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/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl General Category >> The Cafe >> Intel begins to spin in place --- vortex forms up /cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1521841362 Message started by Oldfeller on 03/23/18 at 14:42:42 |
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Title: Intel begins to spin in place --- vortex forms up Post by Oldfeller on 03/23/18 at 14:42:42 https://liliputing.com/2018/03/gigabyte-thunderxstation-is-the-first-armv8-workstation-pc.html Intel is not actually going down out of sight inside the whirlpool funnel just yet, but even Intel has to admit (even if only to itself) that there is a circular current forming and Intel is beginning to slowly spin in place more and more. http://https://liliputing-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/thunderx.jpg And yes, this is an existing rackspace processor board dumped into a desktop case, EXACTLY like what Intel has recently been doing with the Xenon desktop series. It is a direct market response to Intel screwing up by the numbers over Meltdown and Spectre and all the other massive security holes in the Wintel desktop world that render Intel based machines to be MUCH less desirable than they were two years ago. The Gigabyte ThunderXStation is a AMD based tower PC designed to work with Cavium’s ThunderX2 ARMv8 processors, which are typically used for servers and cloud computing appliances. Workstation PCs are typically high-performance (and high-cost) machines, and the ThunderXStation definitely seems to fit the bill. The first version to ship will come with a 2.2 GHz, 32-core CPU with 4 threads per core for a total of 128 threads. It also comes with an NVIDIA GeForce 710 GPU with dual monitor support, but Gigabyte says it’s also testing other NVIDIA and AMD GPUs. The computer supports DDR4-2133/2400/2666 memory and it can use up to 8 DIMMs per CPU. ================================================== https://liliputing.com/2018/03/mintbox-mini-2-compact-linux-desktop-with-apollo-lake-quad-core-cpu.html http://https://liliputing-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/mintbox-mini-2_01.jpg The Mintbox Mini 2 is a fanless computer that measures 4.4[ch8243] x 3.3[ch8243] x 1.3[ch8243] and weighs about 12 ounces. It’s powered by a 10W Intel Celeron J3455 quad-core processor. Prices are expected to start at $299 when the computers goes on sale this summer. The Mintbox Mini 2 will come in two configurations: Mintbox Mini 2: 4GB of RAM and 64GB of solid state storage for $299 Mintbox Mini 2 Pro: 8GB of RAM and 120GB of solid state storage for $349 The system supports up to 16GB of RAM if you want to open up the case and add more memory on your own. ================================================== https://liliputing.com/2018/03/logic-supply-launches-tiny-fanless-ubuntu-powered-pcs.html http://https://liliputing-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/cl200_02.jpg Industrial PC maker Logic Supply has been offering small fanless computers for years, but the company says its new CL200 series PCs are its smallest to date. Powered by an Intel Celeron N3350 dual-core processor, the little computer measures just 4.6[ch8243] x 3.3[ch8243] x 1.3[ch8243], making it smaller than a typical Intel NUC computer. Logic Supply positions the CL200 as a PC for Internet of Things and Edge computing. But it’s basically a full-fledged PC in a compact box, so you could just it for just about anything. The Logic Supply CL200 has a fanless, ventless enclosure and a bunch of ports including Gigabit Ethernet, USB 2.0, Mini DisplayPort, and microSD card slots. Logic Supply will offer two configurations. There’s the CL200 with 1GB of RAM, 8GB of eMMC storage, and Ubuntu Linux and the C210 with 2GB/32GB, support for Windows 10 IoT or Ubuntu Linux, and a few extra ports including a 3.5mm audio jack and dual DisplayPort and Ethernet jacks. When it rains, it POURS lately ...... and the whirlpool forms anew for Intel and begins rotating it around and around and pulling sorry ol' Intel down a little more each time it rains lately ...... |
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Title: Re: Intel begins to spin in place --- vortex forms Post by antmanbee on 03/23/18 at 15:02:55 The CL210 might make a good pfsense router. |
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Title: Re: Intel begins to spin in place --- vortex forms Post by Oldfeller on 03/23/18 at 17:04:49 48475D4448474B4C4C290 wrote:
https://www.nextplatform.com/2017/11/08/qualcomms-amberwing-arm-server-chip-finally-takes-flight/ http://https://3s81si1s5ygj3mzby34dq6qf-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/qualcomm-centriq-2400-table.jpg So, Qualcomm has a way to move its non-standard Centriq 2400 silicon sets after lasering off the bad traces, by remarketing it and calling it "Amberwing" and selling a the numerically fewer cores on a declining cost scale. So your ARM PC might just be a standard workstation board in a desktop case running a heavily culled chipset. Or, when the yields and production rates get high enough, a discounted full monty Centriq running under another name being sold at a discount. Yup, and this Gigabyte Thunderxstation could do the same tricks if cut roughly in half for around $888 dollars (or a mebbe couple of hundred less) at retail would make a JEST DANDY lil' ol' asskickin' PC class ARM standard chipset ..... And yes, as you read this stuff you can read a long list of happy customers who are NOT BUYING INTEL rack farm products right now any more ..... this could be you on the desktop if MS will go ahead and act on the software side of it. You can also see Joe Ordinary people buying Linux machines right "out of the box" now which has never really been readily available and easy to do before now. And yes, Microsoft really has written a Windows Server for ARM that really does work -- MS is not just totally committed to pushing it hard just yet as Intel really doesn't like that sort of action at all, really --- and Intel is twisting MS's ARM over it right nasty hard (pun intended). Makes Intel feel all threatened, it does. ::) And you are also reading the name for the first time for the new version of Qualcomm's next DynamIQ rack chipset which is going to be run off at 7nm very very soon ...... "Amberwing" changes to "Silverwing" ;) Intel isn't going to just roll over and give up and die you know. They will immediately ship some super powered superlative expletive worded VERY expensive "competitive products" with brand new part numbers with lots and lots and lots and lots of very expensive extra cores inside them. When you see this predicted product and wonder what rack farm processor set they actually came from the easiest way to find it is to just run your finger down the rack farm price list until something matches up. =================================================== We are still waiting for cell phone internal storage chipsets to finally get fast and large enough to really swing the PC level job -- we are getting closer and closer now as cell phones with 512 gigs of UFS flash memory have just became available in Asia, just about a month after Samsung first announced the 512 gig UFS solder on memory chip for phones. My main PC doesn't have but 160 gigs of storage ...... https://liliputing.com/2018/03/huawei-may-launch-a-phone-with-512gb-of-storage.html http://https://liliputing-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/p20-pro-1.jpg |
