http://www.cnx-software.com/2014/04/23/rockchip-rk3288-source-code-linux-chro...http://www.cnx-software.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Linux_3.10_Rockchip_RK...Rockchip RK3288 will change the computing world a lot starting NOWThe low end chipset of the world used to be an RK3188 and it was a bit of a bath as it was an intentionally not all connected, partially stripped down, kinda crippled sort of product that was intended by Rockchip to run a tablet on the cheap and that was about it.
Folks wanting to do more with it had to add back in all the stripped off components to the motherboard or hook up unused USB channels to secondary processors just to replace the things Rockchip simply chose not to put leads to in the original chip design.
It was really really stupid.
Rockchip lost their low end lead position over these choices, and Allwinner overtook them and became 4x larger than Rockchip simply because Allwinner paid attention to ARM standards and wasn't acting all bullheaded all the time.
Rockchip paid attention this time around and didn't cripple the RK3288 and they did provide tracer connections to all the design features of the stock ARM design.
Arm, in turn, has made sure Rockchip RK3288 got the same equal Lenaro support as any other turn key ARM design gets. Like right NOW, kernel 3.10.30 has full RK3288 chipset support cooked into it, including full natural support for tablets, phones, Chromebooks and Chromeboxes.
What does this all mean to YOU, the purchasing consumer?
The very least expensive current processor out there is 40-60% faster than what came before. It pulls 4-6x more graphics power (more than Apple's original retina stuff did) and it draws 30-40% less battery power to do it.
The very least cheapest new ARM chipset out there in ARM land can compete with the very best of the Bay Trail Intel chipsets and whup up on them for video and battery power consumption.
For ARM this was a very intentional purposeful move. In result, the original Bay Trails have just been discontinued by Intel as non-competitive and two separate new waves of vapor Atom replacements have already been vapor announced (with absolutely no real anything behind the names yet).
Intel is still paying people $$$ to use up warehouse stocks of the old Bay Trails until they can actually make up something that is significantly better and that actually really works. And is actually really real and actually meets its own specs, can't forget that when talking about any "new Intel stuff" of late.
Intel is behind in tablets by one full generation now, and Intel still has no phone chip at all. Intel has no lithography advantage at all going forward to the next generation and they should run out of pocket money to support their foray into deficit spending on mobile chip production during this upcoming year as well.
Running out of deficit spending money, wow ...... this gives Intel just the rest of this year and part of next to shrink their company to get it in line with the real money flow that is really coming in now ......
But thank you for trying, Intel -- we owe you for the A17 and the RK3288 as without you they never would have arrived so quickly.
This new low end 1.8ghz A17 quad core ARM RK3288 chipset design can also do the big/LITTLE trick and it can also do (if you pick the upper level Mali Midguard graphics to go with it) some math calculation sharing tricks with the upper level Midguard video processors.
MediaTek has already come out with a 2.2 ghz Octacore A17/A7 to do just that, except MediaTek uses VR graphics instead of ARM's Midguard since they want to steal some phone/tablet business from the APPLE/Qualcomm worlds with this one. Yup, this tablet chip is also an LTE phone chip as well ..... go MediaTek, ya gotta love them !!!
The "bottom end of things" bar just got raised up SIGNIFICANTLY to be slightly above the midpoint in the current pack of stuff, so expect that some product reshuffling will occur soon.
Is the A17 a more modern, faster, slightly better energy usage equivalent to the A15? Yes, they play in the same ball field but the A17 uses less battery and it can also connect to the next generation's chipsets supposedly as their middle or little part. A57 big, A17 middle, A53 little ---- or any mix of two of the above that floats your boat.
A17 can also form the big part of an A17/A7 pairing as well
(see MediaTek discussion above).
And yes, supposedly when the time comes the A17 is supposed to be able to speak 64 bit well enough to do match up duty in these 64 bit parings as well. 64 bit across the board is quite a ways out though, and other not yet released chips will likely be in use by the time that rolls around.
Expect small laptops and desktop boxes to come out with this new "low end" RK3288 chipset in them. Every hobby board group out there is working on a RK3288 hobby board. All the oriental device manufacturers are working on various sorts of devices to leverage this new, cheap, quite powerful low end chipset.
At 1.8 ghz natural, look for this RK3288 chipset to be "turbo'd" and "burst mode accelerated" to 2.0+ ghz by some makers almost immediately. To the Chinese, this is easy to claim since "burst mode" or "turbo" is just about anything they want to say it is ....
At 28mn natural, look for the RK3288 to be lithography shrunk and "improved" to 20nm or 16nm just as soon as production space becomes free to run it there.
I always like for the bottom end of things to get significantly better, because that tells you what will be able to be built with stuff in general.
The answer here is A WHOLE LOT of new stronger performing improved stuff.
Starting like RIGHT NOW at kernel 3.10.30 and up.
This means the 14.04 LTS release of Ubuntu and Linux Mint that comes out this month will be able to fully Linux support this chipset naturally, like right now. As will Chrome OS and Android, like right now. let the good times roll !!BTW, if Intel tries to claim they were intentionally going after the low end of the tablet market, don't be fooled -- they got so badly lapped inside 12 months with their Bay Trail chipset that they had aimed at the topmost top end of the market but by the time it actually got here in volume it was actually lower middle of the pack and now 3 months later it has dropped all the way down to the bargain basement position (and has been discontinued officially by Intel).
Intel has got to learn how to move faster ....
...... or else to aim their gun a whole lot higher up, way way above the existing pack for some vertical windage to cover them while they fumble about actually going and doing it.
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