AMD Introduces The Radeon Pro WX Series

[duby229]

Q is right on this one... most people using one of the "libre" distros (and some users of other distros) are going to flatly refuse to enable any non-free repo or install any non-free files/packages to get microcode, but will cheerfully use hardware which has a ton of microcode deployed through other means, eg ROM'ed on chip or loaded from external flash/ROM.

This will obviously change over time once it becomes clear that new guidelines are needed in order to run *any* current hardware, but we're not quite there yet.

You weren't part of that discussion, but it goes right back to another discussion some of us had about this topic. Is there really any such thing as libre software? I don't think there is. Even if the execution hardware was fully open source, it was produced with patent encumbered processes. No matter how you look at it there is currently no possible way to for any software to achieve the libre dream. There isn't any libre hardware and there will never be a semiconductor foundry that can produce it.

[starshipeleven]

Q is right on this one... most people using one of the "libre" distros (and some users of other distros) are going to flatly refuse to enable any non-free repo or install any non-free files/packages to get microcode, but will cheerfully use hardware which has a ton of microcode deployed through other means, eg ROM'ed on chip or loaded from external flash/ROM.

Yeah, but that's their own problem, that definition of "libre" is complete bs.
Libre is whithout closed blobs period, not just without closed blobs in hard drive.

This will obviously change over time once it becomes clear that new guidelines are needed in order to run *any* current hardware, but we're not quite there yet.

I doubt it. It's already obvious, and they still don't get the point.

[starshipeleven]

You weren't part of that discussion, but it goes right back to another discussion some of us had about this topic. Is there really any such thing as libre software? I don't think there is. Even if the execution hardware was fully open source, it was produced with patent encumbered processes. No matter how you look at it there is currently no possible way to for any software to achieve the libre dream. There isn't any libre hardware and there will never be a semiconductor foundry that can produce it.

The software itself is libre as long as is FOSS, the lack of libre systems to run it on is another matter alltogether and does not make the software non-libre.

Also the part about foundries is bs. OH GOD THE TABLES AND CHAIRS STALLMAN WORKS ON ARE PROPRIETARY DESIGNS!!!! LIBRE SOFTWARE IS NOT LIBRE ANYMORE!!!!
Foundries don't interact in any way with the hardware design, what was libre before is still libre after.

[duby229]

The software itself is libre as long as is FOSS, the lack of libre systems to run it on is another matter alltogether and does not make the software non-libre.

Also the part about foundries is bs. OH GOD THE TABLES AND CHAIRS STALLMAN WORKS ON ARE PROPRIETARY DESIGNS!!!! LIBRE SOFTWARE IS NOT LIBRE ANYMORE!!!!
Foundries don't interact in any way with the hardware design, what was libre before is still libre after.

You're definitely wrong. It's two sides of the same coin. There is a physical transformation that happens during fabrication. That's a whole hell of a lot more than nothing. Just like how compilers transform software design to binary executables, fabrication transforms hardware design to physical hardware. Which is the very same thing that transforms binary executables into action.

[starshipeleven]

You're definitely wrong. It's two sides of the same coin. There is a physical transformation that happens during fabrication.

Yeah, I know you know jack of that so you assume it's some kind of magical ritual, but it is a laser etching a prepared silicon wafer ACCORDING TO A DESIGN. The design tells EXACTLY how the IC must be in real life, it's not source code that has to be translated and optimized.

Just like how compilers transform software design to binary executables, fabrication transforms hardware design to physical hardware. Which is the very same thing that transforms binary executables into action.

Again you show you're a goat, compilers do A LOT of optimization on the code and you should fucking know since in Gentoo you should use hundreds of cflags with obscure meanings to get 0.05% performance increases.

A fab only prints the design, NO OPTIMIZATION happens. It's more similar to printing a drawing than compiling source code.
Or to using a CNC machine to cut stuff into a shape.

[duby229]

Yeah, I know you know jack of that so you assume it's some kind of magical ritual, but it is a laser etching a prepared silicon wafer ACCORDING TO A DESIGN. The design tells EXACTLY how the IC must be in real life, it's not source code that has to be translated and optimized.

Again you show you're a goat, compilers do A LOT of optimization on the code and you should fucking know since in Gentoo you should use hundreds of cflags with obscure meanings to get 0.05% performance increases.

A fab only prints the design, NO OPTIMIZATION happens. It's more similar to printing a drawing than compiling source code.
Or to using a CNC machine to cut stuff into a shape.

Dude you really don't know what your talking about. There is all kinds of optimizations that happen during fabrication. Hardware definitely is not designed transistor by transistor.

EDIT: Just in case you didn't know, software isn't written with zero's and one's either.

EDIT: Also just in case you didn't know, there are different file formats for images like jpeg gif and png etc....

EDIT: Also just in case you didn't know, CNC machines are programmed with software that itself was not written with zero's and one's.

[starshipeleven]

Hardware definitely is not designed transistor by transistor.

Yeah it definitely is. Of course there is large amount of reuse and modularity. You design a block of X things and repeat the same design a million times to make a single IC component that is part of a module that is repeated hundreds of times to make a bigger module that is also repeated dozens of times and so on.

There are libraries and pre-made IC module designs and softwares that aid the design (an IDE basically), but the resulting design is all done down to each single damn transistor and trace in the IC.

This is microelectronics, shape cannot be changed in any way or you change its function. What is in the design is what is printed, period.

There is a reason why high-power components are made only by a handfew of companies. It's complex and most of it comes by building on top of previous generation's ICs.

[duby229]

Yeah it definitely is. Of course there is large amount of reuse and modularity. You design a block of X things and repeat the same design a million times to make a single IC component that is part of a module that is repeated hundreds of times to make a bigger module that is also repeated dozens of times and so on.

There are libraries and pre-made IC module designs and softwares that aid the design (an IDE basically), but the resulting design is all done down to each single damn transistor and trace in the IC.

This is microelectronics, shape cannot be changed in any way or you change its function.

There is a reason why high-power components are made only by a handfew of companies. It's complex and most of it comes by building on top of previous generation's ICs.

Dude you are definitely wrong. Software determines transistor configurations. Proprietary algorithms do all that low level stuff. It's very much like how a compiler works.

[starshipeleven]

Dude you are definitely wrong. Software determines transistor configurations. Proprietary algorithms do all that low level stuff. It's very much like how a compiler works.

Nope. You don't start from high level but from low.

[andreano]

To me, the biggest news was what's missing from the news: AMD finally got VP9 hardware support!

According to themselves:

4K video decode and encode support including HEVC and VP9

http://www.amd.com/en-us/press-relea...2016jul25.aspx

Congratulations, AMD. I salute you.