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Title: Re: Intel begins to spin in place --- vortex forms Post by Oldfeller on 03/24/18 at 13:43:08 Where is Intel compared to all the other foundries? The answer is ...... WAY WAY behind and still struggling to get 10nm to work right ..... Intel really needs to get over itself and start using purchased "proven good technologies" rather than trying to invent it all over again themselves as they are doing with 10nm. Yes, Intel is three levels behind now and should simply go BUY some 3nm tech from ASML and jump directly to it (giving them the maximum amount of time to fumble around getting it to work with their GIGANTIC oversized CISC layouts). 3nm is as far as standard lithography can go, so unless Intel has a rabbit in its hat they should do their last stand at 3nm and TRY TO GET THERE IN A TIMELY FASHION. TSMC 7 nanometer fab ramping in 2018, 5 nm in 2019, 3 nm Fab in 2021-2022 These are pretty good numbers seeing that TSMC has 7nm at full Apple production right now and TSMC and Apple are saying that 5nm is a fairly easy step as there simply isn't much to overcome. Apple wants 5nm next year and has bought the first three (3) ASML 5nm lines for TSMC to run for them. TSMC has the building built and is installing the last line of machinery as we speak (first two lines are making memory just as fast as they can run to do a process prove out production set). Apple is pushing TSMC hard to ramp up to full volume and full yields BEFORE cranking up on their 2019 order. Apple is sick and tired of TSMC hitting unexpected bottlenecks midrun and messing up their carefully scheduled Apple iPhone and iPad roll outs ..... 1.5 volt battery packs will be all that is required for the 5nm SoCs ...... the cell radios will still likely need 3-5 volts, as will the screens themselves. Remember, 3nm is the end of the road for any form of light based lithography --- something else will be needed after that. |
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Title: Re: Intel begins to spin in place --- vortex forms Post by Steve H on 03/25/18 at 08:24:46 OF, I'm glad you're keeping track of all this and its significance to the rest of us. I see many of the announcements and press blurbs but never take the time to think about it or relate it to everything else going on. You take the time to think on it and figure out what this and that actually mean to us. Thank you. I can see where Intel would be fuming after so many years way on top, to suddenly, even though its their own fault, be relegated to basic irrelevance. Given the heat issues seen with their processor designs as they have tried to shrink them, I wonder if they will ever get them to the smaller, tighter levels of integration...just not enough heat sink. Looks like we as consumers might be on the verge of seeing some actual real hold it in my hands neat new tech coming to us soon. |
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Title: Re: Intel begins to spin in place --- vortex forms Post by Oldfeller on 03/25/18 at 13:00:07 http://fortune.com/2017/07/27/samsung-intel-chip-semiconductor/ I just reviewed the foundry rankings and as usual the picture painted by "dollar ranking" was completely different from the picture painted by "standard 200mm wafer equivalents built" --- the same players are listed in both lists but the ranking order is different each way. The list includes a lot of new players who did not exist several years ago -- startups and conglomerations have shifted the playing field quite a bit. One old player is now completely missing however, as they will NOT provide that information any longer for some of these ranking compilations -- and that is Intel. Four new foundries have entered the listings, all are Chinese in origin. The industry in total reports a 10% growth last year. Since PC reported an 8% decline overall and Intel lost 20% market share to AMD last year one has to flat question what Intel is doing for growth (or did they actually give over some of that 10% growth that the others reported?) Intel's last real honest new business growth opportunity was making radios for Apple which took place in the last half of last year due to the Apple/Qualcomm spat. http://www.icinsights.com/news/bulletins/samsung-forecast-to-top-intel-as-the-1-semiconductor-supplier-in-2017-/ Here is the last write up of the changeover month that removed from Intel being on top -- since then Intel will not allow itself to be ranked below any of its competitors --- too much damaged pride and hurt ego involved, I suspect. ::) https://semiengineering.com/foundry-challenges-in-2018/ http://https://semiengineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Fig1-1.png This one is by "revenue produced" ...... =================================================== http://www.icinsights.com/files/images/bulletin20171120Fig1.png This one is by "Sales dollars listed at Retail Pricing" -- a very different dubious brand based metric that Intel insists upon still being used as it is the only listing that you see Intel in any more since NOBODY charges retail prices like Intel does ...... not even Intel as they always have to discount their stuff to actually sell it. ::) The far right hand column is the one you are looking for, showing Samsung going past Intel in the funky "raw retail at list price sales dollars" game. back to reality now Foundry vendors are also banking on growth in high-performance computing, power electronics and even cryptocurrency. But perhaps the most intriguing segment is China, where many foundry vendors are ramping up or building new fabs. In the overall foundry market, TSMC continues to dominate the landscape with a 55.9% share in 2017, according to TrendForce, a research firm. GlobalFoundries is in second place, followed in order by UMC, Samsung, SMIC, TowerJazz, Powerchip, Vanguard, Hua Hong and Dongbu, according to the firm. http://https://semiengineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/fig2-3.png As before, though, the mobile phone represents the biggest market for chips. Cellphone IC sales, which account for about 25% of the IC market’s total revenues, are expected to reach $97.3 billion in 2018, up 8% from 2017, according to IC Insights. PC-related chips, the second largest market for ICs, are projected to grow 5% to $72.6 billion in 2018, the firm said. Other markets are growing faster. For example, automotive IC sales are forecast to increase 16% in 2018 to $32.4 billion; meanwhile, IoT-related IC sales will rise 16% to about $16.8 billion in 2018, according to the firm. “More and more customers are redefining their product portfolios to accommodate the IoT and/or automotive markets,” said Walter Ng, vice president of U.S. sales at UMC. “For the automotive segment, progress in infotainment, data security and advanced operational features are increasing the demand for MCUs integrated with embedded nonvolatile memory, RF components and MEMS sensors. “In the IoT space, we see many different types of devices, but a predominant focus seems to be ICs that integrate MCUs with multi-protocol communications, including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and sometimes even Zigbee. We are also seeing significant interest in home automation,” Ng said. With those growth drivers in mind, foundry vendors must develop more and different processes to meet the growing requirements from customers. “The concept that one technology platform can service everything optimally from high-end IBM z System (mainframes) all the way to battery-powered IoT devices is unrealistic,” said Gary Patton, CTO at GlobalFoundries. |
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Title: Re: Intel begins to spin in place --- vortex forms Post by Oldfeller on 03/26/18 at 01:42:42 https://www.google.com/search?q=class+action+lawsuits+against+Intel&oq=class+action+lawsuits+against+Intel&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l4.12074j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 http://https://zdnet2.