System76 Thelio Astra Reviewed: High-End ARM64 Developer Desktop

[mylesdyson]

DDR4 is kind of a no-go.. especially for AI workloads.

[NateHubbard]

The opportunity for ARM desktops has passed imho.

Linux and Windows has had a decade to get it done right, and instead we get multiple failed Windows attempts where Microsoft gets so close but gives up last minute or Linux products that loose support as soon as whoever random joe maintaining the port to that device gives up and it become e-waste.

only Apple has got this right, what a joke.

If you need a ARM developer instance, just rent a cloud one and save yourself the trouble.

I can't really disagree, but ultimately, there hasn't been any good reason for someone like myself to use an ARM Linux machine at home. Almost everything that has actually been offered is quite low end and niche.

[coffeeninja]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydGdHjIncbk

How the turns have tabled. Windows suffering from lack of driver support!

[NeoMorpheus]

SMT works well for code compilation performance and the Threadripper 7980X boosting up to 5.1GHz compared to 3.0GHz with the Ampere Altra processor.

i know you are always super busy, but it would be interesting to downclock the TR system to 3 GHZ and test.

[Anux]

... people telling out loud ssd are useless, too expansive, less reliable and much less capacity than the great and sufficient hdds…
Seems like the x86/arm debate is the same all over.

Those are very different scenarios. An SSD can be put in any x86 (or other platform) machine and gives instant performance improvements with no compatibility problems. An ARM is a new platform with many compatibility problems concerning old programs.

And the arguments "against" SSDs like low capacity and high price were true and a valid reason to not get one. I know no evidence that they were less reliable then HDDs which are the most unreliable part in any computer.

Especially under Linux ARM has good chances to get a foot in (as it already has in server) because the software can be recompiled. With proprietary software under Windows there are much higher walls to jump.

[methoxyf]

joink

[methoxyf]

They went with Nvidia because that was the ONLY choice. Ampere Altra has a PCIe erratum (#82288 aka PCIE_65) that causes AMD gpu’s to suffer from corrupted graphics or kernel panics, depending upon generation. There is a workaround patch out-of-tree, that changes device memory mappings, with the side effect that access MUST be aligned, which requires a second patch to trap unaligned accesses and fix them as they happen, impacting performance. There is ZERO chance this is ever upstreamed (late August 2024 somebody at Linaro submitted it to the ARM mailing list where discussion was brief and it died.) Chimera Linux is the only distro that appears to apply this patch. Some more detail: https://social.treehouse.systems/@me...53135674044835

[ezst036]

The opportunity for ARM desktops has passed imho.

Odd. It never began.

Granted, that it never began does not necessarily detract from the whole of your statement but it still needed to be said nonetheless. Especially since it is perhaps true to say that this very computer from System76 is in fact probably the very first ARM desktop and that doesn't start shipping until November 12th. (next month)

https://system76.com/desktops/thelio-astra

[rmfx]

I remember during the transition from hdd to ssd, people telling out loud ssd are useless, too expansive, less reliable and much less capacity than the great and sufficient hdds…
Seems like the x86/arm debate is the same all over. People lack vision and only see their current personal case like a ground truth.
x86 is dying, arm is thriving, competition in the arm world brings innovation and look at Apple and see what can be achieved. The rest will follow.
You can be sure that intel/arm is exploring that currently and not as a side project only, because compatibility is a quality that can only last for a limited amont of years.

[pWe00Iri3e7Z9lHOX2Qx]

This is the same cope that "the year of desktop Linux" people tell themselves..."it is just beginning" for decades and forever.

At $3,299 USD "this machine" is yet another expensive, niche, server-grade hardware that frankly has little to do with a desktop..

It's a professional workstation. You know how much workstations cost right? The AMD Threadripper based Thelio Major starts at $4,399 USD.