NVIDIA JTX1: Finally An Exciting 64-bit ARM Board!

[Michael_S]

You can do that on a 15 usd board.

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Orang...448079125.html
( i you manage get one, some users report problems)

I would rather buy this one:

http://www.gearbest.com/tablet-pcs/pp_254195.html

It has built in screen and other features like gps and android for Navionics Boating.

I wanted something with ARM, but relatively high performance (compared to a Raspberry Pi or CubieBoard or Odroid) and more than 2GB of RAM.

The tablet Slartifartblast posted meets my performance requirements, but
1. It's Intel x86_64 and not ARM. I was mostly interested for the novelty of using ARM on a desktop/laptop. I already have x86_64 desktops and laptops.
2. It's not clear to me how easy it is to put Linux on it.
3. I haven't had good experiences with tablet reliability - though if I was using it as a desktop and not moving it around maybe it would last longer.

[torsionbar28]

Nvidia releases board that is pretty much incompatible with Windows.(for gaming purposes anyway, I have heard that some windows someday will support arm, may be does so already, but without DX support).
Add to fact, low RAM count, and it leads me to believe, main audience for this device is Linux crowd. Make me think twice. What do they have on the mind? Is it some sort of experiment?

Windows is a dying ecosystem, and especially so on ARM. Linux on the other hand, is mature and widely deployed on ARM. I think the only "experiment" here is the move to 64 bit ARM. This is the next step in the evolution of the Linux/ARM platform. Microsoft really has no relevance in the ARM space. Microsoft on ARM is an unpopular niche market.

[thelongdivider]

This is so dumb. The nvidia shield android tv literally has the same specs and ports (and a chassis). Why is there a $400 premium? For an open bootloader?

[torsionbar28]

Such a dick... There is this little concept called Cross Platform, and it actually matters to some people here.

All sorts of people browse, and post on, Phoronix, you shouldn't attack them for not toeing the Linux line.

A Linux forum should be welcoming to all sorts of users, not pushing them away because "They use Windows and we're not about that".

How come I can't run Windows on my Android Phone? Or on my Playstation 3? Why should I buy those devices if I can't run Windows on them? Waaaaaaa!

Sorry, but cross platform is not relevant, when the OS vendor in question does not support the target platform. There's no such thing as Windows for AArch64.

And this is not a Windows forum, it's a Linux forum. Dissenting on someone's Microsoft comment is not "pushing them away". Consider joining a forum for thin overly sensitive skin and hurty feelings?

[L_A_G]

This is so dumb. The nvidia shield android tv literally has the same specs and ports (and a chassis). Why is there a $400 premium? For an open bootloader?

I think the main difference is that this is a much smaller one board affair that sits on a debug board with a 400 pin interface for connecting it to hardware that doesn't use standard USB interfaces. This is generally the case when working with hardware intended for embedded systems and debug/dev boards like this aren't mass market products so they tend to come at a steep markup to make up for never selling many boards. The article mentions the option of getting just the board itself for $299 so you can use it to build yourself an HTPC or compute cluster for a lot less.

[SystemCrasher]

$300?! For just a mere CPU module? Bah, they should try to file request for Guinnes World Records, it going to be clearly one of most expensive CPU modules on the Earth available to general public, being only surpassed by something like radiation hardened versions and somesuch. And it requires active cooling? Yikes. Dear nvidia, you're insane. Who would buy this stuff at THIS price? Not to mention it is nvidia, so it means a lot of proprietary stuff, crappy device availability and awful IC pricing.


...and if we are serious about "exciting", I would admit Olimex doing open-hardware 64-bit board. While in no way it going to be as powerful as Nvidia, I bet it final price going to be exciting for sure. Because it is allwinner, so it going to be widely available and cheap. And yea, it sounds quite exciting to buy 5 devices with gigabit Ethernet and USB at price of one NV's CPU module for sure . But what's even more exciting is the fact it is almost first time on the Earth when fairly serious and large system created in OpenSource KiCad tool. So, finally, open software used to create open hardware systems (and it also more or less realistic to buy Allwinner ICs at small quantities on generally available markets, not something which is going to work with Nvidia in foreseeable future). And btw, these OpenHardware systems are getting quite big, powerful and demanding in engineering terms.