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2018/01/25/3ad42a0b-6e85-4fe3-801b-b77a53705ba2/resize/770xauto/2d929ce05e444bb69661fef167933dd5/usrepresentativescommitteeenergycommerce.jpg Well, how is Intel shaking with all those 42 different class action lawsuits against them for misleading investors and hiding the effects of Meltdown and Spectre and CTS on unit performance? "The complaints allege that the defendants breached their duties to Intel in connection with the disclosure of the security vulnerabilities and the failure to take action in relation to alleged insider trading. The complaints seek to recover damages from the defendants on behalf of Intel." Miserable, actually. Intel has said certain members of its board and officers are facing three separate shareholder derivative action suits in relation to alleged insider trading. The last three lawsuits appear to relate to Intel CEO Brian Krzanich selling $24m in stock and options in November, two months before the bugs were publicly disclosed. Google had reported the bugs privately to Intel in June 2017, about four months before Krzanich set up the stock-sale plan. The NEWEST backfiring from the Israeli Security Company CTS's attack against AMD is resulting in a NEW ROUND of class actions against Intel as Intel totally failed to disclose the ASMedia security issues to the public, period although it is now known that they knew about them nearly a year in advance. This clumsy Israeli stock price manipulation attempt carries its own inherent proof of bad intent from Intel from the word go, and is being seen as a cash register ringer par excellence for the Intel class action lawsuit crowd. CTS establishes a PATTERN OF ILLEGAL ACTIVITY over multiple years on the part of Intel, while they continued to constantly actively advertise, tout, and sell known defective products to the American people and in the EU and world-wide. EU Lawmakers are getting involved now as it is clear that simple criminal negligence does not cover all of what Intel was doing (or not doing as the case may be). :-/ http://www.zdnet.com/article/meltdown-spectre-why-were-flaws-kept-secret-from-industry-demand-lawmakers/ ================================================== https://www.xda-developers.com/oracle-lawsuit-google-java-android-revived/ Judges are playing politics now with big tech companies, punishing them with harsh judgements and such if they don't like them or what they do. Google just got handed an unexpected re-reversal of the Android Java lawsuits by a Federal Appeals Court Judge in California. I look to see a token effort made to restore the original pro-FOSS judgement which will take at least a year, but I also expect Google to work to accelerate the development pace of Fuschia to mature it for use in phones inside that same calendar year as this constant drain on Google's attention and legal resources needs to stop. If Google does not get the desired reversal out of the Supreme Court, it will need to DROP Android completely and let Amazon and the Chinese fight it out with Oracle (or simply go ignore the Federal Appeals Court in California). The time line for this "dump Android" decision and the full ramp up of Fuschia will be close to the same thing time-wise. China will likely fork free and open source Android and continue to use and evolve it without the involvement of the 5th Federal Circuit Appeals Court or Google. Legal clarification by PASSING NEW LAWS is needed on FOSS -- once declared FOSS a software needs to remain legally FOSS forever, not be able to get jerked back into private ownership by an activist Appeals court judge. |
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Title: Re: Intel begins to spin in place --- vortex forms Post by Oldfeller on 03/29/18 at 00:54:29 https://www.cnet.com/news/how-google-chromebooks-became-the-go-to-laptop-for-security-experts/ This article is under the heading of NEWS, not editorial, not life-style nor entertainment. It is now being openly talked about as FACT that Microsoft's Windows as implemented on Intel processors IS NOT SECURE and never has been. Apple Mac is more secure than Windows, but it priced out of reach of normal mortals (plus the rest of the software load you have to buy costs you the other arm and other leg before you are done with it). Linux is secure but Linux is seen as difficult to deal with. Those Linux distros that went for ease of use got whacked by hackers taking over their homepages (fact, it happened to Linux Mint a year ago). Now Linux overall has tightened up the ship considerably but Linux in general has once again become slightly harder to deal with accordingly. So, post Spectre and Meltdown and CTS what do security people carry off to their security conferences ??? Answer is a Chromebook, because it has INHERENT good security built into it from the very start, it is completely easy to use and it IS PREFERRED NOW by security people everywhere. Because of Chromebook's ease of use, it is also strongly preferred by old people, young people and educators each loving it for different but related good reasons. https://www.cnet.com/news/how-google-chromebooks-became-the-go-to-laptop-for-security-experts/ Just take a few minutes and read the article, it states things fairly impartially and succinctly from several different points of view. It also gives you a clue why you are now seeing ChromeOS Tablets and other new forms of ChromeOS machines showing up for sale this year. ChromeOS seems to be the 2018 sleeper OS system of the year, it looks like. Part of the reason for this sudden "Chromeification" covered in the next post, so go read it .... |
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Title: Re: Intel begins to spin in place --- vortex forms Post by Oldfeller on 03/30/18 at 03:24:53 http://www.zdnet.com/article/heres-how-and-why-microsoft-is-splitting-up-windows-in-its-latest-reorg/ Microsoft reacts to pressure from Stockholders to GO FIX IT, RIGHT NOW !!!! Here's what's happening, as Microsoft's top brass announced March 29: Microsoft is splitting up its Windows and Devices Group and moving the pieces into two new engineering units: Experiences & Devices under Executive Vice President Rajesh Jha and Cloud + AI under Executive VP Scott Guthrie. A couple of units that are currently part of Microsoft's AI + Research group are going to be moving into Guthrie's new organization. Windows and Devices chief Terry Myerson is leaving the company as part of the reorg. Now, some of the company's recent strategy moves make more contextual sense. Last year, Microsoft laid the groundwork designed to make Windows part of a recurring subscription business via Microsoft 365, which is a bundle of Windows 10, Office 365, and elements of the Enterprise Security + Mobility service. It's also why Microsoft began designing products in a way that brought its Surface hardware, Office software, and Windows operating system together, rather than in their own respective silos. Microsoft is hoping it can do with Windows what it did with Office. The company managed to turn its individual on-premises Office products into a cloud bundle with Office 365 -- which is growing even faster than Microsoft itself expected. (Microsoft officials have predicted the company could have two-thirds of its Office users in the cloud by its fiscal 2019.) Now, it's trying to do something similar for Windows with Microsoft 365: Create a bundle of cloud services anchored by Windows 10 that will provide the company with a recurring revenue stream. Panos Panay gets a new title -- chief product officer -- and still heads up devices. Joe Belfiore is leading the "Windows client experience," meaning the shell and cross-device experiences like Edge and Launcher. Kudo Tsunoda is continuing to spearhead the NEXT (New Experiences and Technology) business, which had its own reorg earlier this year. And Corporate VP Brad Anderson, whose team joined the Windows organization late last year, will continue to run Windows Enterprise Deployment and Management. All of these people will report to Jha. Microsoft is moving some of Myerson's other former lieutenants to Guthrie's Cloud & AI division. Jason Zander, who is being promoted to executive vice president under Guthrie, will lead the newly combined Azure and Windows platform teams. The thinking is by bringing Windows client, server, and cloud all together, Microsoft will be able to better build a common infrastructure and application model across all flavors of Windows. Roanne Sones, who heads up technical engagement with OEMs and silicon vendors, will also be part of Zander's team. What does it all mean? MS had to pick somebody to wear the horns and be sacrificed at the spring board meeting because of the huge mega screw up called Meltdown & Spectre & CTS. At least this time they picked somebody that actually had something to do with those rotten decisions to shoot out of the cannon. And they picked a reorg strategy that re-aligned all the remaining pieces according to the revenue group that they were attached to. This means the Consumer PC guys are only focused on Consumer PC, but the group is EXTREMELY SMALL as "extremely small" is all that they bring back to the company in revenue. http://https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-u_mq1Xm1IVQ/WAXs3HuChoI/AAAAAAAAl3A/pQoRL__8kzcoNpL87HbWfHREdKKLZ1YiACLcB/s1600/pier-2%2Bart%2Bcenter%2B%25E6%2596%25B0%25E5%258C%2596%25E9%2587%258C%2Bsculpture%2Bkaohsiung%2Bcity%2Bguide%2Btaiwan%2Btravel.pngOuch, kid -- you just tapped me on my left front ankle funny bone and THAT PISSES ME OFF ..... SNARL !!! POW !!! Hey, what happened to my POW? I used to hit a lot harder than that ..... The little guy in the spidy top is your new Consumer Windows PC group, seems he thinks that he's mebbe gonna get his butt kicked by all that mean red headed net-based competition that is headed his way. This also means that any old style Consumer Windows PC stuff has to pay its own way going forward, separate from the other parts of the company that make a lot more money. So, you can expect that your yearly maintenance fee costs to double or triple right away ..... New reorganization activities will happen yet again in 2018 --- several more times as the new failure modes occur, obviously. |
