I'm writing to draw fellow Debian ARM users' attention to the Parallella project currently on Kickstarter. Link: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/adapteva/parallella-a-supercomputer-for-everyone
The project's founders are seeking funding for an arm-based development board based around their 16/64 core multicore Epiphany processor. Apart from the Epiphany processor, the specs are comparable with other arm-based dev-boards (Pandaboard etc.): * Dual-core ARM A9 CPU * Epiphany Multicore Accelerator (16 or 64 cores) * 1GB RAM * MicroSD Card * USB 2.0 (two) * Two general purpose expansion connectors * Ethernet 10/100/1000 * HDMI connection * Ships with Ubuntu OS * Ships with free open source Epiphany development tools that include C compiler, multicore debugger, Eclipse IDE, OpenCL SDK/compiler, and run time libraries. * Dimensions are 3.4'' x 2.1'' The project is especially interesting from a free software point of view: * Open Access: Absolutely no NDAs or special access needed! All architecture and SDK documents will be published on the web as soon as the Kickstarter project is funded. * Open Source: The Parallella platform will be based on free open source development tools and libraries. All board design files will be provided as open source once the Parallella boards are released. * Affordability: Hardware costs and SDK costs have always been a huge barrier to entry for developers looking to develop high performance applications. Our goal is to bring the Parallella high performance computer cost below $100, making it an affordable platform for all. On most extant ARM-based SoCs/dev.boards, the coprocessor (i.e. GPU) is encumbered by NDAs, closed source drivers, binary firmware, undocumented instruction sets, etc. Originally, the plan was to release documentation when the project reached its funding goal; however, they decided to release the documentation early, in order to generate more interest, see http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/adapteva/parallella-a-supercomputer-for-everyone/posts/323691 The project is currently struggling to meet its funding goals; I would encourage everyone interested in advancing the cause of free software on ARM platforms to back Parallella, and to pass on the word to others. Disclosure: I'm backing the project but am not otherwise affiliated with its founders. Tom Glover -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [email protected] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [email protected] Archive: http://lists.debian.org/[email protected]
