MONITOR YOU BUY MAKE SURE IT HAS SPEAKERS BUILT INTO IT AND IT HAS A FULL SERVICE HDMI PORT ON IT. HDMI is beginning to sound like the up and coming new video standard for PCs anyway as VGA can't show 1080p resolution stuff at all and it does a grainy botch job on trying to show 780p.

Now, to do what this little linux device can do you would have to have a Windows Media Center set up ....

:D

Title: Re: MicroSoft, Google and Apple see Cortex A-15 co
Post by 360k+ on 06/17/12 at 09:27:53

Wayyy cool! I built a pico ITX a year ago in my own designed see thru plexi case that I run the Puppy Linux distro on. It's about the size of a thick pocketbook, and I stuck to the back of the monitor. Here's a guy who put Puppy on the MK802 gadget.

http://liliputing.com/2012/06/puppy-linux-on-the-mk802-74-mini-pc.html

For $74 I'm tempted... very tempted... Fun schtuff!

Title: Re: MicroSoft, Google and Apple see Cortex A-15 co
Post by Oldfeller on 06/17/12 at 16:17:50

Wife's home laptop got hit with a spoof "spyware alert" that had all the visible signs of coming straight from her anti-virus program.

>:( Yeah, she did ....

Now she has a corrupted boot system that MicroChoke is trying to fix continuously with Startup Repair, a "we got hit yet again" disaster subsystem that can't find its ass with both hands.

And the old Linux Mint white box jest keeps on chugging along, all dull and boring and simple and commonplace.

:D

Title: Re: MicroSoft, Google and Apple see Cortex A-15 co
Post by 360k+ on 06/17/12 at 16:47:24

I'm working on one right now for a friend that has the FBI Moneypak ransomware on it. This thing jumps on your system from a website, and from that time paints a splash screen FBI warning that it has detected pirated music files on your system. It requests $100 to be forwarded via Moneypak, disables the Task Mgr, and places itself on the excepted list for your anitvirus. You can't get around the splash screen because it is wall to wall with no taskbar, icons, or anything else visible. It also registers itself with randomly numbered startup files which re-write themselves back to disk on shutdown. So even if you remove the offensive files, they get written back to disk from memory. With Winders the fun just never ends.