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Title: Re: Intel begins to spin in place --- vortex forms Post by Oldfeller on 03/30/18 at 16:41:59 https://www.theverge.com/2018/3/30/17179328/microsoft-windows-reorganization-future-2018 ...... ah, them fond fond memories of Win7 past ..... http://https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/x90hfxcRNMlNRttc_qi8kKRb3zc=/0x0:1400x929/920x613/filters:focal(588x353:812x577):format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/59212717/windowswalls.0.jpg Consumers don’t care about Windows anymore, and I’ve long argued Microsoft should drop its insistence of branding everything with it. Consumers are no longer interested in purchasing devices for the familiarity or compatibility of Windows, and it’s hard to even list 10 desktop apps I really need on a daily basis. A big exception to this is gaming, but Microsoft hasn’t innovated enough on gaming PCs to really foster that. Gaming PCs simply run Windows because it’s the platform to deliver those games, and we’re starting to see how mobile operating systems are rapidly catching up. Thanks to the web and Chrome, it’s easy to imagine a future where services matter far more than the operating system they run on. Windows isn’t dead yet, but it’s clearly not as important to Microsoft anymore and it will play a very different role in the company’s future. Microsoft needs to follow and provide cloud services and apps to people on the platforms they’re actually using, whatever those platforms might be. The company has seen great success with Office 365 and apps like Outlook for mobile, and Microsoft expects that two-thirds of its Office users will have moved to its subscription cloud service by next year. Change that to "will be coerced into moving over to" and you will be closer to correct. Microsoft wants you to go live on their net service and to pay them monthly to do so. Microsoft has CHANGED, boys and girls ...... can you try to catch up to them now that they are going to be a subscription type net based service ??? Hint, they are off and running as fast as they can trying to emulate ChromeOS, but are finding ChromeOS is a harder act to follow than they thought. |
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Title: Re: Intel begins to spin in place --- vortex forms Post by Oldfeller on 03/30/18 at 19:38:54 On the heels of the Microsoft downsize/reorganization people are talking frankly about the future of computing. They realize that MS needs break totally away from Wintel and to move to the web ASAP and that Intel x86 is in fact a dead man walking ..... http://www.zdnet.com/article/why-intel-x86-must-die-our-cloud-centric-future-depends-on-open-source-chips-meltdown/ If you have a flaw in your DNA, you have a genetic disease. You can try to mitigate it with various treatments and medications, but you can't really cure it. Well, you have stuff like CRISPR, but there's no hardware equivalent to that. Essentially, the only cure -- at least today -- is for the organism to die off and for another one to take its place. The flawed bloodline has to die out entirely. The organism with the genetic disease, in this case, is Intel's x86 chip architecture, which is the predominant systems architecture in personal computers, datacenter servers, and embedded systems. By the way, while you are on the CNET web page you need to watch the 30 second long YouTube clip about current open source development movement for new hardware standards --- well worth the half minute it takes, really. |
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Title: Re: Intel begins to spin in place --- vortex forms Post by Oldfeller on 04/02/18 at 21:07:21 https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/04/apple-is-exploring-macs-running-its-own-cpus-but-that-dream-is-a-long-way-off/ https://techcrunch.com/2018/04/02/apple-in-a-very-apple-move-is-reportedly-working-on-its-own-mac-chips/ https://liliputing.com/2018/04/bloomberg-apple-to-ditch-intel-use-its-own-chips-in-macs.html http://https://static1.i4u.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/main_image_large/images/2017/02/ar-apple-tim-cook.jpg Tim Cook at Apple looks very seriously at Intel this time around. Intel has stalled out and is no longer capable of supporting Apple's "developing innovation needs" in laptops and desktops with very energy efficient and VERY FAST CPU/GPU combinations. Intel is also falling off the pace on AI and other topics that are of supreme interest to Apple at the moment. Apple has started up a program called Kalamata to use the brand new (unrevealed as of yet) ARM Dynamiq based "enlarged capacity SoC designs" to do just that. Tim Cooks latest words immediately peeled 8% of Intel's stock value off them inside 24 hours. Intel and AMD now are joining together frantically, trying to close up the x86 ranks in an attempt to keep x86 relevant for a little bit longer. Both realize that the end is looking at them straight in the eye and that if Intel goes down because of ARM Dynamiq based "enlarged capacity SoC designs" then AMD will likely follow shortly. According to Bloomberg's sources, the project (which is internally called Kalamata) is in the very early planning stages, but it has been approved by executives at the company. The report says that Apple could ship computers based on its own processors as early as 2020, but the report also says this would be part of a "multi-step transition" in a larger effort to make iOS devices and Macs "work more similarly and seamlessly together." Apple could still change or drop these plans in the future. Apple has shipped the first of these in-house designs (T-1) and is shipping the second generation this summer (T-2) with the first of the Intel "Terminator" designs acting as helper chips to give the old staid Intel processor some extra ooph and some AI features that it otherwise completely lacks. Cook is frustrated ongoing that it is so durned hard to augment or "help out" the existing Intel chip systems as Intel is sooooo isolationist in their thinking and Intel simply refuses to cooperate with Apple in many small but vital items. Cook believes that a complete, drawn from scratch DynamIQ based APPLE SoC design similar to iPhone's Bionic A-11 and A-12 can be tweeked much much cheaper and faster yearly each time it needs to be improved. This is where timing matters. Apple now has a great deal of experience designing its own chips. Rumors of ARM processors in Macs recently came true with the previously mentioned T1 and T2 chips in the MacBook Pro and iMac Pro, respectively. Apple even switched to designing its own GPUs in iPhones recently. The A11 is a culmination of years of hard work and optimization in a line of Apple-designed chips that have powered the iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, and more. The result is highly competitive performance; our own benchmarks show the A11-based iPhone X and iPhone 8 outperform most other flagship smartphones at a wide range of tasks. This would likely not be the case when comparing an Apple-designed chip for the Mac with offerings from Intel, which are focused heavily on performance. However, other comparative advantages could be achievable—battery life, for example. Technical leads at Apple