Clear Linux Now Riding On Linux 4.8.1, Ships AVX2-Optimized Python

[zboson]

As long as AMD supports the same instructions Intel is supplying, who cares whose Linux it is.

Push on!

As long as Clear Linux compiles everything with GCC then AMD probably does not have to worry with regards to Zen. But the Intel C/C++ compiler is known for creating a CPU dispatcher which checks for a genuine Intel tag in CPUID and using crippled code otherwise. AMD also has used XOP and FMA4 in some of their libraries which Intel does not use. That's not nearly as bad as vetoing based on checking if the processor in Intel or AMD rather than checking if the instructions are supported.

Zen from what I hear won't support XOP and maybe not FMA4. XOP is actually a good instruction set and FM4 makes more sense than FMA3 (which has to have several variants because it does not have a forth operator). It's embarrassing that Intel's instruction set up to AVX2 still does not have an unsigned 64-bit SIMD compare operator (unlike XOP) though AVX512 (if we ever get it) will.

But even without XOP and FMA4 there are still reasons you would want to compile different binaries for Intel and AMD. The Bulldozer architecture has several issues with AVX which means you need to treat AVX code for AMD and Intel differently for optimization. So there is a good reason an AMD optimized Linux would be good for the Bulldozer set.

In short as long as AMD fixes its problems with AVX in Zen and Clear Linux uses GCC I think there would be no reason for an AMD version of Linux for Zen (assuming Zen does not introduce any newer and better x86 instructions).

BTW there are some that suspect that the reason we don't have AVX512 now is because Intel has done so much damage to AMD (and AMD made some stupid decisions with the Bulldozer micro-architecture) that they are laying low waiting for AMD to improve with Zen.

[curaga]

Uhhhhhhh.... Dirty Linux..... In black and red, maybe a whip in the symbol.... Sounds sexy.

Perhaps you want Ubuntu Satanic? Ships with great themes and music, in the colors you desire.

[starshipeleven]

Perhaps you want Ubuntu Satanic? Ships with great themes and music, in the colors you desire.

Let's not confuse bdsm with satanism plz.

[dungeon]

Does Ubuntu 16.10 have Linux 4.8.0, 4.8.1 or 4.8.2?

It's name is something like 4.8.0-22.24. Not sure exactly how to interpret that.

You can ignore 4.8.0, that is 4.8 updated regulary... those 22.24 are probably number abi bumb. number of actual updates or something.

Should be i guess maybe 4.8.1 plus their patching... well look at their git if you like to track that or figure it out, yakkety something i guess

http://kernel.ubuntu.com/git/?s=idle

[AdamOne]

It's Clear not Clean.
So opposites would be Foggy, Vague, etc

Opaque?

[devius]

It's Clear not Clean.
So opposites would be Foggy, Vague, etc

Vague Linux sounds good to me. Count me in!

[johanb]

... and non-competitive mobility products (Atom) along with a Linux build?

They are incredibly popular amongst chinese windows tablets and low-end but thin ultrabooks. If you search for "Windows tablet" on a chinese website you'll see that 95% of all tablets have either the z8300, z8500 or z8700 processor. They're all cherry trail which is shit on linux though so I havn't bought one myself.

[Tomin]

Xen from what I hear won't support XOP and maybe not FMA4. XOP is actually a good instruction set and FM4 makes more sense than FMA3 (which has to have several variants because it does not have a forth operator). It's embarrassing that Intel's instruction set up to AVX2 still does not have an unsigned 64-bit SIMD compare operator (unlike XOP) though AVX512 (if we ever get it) will.

Oh, you mean Zen. At first I thought you were actually talking about Xen and I could not understand much.

I hope AMD will use Zen instead of FX in their marketing for Zen processors. That would sound much better, because FX is associated with something slow nowadays in the minds of computer builders (well, that's what I think anyway).

[geearf]

Opaque?

That's a better one, but I was trying to stay with 5 letters like Clear.

[adler187]

That's a better one, but I was trying to stay with 5 letters like Clear.

AMD Murky Linux