IBM Power11 CPUs Launching In 2025 - Linux 6.13 Preps KVM Nested Guests For Power11

[phoronix]

Phoronix: IBM Power11 CPUs Launching In 2025 - Linux 6.13 Preps KVM Nested Guests For Power11

IBM isn't formally releasing Power11 processors until next year, but their software engineers continue being quite busy preparing the Linux kernel and other open-source software for Power11. The newest on the kernel side is enabling support for KVM nested guests on IBM Power11 platforms...

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Linux-6.11-Power11-KVM-Nested

[hiryu]

And Solid Silicon is supposed to release their POWER CPU's in 2025... There was conjecture that the upcoming Solid Silicon CPU's would basically be based on the POWER10... but given the timing, I suspect they'll be POWER11 based. Solid Silicon has been extremely tight lipped about their upcoming release though so this is just conjecture on my part.

[mb_q]

Most likely those too will end up almost exclusively in SQL black boxes in basements of paranoid companies.

[muncrief]

I wasn't aware that the PowerPC was still being developed. I thought when it was dropped by Apple it went away, but that just goes to show how much I (don't) know

Does anyone know who still uses them? I did a quick internet search and couldn't find much about them.

[bridgman]

I wasn't aware that the PowerPC was still being developed. I thought when it was dropped by Apple it went away, but that just goes to show how much I (don't) know

I believe PowerPC (Apple/IBM/Motorola) and POWER (IBM) have been merged from an ISA perspective. PowerPC cores are still being developed for embedded applications and POWER CPUs are still being developed and shipped in mainframe-class servers. Maybe a few workstations, not sure. PowerPC is still very widely used - primarily in automotive applications but also networking, storage etc...

I believe POWER and PowerPC share code and folders in the Linux kernel, ie POWER support goes into arch/powerpc.

[muncrief]

I believe PowerPC (Apple/IBM/Motorola) and POWER (IBM) have been merged from an ISA perspective. PowerPC cores are still being developed for embedded applications and POWER CPUs are still being developed and shipped in mainframe-class servers. Maybe a few workstations, not sure.

I believe POWER and PowerPC share code and folders in the Linux kernel, ie POWER support goes into arch/powerpc.

Thank you for the information bridgman. I didn't even realize PowerPC and POWER CPUs were a different thing! Good lord, I need to start paying more attention to the technical world, and world in general, around me

[intelfx]

PowerPC cores are still being developed for embedded applications and POWER CPUs are still being developed and shipped in mainframe-class servers. Maybe a few workstations, not sure.

Yup, these ones: https://raptorcs.com/.

Kind of a "well-known in narrow circles" thing. Phoronix even reported on them a couple times.

[mixov]

Linus bitching to Kent about not testing for big endian was probably related to the fact that many PowerPC servers are big endian. Yeah, PowerPC still matters.

[coder]

POWER CPUs are still being developed and shipped in mainframe-class servers.

No, IBM has a completely different CPU ISA that they use for their mainframes.

https://chipsandcheese.com/p/telum-ii-at-hot-chips-2024-mainframe-with-a-unique-caching-strategy?utm_source=publication-search

I think POWER are pitched more as cloud/commodity/enterprise server CPUs. A POWER-based server is something you can buy for normal money. Mainframes cost way more.

[coder]

Linus bitching to Kent about not testing for big endian was probably related to the fact that many PowerPC servers are big endian.

Bullshit. All of the enterprise distros for POWER are Little Endian (Red Hat, Ubuntu, and SuSE).

You have to go to fringe distros, like rene's T2 Linux, if you want Big Endian. And if you do, I wouldn't expect the same level of reliability, because most of the world is using Little Endian and that code path is therefore way better tested and maintained. That said, I don't think it's a bad thing that people still have a choice in the matter.