may have developed confidence that the exact cocktail of power usage and performance Apple desires is more achievable with its own designs than it is with Intel's. Leveraging the iOS software ecosystem As mentioned previously, reports suggest that Apple has already made progress setting the stage for Mac/iPhone/iPad app interoperability. Bringing iOS apps to the Mac gives the Mac access to a new, vibrant, and robust software ecosystem—that's welcome, as the Mac App Store has struggled to gain as much traction. Remember, please -- Apple is a 30% owner of ARM Holdings and still gets most of a year's lead time on new ARM developments, which they then cement into place by buying the brand new state of the art lithography lines for TSMC, then TSMC runs them exclusively for Apple for 1-2 years before TSMC takes over ownership of the no longer "technically fresh" lines. Apple also pays for all the line tuning and other techie stuff that TSMC has to do to get the new lithography to run to "Apple performance standards". =================================================== http://variety.com/2017/digital/news/google-manu-gulati-pixel-chips-1202464014/ Google Hires Key Apple Chip Architect to Build Custom Chips for Pixel Phones (EXCLUSIVE) Google has hired a veteran chip architect away from Apple and is now looking to build its own chips for future versions of its flagship Pixel phone, Variety has learned from sources familiar with the hire. Manu Gulati, who had been spearheading Apple’s own chip developments for close to eight years, joined Google in the last few weeks. He publicly announced the job change on his Linkedin profile Tuesday morning, stating that he now works as Google’s Lead SoC Architect. In addition to Gulati’s hire, Google is now looking to hire additional chip experts to tightly control future Pixel hardware. A Google spokesperson declined to comment when contacted for this story; Apple didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Apple's moves are prompting other players to begin to unveil their own plans to get rid of Intel's chokehold on the domestic computer industry. You can see that the burbling mountain stream has parted now and is running free and clear on both sides of the Intel rock now ..... |
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Title: Re: Intel begins to spin in place --- vortex forms Post by Oldfeller on 04/03/18 at 01:16:05 https://liliputing.com/2018/04/intel-launches-8th-gen-u-series-chips-with-iris-plus-graphics.html In the face of these multiple major customer based announcements to bypass Intel completely Intel cannot remain silent and the big brown vaporware cannons are loaded up with freshly thought up 8th Generation brown stinky bovine blatt, all still being done at a chunky 14nm size. http://https://liliputing-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/iris_03-768x413.jpg Core i7-8559U: 4 cores/8 threads, 2.7 GHz base/4.5 GHz boost frequency, 8MB cache Core i5-8269U: 4 cores/8 threads, 2.6 GHz base/4.2 GHz boost frequency, 6MB cache Core i5-8259U: 4 cores/8 threads, 2.3 GHz base/3.8 GHz boost frequency, 6MB cache Core i3-8109U: 2 cores/4 threads, 3 GHz base/3.6 GHz boost frequency, 4MB cache The new chips are all 28 watt processors with a new Mobile Intel 300 series chipset with upgraded I/O, integrated 802.11ac WiFi (for up to twice the throughput), and integrated USB 3.1 Gen2 support for data transfer speeds up to 10 Gb/s. All told, these chips should be more energy-efficient than their 45 watt Coffee Lake-H or Kaby Lake-G cousins, which makes them more suitable for thin-and-light laptops and 2-in-1 tablets. But they should offer significantly better graphics performance than Intel’s 15 watt Kaby Lake Refresh chips when it comes to gaming, multimedia, photo and video editing, and other tasks that leverage a GPU. Read between the lines --- this is the 8th time Intel has trotted out a re-shuffled deck of 14nm design names with little to no real changes, a fact that becomes clear when they are benchmarked by the snarling frustrated chip benchmark reviewers. But wait, the very next day something NEW is brought out and touted as being under development ...... Intel brings hexa-core chips to laptops with Coffee Lake-H http://https://liliputing.com/2018/04/intel-brings-hexa-core-chips-to-laptops-with-coffee-lake-h.html Here’s a run-down of the first Coffee Lake-H chips expected to ship: Core i9-8950HK: 6 cores/12 threads, 2.9 GHz base/4.8 GHz boost frequency, 12MB cache, unlocked Xeon E-2186M: 6 cores/12 threads, 2.9 GHz base/4.8 GHz boost frequency, 12MB cache Xeon E-2176M: 6 cores/12 threads, 2.7 GHz base/4.4 GHz boost frequency, 12MB cache Intel Core i7-8850H: 6 cores/12 threads, 2.6 GHz base/4.3 GHz boost frequency, 9MP cache, partially unlocked Intel Core i7-8750H: 6 cores/12 threads, 2.2 GHz base/4.2 GHz boost frequency, 9MB cache Intel Core i5-8400H: 4 cores/8 threads, 2.5 GHz base/4.2 GHz boost frequency, 8MB cache Intel Core i5-8300H: 4 cores/8 threads, 2.3 GHz base/4 GHz boost frequency, 8MB cache OK, it is all still at 14nm, with lots of new chipset names and a copying of an old trick, auto-sorting the chipsets and burning off two sets of core traces for the bottom two lowest performing core sets out of an 8 core product line to make up a new hexa core product that has never existed before as there weren't enough 8 core desktop products being made to have enough 6 core leftovers to sell as separate "laptop processors". Weeeeee ....... such progress. And not a word about any fixes for Meltdown, Spectre or CTS, not even a sniff about any hardware fixes to recover the up to 30% real performance hit that has been lost inside the last year. The new chips are based on the same 14nm++ architecture as Intel’s Coffee Lake chips for desktops. DUH, because that is what they are, leftover accumulated first run failures, sorted then truncated desktop and Xenon rackset chipsets that are being sold at a discount for what they can actually do. These 45 watt processors offer more performance and consume more power than the 15 watt, quad-core Kaby Lake Refresh chips Intel launched last year. no shite But the company says despite their differences, both are part of its 8th-gen Core processor lineup. Go figure. Basically Kaby Lake-R chips are U-series processors aimed at thin and light laptops. Coffee Lake-H processors are high-performance chips aimed at gaming laptops, mobile workstations, and other high-end systems. Intel says these chips bring faster load times and higher frame rates for gamers, faster photo and video editing, and better support for virtual reality, among other things. Some chips also include a new Intel Thermal Velocity Boost (TVB) feature which automatically bumps up the CPU boost clock speed under the right circumstances. OK, let's talk about the art of throttling overheating processors and this "Some chips also include a new Intel Thermal Velocity Boost (TVB) feature which automatically bumps up the CPU boost clock speed under the right circumstances" totally lying little "it never happens" BS ditty. When the chipsets get reviewed it will become obvious that they turn in their maximum clock speeds when dead cold but within 10 seconds the chipsets heat up enough to require significant throttling action from the nanny chip. But by implying it works ass backwards on demand this situation becomes a UNIQUE FEATURE that nobody else has. Sad thing is that Rita and Joe are dumb enough to believe it is a real feature. And yes, it can happen, I guess, if the chip had gotten hot enough to TOTALLY ENGAGE the throttling brakes, then the chip actually cools off a smidgen from fan and heat sink actions then it could actually get dialed back up speedwise a little bit as it cools back down towards room temperature. Some, anyway. Mebbe. But not under any real operating load, no, not ever. Real loads means real heat and results in a one way reaction to more and more throttling. Bad thing here is these newer generation chipsets are So Extremely Sensitive to heat buildup that the nanny chipset is set to be VERY conservative and shuts them down a whole lot when they just get warm just a little bit. This is part of the reason that benchmarkers are saying the new generations of Intel products have had no actual