Hell yeah, these days one can create multi-layer, high-density, PC-like PCB using opensource tools. That's what I would REALLY call exciting

[SystemCrasher]

A Linux forum should be welcoming to all sorts of users, not pushing them away because "They use Windows and we're not about that".

Go to MSDN or Technet and take a look how long it would take to face ban if you'll dare to praise Linux here. MS even censored Linux word in their xbox network. So they can expect equally warm welcome, etc. And TBH, last thing I need on little custom devices is windows. Totally non-customizable OS with poor hardware support and awful licensing terms, full of spyware. This makes quite hard to "welcome" those using it. I do not need or want Windows. If I'll be in mood to read about it, I would go MSDN, Technet and other MS crap. And when it comes to Phoronix, messages about windows are something like spam. Because it is not about Windows and that's why I'm here, after all. I'm not interested in Windows. If I would be interested in Windows, Phoronix is last place I would visit to learn about it, because it is not about windows at all. So I would prefer windows fans to get lost, just like any other kinds of spammers.

[L_A_G]

$300?! For just a mere CPU module? Bah, they should try to file request for Guinnes World Records, it going to be clearly one of most expensive CPU modules on the Earth available to general public, being only surpassed by something like radiation hardened versions and somesuch. And it requires active cooling? Yikes. Dear nvidia, you're insane. Who would buy this stuff at THIS price? Not to mention it is nvidia, so it means a lot of proprietary stuff, crappy device availability and awful IC pricing.

Once again, it's not a mass market product that can spread the millions of dollars spent in research and development over hundreds of thousands if not millions of devices. This is simply the way it's been in the semiconductor industry since the 1970's. Sure, the RaspberryPi may not cost anywhere near this much, but it's never been anywhere near current and aimed at big production numbers, which it reached with one of the two initial retailers taking in over 100.000 orders on day one alone, since the get-go.

Try to remember that we're still talking about a SoC with a CPU+GPU that consists of millions and millions of transistors. Modern hardware development even for mobile chips is not cheap by any stretch of the imagination. As for the radiation hardened chips used in satellites, space telescopes, probes and other hardware that needs to exit the safety of the earth's ionosphere, those things cost tens, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars per board and are in a different league to anything sold to consumers, education and hobbyists alike. The BAE RAD750 that was used on the Curiosity rover among others cost roughly $200.000 per board.

Sure, you can produce boards cheaply if you just buy in an in-production chip that's already looking to make back it's development expenses. However when you've designed the SoC the board is built around yourself and are not going to sell the damn things to the mass market, you can't be expected to start giving away the boards at production costs when you have salaries to pay and proprietary tools and IP to pay license fees for.

[kaidenshi]

Seriously. Way to welcome a potential new member to the Linux community.

"...it leads me to believe, main audience for this device is Linux crowd. Make me think twice."

Does that really sound like someone who is looking forward to running Linux on a dev board? Maybe I misunderstood, but it certainly sounded like he or she is deciding against the board because it's for "the Linux crowd".

[kaidenshi]

No offence, you do realise I am senior member here, right? I am Linux only user, but I am not blind and I know of Windoze existence.
I was reading more about the device, I takes some words back.
Apparently 4GB ram is enough to run modern Doze OS.

Maybe it's a language barrier issue, and if so I apologize, but you made it sound as if you are highly disappointed that this board is "for the Linux crowd". That makes it sound like you not only aren't part of that crowd, but look down upon it. No offense was intended.

Either way, this board will likely never run Windows, or if it does it will be the IoT version and not a full desktop OS version.