Linux 5.8 Has The Bits Needed To Begin Booting POWER10 Processors

[JustRob]

Will there be POWER10 based laptops?

It's not impossible, but I would suspect it's many years away; after it can be manufactured in a smaller node.

The POWER9 uses 90W for only 4 cores, I'm not sure of the requirements for the next version but even at 50% there won't be a lot of battery life. There is a project to make a POWER PC laptop, and a few weeks to donate to the project, but it's not an IBM POWER PC CPU, it's a licensed version of an old design.

Sources:

https://en.wikichip.org/wiki/ibm/microarchitectures/power9#All_POWER9_Processors

https://www.phoronix.com/forums/forum/hardware/general-hardware/961111-new-powerpc-laptop-64bit-nxp-t208x-dual-core-4-threads-open-source-hardware

https://www.powerpc-notebook.org/howto/

[Markore]

Will POWER10 hardware have speculative execution vulnerabilities like every other powerful hardware?

For example, SPARC is not hit with those vulnerabilities, because CPU separates the kernel and user space in hardware.
Plus most workloads runs in Solaris Zones that encapsulates processes and services (as the other OS-level virtualization is not hit too).

[elatllat]

Yes the 20 nm Sparc64-XII is overdue for a refresh.

[Guest]

If someone builds one.

Will someone build one (POWER10 based laptop)?

[Space Heater]

For example, SPARC is not hit with those vulnerabilities, because CPU separates the kernel and user space in hardware.
Plus most workloads runs in Solaris Zones that encapsulates processes and services (as the other OS-level virtualization is not hit too).

What proof is there that SPARC isn't affected by any variant of spectre? It sounds like you are conflating meltdown with all speculative execution vulnerabilities. Also what do zones have to do with mitigating hardware-level sidechannel attacks?

There seems to be pretty [1] strong [2] evidence [3] that SPARC, like all other modern processors with speculative execution, *is* affected.

[1] https://www.theregister.com/2018/01/...ches_jan_2018/
[2] https://blogs.oracle.com/solaris/ora...beta-refreshed
[3] https://support.oracle.com/knowledge...2349278_1.html

[edwaleni]

Will someone build one (POWER10 based laptop)?

Probably not. Unless OpenPOWER or IBM funds a low core/low power version equivalent of the Sforza.

Just my 2 cents.....if you want to build a ecosystem organically for POWER, you need a vlp version, 2 core 8 thread CPU @ 1.2Ghz that can be fabbed cheaply and sold to the SBC/Industrial market. And let OpenPOWER update the reference design kind of like what ARM does with the Cortex.

Then let it come out as the "PowerPi" or "Odroid Power" or "Rock Power" or what ever cute name people can come up with. Have a Fedora build ready to go to use on it.

Until that vlp version exists in some form, POWER will remain in the workstation/server role.

If I was Warren Buffett and don't enjoy losing money on airlines stocks, then I would throw some dough at this. At least it will have a lasting impact as opposed to watching my stock value get parked in the Arizona desert for a year.

If someone is entrepreneurial, you can open a foundation like they did for the Pi, and focus on a Power approach. Anything is possible.

[fishfork2000]

> Will there be POWER10 based laptops?

Apple used to make Power Laptops up to 2005. IBM could not make them fast enough in comparison to the power/heat which is why they switched to Intel. If you want a Power laptop, buy any 15 year old Macbook Pro. They have the greatest keyboards I have ever used, for one Runs Linux just fine.

[Guest]

Probably not. Unless OpenPOWER or IBM funds a low core/low power version equivalent of the Sforza.

Just my 2 cents.....if you want to build a ecosystem organically for POWER, you need a vlp version, 2 core 8 thread CPU @ 1.2Ghz that can be fabbed cheaply and sold to the SBC/Industrial market. And let OpenPOWER update the reference design kind of like what ARM does with the Cortex.

Then let it come out as the "PowerPi" or "Odroid Power" or "Rock Power" or what ever cute name people can come up with. Have a Fedora build ready to go to use on it.

Until that vlp version exists in some form, POWER will remain in the workstation/server role.

If I was Warren Buffett and don't enjoy losing money on airlines stocks, then I would throw some dough at this. At least it will have a lasting impact as opposed to watching my stock value get parked in the Arizona desert for a year.

If someone is entrepreneurial, you can open a foundation like they did for the Pi, and focus on a Power approach. Anything is possible.

Didn't ARM start directly via phones? I haven't heard of any ARM boards, when I have seen ARM phone for the first time.

[ssokolow]

Didn't ARM start directly via phones? I haven't heard of any ARM boards, when I have seen ARM phone for the first time.

ARM was originally used in coprocessor cards for the BBC Micro but the earliest use people are likely to recognize is the Acorn Archimedes.

[Guest]

ARM was originally used in coprocessor cards for the BBC Micro but the earliest use people are likely to recognize is the Acorn Archimedes.

Wow,... ARM spans to era of DOS computers. Yet, it massively gained traction and public recognition via phones.