single core throughput improvement over previous generations (going back to over 5 years ago). It is all nanny chip games nowadays playing off the excess core count to always roll the heaviest work load over to the coolest cores. The new multi-multi core chipsets mebbe draw a little less wall socket power doing this dance, but they don't really go any faster because they throttle and switch so much more. Tacking on even more cores and even more treads really doesn't help all that much once going past 4 cores, actually, as the cooling dance becomes inefficient. Also, mind you I thought that none of it is real anyway, it was all "planning announcements"..... ..... Boy, was I wrong. The Intel product announcements (some vapor, some not) are rolling out nonstop as we speak. THERE ARE STILL NO ANNOUNCEMENTS ABOUT ANY REAL HARDWARE FIXES FOR MELTDOWN, SPECTRE OR ANY OF THE CTS MESSES but them builders sure are a building for this Christmas season. But, I sure was right about the pend up demand thing, though. https://liliputing.com/2018/04/origin-gives-evo-15-s-gaming-laptop-a-hexa-core-refresh.html https://liliputing.com/2018/04/msi-gs65-stealth-thin-is-a-0-7-inch-4-1-pound-premium-gaming-laptop.html https://liliputing.com/2018/04/gigabyte-aero-gaming-laptops-get-coffee-lake-h-upgrade-some-models-with-144hz-displays.html https://liliputing.com/2018/04/dells-4-pound-xps-15-laptop-now-supports-up-to-core-i9-hexa-core-processor-nvidia-geforce-1050ti-graphics.html https://liliputing.com/2018/04/acer-launches-nitro-5-gaming-laptop-with-6-core-coffee-lake-h-for-750-and-up.html https://liliputing.com/2018/04/asus-launches-crazy-powerful-and-pricey-rog-zephyrus-gaming-laptops.html https://liliputing.com/2018/04/samsung-launches-notebook-odyssey-z-gaming-laptop.html =================================================== Two weeks further along --- Intel has created a bit of a mess for themselves with their effort to dump off a stored stockpile of sorted, truncated 8 core chipsets, selling them off cheaply as a six core chipset. The idea grew legs and took off, now poor Intel has to go DESIGN a six core chipset that they can make at that lower price point and still show a profit as demand has outstripped the pile of old accumulated sorting failures. This tells me that Intel has gotten yet another message that their internal cost burdens are too high and to simply survive they have to be able to sell that built on purpose six core at that price lower point. Same thought applies to all their other chipsets, get the internal costs way way down and actually be competitive, or lose it all to ARM. |
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Title: Re: Intel begins to spin in place --- vortex forms Post by Oldfeller on 04/03/18 at 15:01:45 https://liliputing.com/2018/04/intel-wont-release-spectre-patches-for-some-older-chips-after-all.html http://https://liliputing-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/spectre.jpg Update: Intel released the following statement confirming the updated plan: We’ve now completed release of microcode updates for Intel microprocessor products launched in the last 9+ years that required protection against the side-channel vulnerabilities discovered by Google Project Zero. However, as indicated in our latest microcode revision guidance, we will not be providing updated microcode for a select number of older platforms for several reasons, including limited ecosystem support and customer feedback. You should check out Intel’s document (PDF) for a full list of affected processors, but the list basically seems to consist of processors that were released under the following code-names: 2007 Yorkfield chips including Core (Desktop) and Xeon (server) processors 2008 Penryn chips (Mobile) 2008 Harpertown chips (Embedded) 2008 Wolfdale chips (Desktop) 2009 Bloomfield chips including Intel Core (desktop) and Xeon (server) processors (my Linux machine sitting under my desk) 2009 Clarksfield chips (Mobile) 2010 Gulftown chips (Desktop) 2010 Jasper Forest (Embedded) There are also two relatively recent chips on the list: Intel’s Atom x3-C200RK and x3-C3230RK SoFIA processors, which are low-power processors aimed at entry-level smartphones and tablets. They were released in partnership with Chinese chip maker Rockchip in 2015 and featured 4 Intel Atom cores and ARM Mali 450-MP4 graphics. As far as I’m aware the chips were never widely adopted, and so I’m guessing Intel is giving up on developing microcode updates due to lack of demand/need. Interestingly, Intel is still working on updates for the related Atom x3-C3130 processor, suggesting that there are at least some of these chips in the wild that are in need of patching. Intel sez you got all the protection you need. So go sue us. Now you can wait until another ugly pops up that wasn't fixed (and there are many, apparently) then you can go join in the applicable class action lawsuit. Intel feels it is cheaper for them to pay off the relatively few legal class action lawsuit groups than to actually do anything to fix all the actual hardware issues on all the old equipment out there. In reality, Intel is simply saying your old machine's replacement value has depreciated to 0 $$$ and you are outside of all warranty periods, so go get lost. Could this really be a case of "Well, we really can't fix these built in deep PC things really --- so you should just limp along for the rest of your life because it is cheaper for us that way" ???? Or, as I have felt before, it is all now a carefully calculated plan to coerce you into buying new PC and all the related required new equipment a a very elevated price? My wife has adopted the little 8" Fire Tablet as her "answer to all things MS" as her old PC and her old iPad2 has gotten to be so very slow and frustrating for her to use inside the last 6 months. Simple physical convenience plays a large part in her decision to swing over to the Amazon Fire ecology, as she likes buying and reading her books electronically and finds Amazon a good place to deal with. She lives off her phone and her Fire now, quite happily. Her sit down PC is only used to dial in to work and the University will stay on a "Wintel only" basis for all of that until the students rise up to force some sort of change, eventually. =================================================== Intel is now acting all "empowered" now to screw over their entire customer base in a point blank fashion -- if you don't like it, a class action suit is your only Intel recognized recourse. Intel isn't even going to act like they care about you at all any more. This hard arsed mentality is becoming rather common in American Business. Roll on to something else if you don't like it. =================================================== News Flash -- Wintel leaks the first mention of Windows 11 coming out sometime or another What this might mean or what this might entail are pretty much up in the air right now. ==================================================== Chromebooks used to only get 100% supported by Google for 5 years for free after the date the model first comes out. Windows used to have 5 years of mainline support, followed by 5 years of critical bug only support -- but that entire MS update system has now being pushed away into nowhere land by the yearly maintenance fee system a la Microsoft 360. People have been asking about what Google plans to do about school systems with entire crops of Chromebooks that teachers are self maintaining that are lasting a lot longer than Google originally planned. These Chromebooks all go past 5 years this year, but none of them are touch based machines so Google had thought they would be replaced voluntarily by the school systems. No so, Alonso -- schools have very tight budgets lately and Chromebooks are easy to repair with cannibalized parts taken from drop damaged machines. School systems that do upgrade are peddling their old machines off to other school systems to be used for spare parts. The Answer is out now --- new Chromebooks all come with 6.5 years of full support in all cases now, and extra support time can be purchased along with all Google site license support systems. Google has always put out free critical bug support well past the formal support periods on phones and stuff, so one expects that habit will extend to Chromebooks in some fashion as well. What is really happening is the very old individually owned Chromebooks tend to migrate over to Crouton and Linux just like the old PCs did. For example, I got Spectre and Meltdown support from Linux on my old Wintel box MONTHS and MONTHS before Intel even tried to fix it, then Intel tried feebly and failed twice ---- Intel has just now officially quit even trying to fix my old CoreDuo processor type. Linux security support is way better on older machinery anyway ...... more prompt and free too, which is always nice. |
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Title: Re: Intel begins to spin in place --- vortex forms Post by Oldfeller on 04/05/18 at 03:26:23 Two nights ago MS went into my main PC to "nightly maintenance" it and it apparently discovered that I had a Linux / Win10 dual boot system co-installed with a Linux grub system controlling the boot order. It is the same exact system set up that it has been for the last 3 years, but MS's update system has just been rewritten again so I got me a systems message saying that I had unsupported software installed on my machine. My wife always gets up at 4:00 am to get ready for school and the dog makes sure I get up too, so I was slurping coffee and flipped the power strip switch on this, my personal main machine. And this morning it gave me a boot disabled message where MS had deleted the Linux grub boot menu set up and some other various unsupported softwares. So I popped in the Linux boot menu repair tool disk and fixed it. Went down and cooked some oatmeal and had a nice predawn breakfast with my honeybear, took me a dump and went back up to the computer room to check on stuff. Back to Blue Death Screen again. Doing a cold reboot showed me to a Systems Message screen that told me to call Micky, my computer had an illegal OS on it. It is all MS intentional BS harassment, and I knew if I screamed at Mickey they'd turn me back on again -- not like it is the first time this has happened with dual booting an old Dell unit that has several versions of Windows showing deep deep in its BIOS guts. But I found that I SIMPLY DON'T CARE anymore, MS can keep their various generations of pay me Windows and roll all of them up nice and tight and insert them where the sun don't shine for all I care. Reinstalling Linux Mint Mate off the DVD took me a big 20 minutes, with most of that putting back menu options and tool bars and favorites lists on to Chrome and again on to Firefox. This time I gave Mint the whole hard drive on a 100% rape and scrape installation (and I felt good about hitting the go button too). 's Funny you know, the old dell machine seems to be running a lot quicker without Mickey and Intel's feeble attempts at fixing the Meltdown and Spectre and various CTS issues all fouling up the works -- the purely native Linux kernel only fixes put out by Torvalds boys seem to actually work much much better. ;) ah, all that minty green goodness ..... http://images.all-free-download.com/images/graphiclarge/mountain_stream_and_moss_193711.jpg |
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Title: Re: Intel begins to spin in place --- vortex forms Post by Oldfeller on 04/05/18 at 14:47:27 https://liliputing.com/2018/04/droplet-computing-uncouples-apps-from-the-os-so-windows-apps-run-on-chrome-os-or-android-for-example.html Droplet Computing uncouples apps from the original OS (Windows apps run on Chrome OS or Android, for example) OK, a small soft gleam of light in the darkness is happening here. Perk up and read, slowly, for COMPREHENSION and CLARITY OF UNDERSTANDING. http://https://liliputing-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/droplet-computing-680x358.jpg http://https://liliputing-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/droplet_02-680x351.jpg It is interesting to note that Droplet relies on the open source WINE project for loading x86 Windows applications. WINE is a compatibility layer that makes it possible to run some Windows apps on Linux machines. WINE recently added support for running Windows applications on Chromebooks and Android devices with x86 processors… technology it picked up from CodeWeavers’ Crossover product. Droplet is partnering with CodeWeavers. There are plenty of popular applications that are available across multiple platforms: Microsoft Office runs on Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS. And the open source LibreOffice runs on Linux, Mac, and Windows, But it’s generally up to the developers of those apps to decide what platforms they’ll support… because it takes work to compile software to run on different operating systems. The folks at Droplet Computing want to change that. They’ve introduced a new container solution called “Droplet Universal” that basically lets any app run on any operating system. Not only could you theoretically run MS Excel on your phone: you could run the full desktop version instead of the stripped-down mobile version. At least, that’s the idea. Right now Droplet is targeting enterprise customers rather than end users. The solution could allow businesses that are relying on software designed for an old version of Windows to upgrade to a newer version without losing the ability to run that core application, for instance. Or that same business could start using Macs or even Chromebooks. Betcha MS or Google buys this one up, quick-like IF it really is an independent little company. This is a major step on the "OS doesn't matter any more, only the apps matter" pathway and it defines Microsoft's possible way to survive by selling their best apps throughout computer space. It is also a thumb stuck in Mickey's eyeball since this little upstart can do what the mighty Microsoft said it couldn't do --- run Win 10 on an ARM processor without a bunch of restrictions. Falls directly in line with MS's latest restructuring thinking though, doesn't it? It is a death knell for Wintel as a marriage, and unless Intel can make up some cheaper processors that people really really want, it is Intel's deepening of the whirlpool over the flush drain as far less expensive ARM processors will work fine with this stuff too. These Droplet people are currently selling the idea of a system intended to use Chromebooks universally throughout big business office spaces using MS Windows apps and Android apps and Chrome apps all interchangeably. Have your cake and eat your Office icing too. https://chromeunboxed.com/droplet-is-legit-windows-apps-on-chromebooks-coming-soon/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/droplet-computing https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/droplet-computing#section-overview When you read this one and one from a financial magazine site both showing just one investor and only 4 employees, another little light goes on in your head. Do you remember the little startup company of ex-googlers that pilot fished the ideas behind desktop Android functionality on Chromebooks, and then do you remember the ex-googlers that split off to do several other very phone type things that eventually wound up inside Android and Chrome naturally after the market place and FOSS had accepted the ideas? Remember Republic Wireless and Google Fi (another fine example of this pilot fish approach to fundamental industry changes)? Google has done this sort of pilot fish stuff like this before as a repeated methodology, push the radical new ideas out as a well funded little FOSS startup and see if it can penetrate the ideas into FOSS culture and grow some on its own, independently, to prove the ideas are sound and well accepted. FOSS in general will tend to freely accept a little peer group struggling to survive just like they are while they would tend to automatically shy away from a big MS or Google initiative like the plague. Is it real? Are the ideas any good? MS seems to think so, well enough to announce a reorganization of itself along those same lines just last week ...... Is it ex-googlers ??? Mebbe, but certainly not known at this time. If they fold up and are quietly reabsorbed into Google when the job is done that would tend to say yes. Their knowledge and access into ChromeOS's guts and its net technologies tends to say yes. If MS buys them out, then that would tend to say no. So it hangs at "mebbe" right now which is exactly what is desired at this point, I guess. ::) I betcha Droplet is totally proof against Spectre, Meltdown, CTS and the like from the very get go -- inherently secure just like ChromeOS. Since the first general users will be running Chromebooks this will likely form the structural pattern as Droplet grows and multiplies. Interesting item to watch to be sure. Reminds me of the old timey hand systems to quarry large blocks of stone using a line of wooden wedges driven in a cut line to slowly split the stone. They poured water over the wedges once they were in as far as they could go and the wedges grew just a tiny bit, but with great force. CRACK ...... then more larger wedges pounded in and more water added later. They supposedly split off them huge Egyptian tall spire thingies using that system ...... FOSS and Wine and CodeWeavers and Droplet all seem to sing in the same choir, I do believe. Google supports FOSS, but Google isn't judged really suitable to join the little guy's choir as it is jest too durn big and Googlely. |
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Title: Re: Intel begins to spin in place --- vortex forms Post by Oldfeller on 04/06/18 at 14:40:23 https://liliputing.com/2018/04/slimbook-curve-is-a-linux-powered-all-in-one-pc-with-a-curved-display.html The EU in general isn't happy with Microsoft or Intel at the moment. Read between the lines as you peruse this ad for an EU all in one product line that typifies a certain EU disdain for Mickey's OS system. http://https://liliputing-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/slim_00.jpg This all-in-one computer has laptop-like specs including a 15 watt, 7th-gen Intel Core processor. But all of the components fit neatly onto the back of what looks like a standalone PC monitor. The Slimbook Curve features a curved 24 inch, 1920 x 1080 pixel IPS display with a matte, anti-glare finish. It features two USB 3.0 ports, four USB 2.0 ports, HDMI output, an M.2 SSD slot, and a 2.5 inch drive bay for an optional hard drive. Slimbook sells a model with an Intel Core i5-7200 processor, 8GB of RAM, and 120GB of solid state storage for 849 Euros, although you can upgrade the memory and storage. There’s also a 949 Euro version that features a Core i7-7500U processor. Unlike most PC companies which offer a choice of Windows or maybe Ubuntu, Slimbook lets you choose from a bunch of different operating system options, including: No OS Ubuntu Kubuntu Ubuntu Mate Debian Elementary OS Linux Mint OpenSUSE Antergos Fedora KDE Neon You can also have Slimbook install Windows10 for you, but you’ll have to pay at least 105 Euros extra for that option… and honestly, I’m not sure why you’d do that when there are plenty of other places to buy all-in-one PCs with Windows. That is a true Windows 10 reported cost of $130 US dollars that rides along with all Windows PCs sold in the EU now-a-days ...... gives you an idea of why Linux is so much more popular in Europe than in the USA. |
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Title: Re: Intel begins to spin in place --- vortex forms Post by Oldfeller on 04/07/18 at 11:56:16 As I finished fixing up the last items in my last Linux Mint Mate install at 18.3 version level, I discovered that Flatpaks had all grown up and are ready to replace individually loading the drivers, setting them up and then monitoring how your software (Steam, in this case) utilizes the drivers, hardware and fitting it all up to your games. Steam itself is now Flatpak'd and it sure works good, actually works better than I have ever seen Steam run before. I found this out while seeking help for a driver issue on my old graphics card ..... ASUS ATI drivers are gone since ATI sold itself off. Surprise, get a Steam Flatpak and it auto installs the exact right driver setup custom tuned for your specific machine ..... I asked why this wasn't set up as default in the Linux Mint Mate Software Manager and was told that some of the Mint maintainers were a little slow to pick up on flatpaks as in their nation/language Flatpaks hadn't penetrated jest yet. Mint is based out of Europe (France mainly) and lots of languages and locals need to get up to speed with the newest Flatpak stuff before it all goes back to being all seamless easy again. I can understand this, as I hadn't heard the term Flatpak associated with BEING ALL FINISHED, done & out the door but since very early this morning ...... Last I heard of it was it was a neat sounding theoretical thing that could be done to make software work better across hardware and OS systems. Good news, Flatpaks are sandboxed sorta like ChromeOS does it, so any attack or illness is limited to the one sandbox that got hit, and only that Flatpak app needs to be fixed, removed and replaced during update time. ================================================== Now the radical part -- Wintel now has a problem. Wintel was clinging on by the skin of their Guess what Wine, Crossover, Droplet, and all the big new push for completely tuned game specific Flatpaks means for games that used to only work on Wintel Windows systems before now ...... they can be set up to run in a Linux Flatpak now. ================================================== Yup, Good Old Games (GOG) is being asked by their fans to Flatpak Windows games for Linux and sell a whole ton of old games legally. Since developers can work with whatever environment they like then package the exchange environment specifically tuned for their game ALL AAA GAMES should come out in Flatpaks to suit the OS you currently use. Wintel must begin to fight against Flatpak as it is their death knell if it becomes commonplace. A Linux machine is simply a lot cheaper to build AND IT RUNS FASTER TOO. Old Gabe at Steam is jest a chuckling with glee, as this is his Linux ready dream world is coming true all over the place spontaneously. In the past, when a Steam game became Linux ready and you owned it already in Windows, it simply showed up in your Linux ready game listing. Be interested to see how Steam handles this Linux switch over going forward ..... one thing has already happened is Gabe has stopped selling OS specific Linux gaming machines since the root OS being used matters a heck of a lot less than it did a month ago. Pirate Bay is undergoing a renaissance too as the pirate folks are Flatpaking lots of stuff and listing the raw Flatpak itself on the Bay as a free download. Folks running pure Linux can have these things survive MS's nightly "update/inspection visits" because there ain't no MS on their machines at all any more and Mickey can't go there legally any more. And if Mickey goes and raids your pure Linux machine -- that is illegal as hell as they have NO EULA from you to go on to that machine ever again. |
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Title: Re: Intel begins to spin in place --- vortex forms Post by Papa Bear on 04/07/18 at 13:49:27 This oldfeller (1944) will be 18.04 shortly. ;) |
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Title: Re: Intel begins to spin in place --- vortex forms Post by Oldfeller on 04/07/18 at 14:08:48 Papa Bear, I really can't understand why MOST of the old guys on this list are still stuck on Windows and won't even try to get off of it. I poke at them occasionally, but have pretty much given them over to their fate as Mickey begins to twist their arms off to force them to spend even more money on new hardware (a synthetic need that was created by Wintel to make more money off of the existing customer base). I am tickled shiteless to get all my old raw speed back again, having allowed Mickey Soft to screw with my Linux box for nearly two years now and in that two years they had crapped me up down to a crawl. And Mickey wasn't even my go to system, but it was just on the machine to support the Windows gaming partition side of things. |
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Title: Re: Intel begins to spin in place --- vortex forms Post by Papa Bear on 04/07/18 at 14:20:45 I know. Free Linux (ubuntu) and no anti-virus is heavenly ::) WWJD (HE'd run ubuntu and ride a savage) |
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