-=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- (c) WidthPadding Industries 1987 0|700|0 -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=-
SoCoder -> Link Home -> Dev-News


 
JL235
Created : 24 January 2007
 

80 Core Chip



https://www.ddj.com/dept/architect/196901985
Cores will become less powerful, but you'll have far more of them and apparently only 5 years away. I found this whilst looking through Ruby-Forum, very interesting.

 

Comments


Wednesday, 24 January 2007, 02:45
steve_ancell
Yeah... Good idea in one way, applications and games should be very fast if they are designed to take advantage of the tech specs, but what happens if you run an application which is designed on current processors ?. If each core is a lot slower than the current ones, would an application that is designed to run on a single core run slower ?.

What I'm getting at is, at the moment I'm running stuff on a Pentium 4 @ 3 Gigahertz which is reasonably quick, but let's say for instance each on of the 80 cores run at a few hundred Megahertz, could this mean that an application that is designed for one core run as if it is on a Pentium 2 @ 500 Megahertz ?.
Wednesday, 24 January 2007, 03:21
power mousey
hey steve and Diablo,

could some of these cores or cogs be grouped together
to handle a single app, and as well as 'core objects' such video-->and into a 3d graphics accerelator card...so then the card handles the display,graphics, windows...and the cores handle other core objects such as keyboard, mouse, advanced physics/math processing, Networking, etc,

when i have more time I will read the article. um...mousey has to get back to his core. Back to work

cheers,
Wednesday, 24 January 2007, 03:28
Yayyak
I think it will be good for things like webservers, where you can assign each connection a new core. Multithreading servers like Apache will plug straight into that.

On the other hand, programming for such a thing at the hardware level is going to be hell. Instead of multithreading being built into the OS, it might become part of the CPU itself, just to ease up developer's workloads. Imagine managing 80 threads *Dies of shock*.
Wednesday, 24 January 2007, 03:52
JL235
It does say their making it primarily as a prototype to experiment and investigate how the cores can communicate more efficiently.

Steve, I'd have guessed there would be some form of backwards compatible emulator created, to emulate a single processor where instead it is performed by multiple cores.

The main point of the article though is that this is coming and currently software is not prepared. However do not worry because as usual the US Army is leading the way in pushing technology. There are currently several DARPA funded programming languages in development, such as Sun Microsystems 'Fortress'.
Wednesday, 24 January 2007, 05:40
power mousey
sheesh!,

shades of Darpa, transgenics, and pyschotronic warfare.


yet, thank you nDD for the article. I definitely have learned something from you about this and from the article.
true.
Wednesday, 24 January 2007, 06:41
steve_ancell
Mousey !... Is this multi core technology sort of the same as the way the Hydra works ?.

Diablo... Ahh, emulation... That explains it.
Wednesday, 24 January 2007, 06:47
JL235
Remember, Windows is not made to work on 80 cores. That is the point of the article, software in only now starting to work on 2 and yet soon we'll have 4.
Wednesday, 24 January 2007, 08:20
power mousey
yes, steve

in a similar fashion. But this multi-core and even the PS3 core processors are more complex.

Thats why I brought up and mentioned for you and Diablo
concerning 'core objects'.

yet, heavy funded and secret budgets for Darpa for the military industrial complex. And projects funded with a blank check and hardly anbody officialy responsible for the funds and research.
And believe me what is revealed has already been in the works for months or even years. It has already been out in some form or another.
Wake up!! Put on your tin foil hats for awhile and think, question, check and research. Wakeup!

Its the global Borg. The Beast feast of power and control. Its all downhill.....

You now may take your tin foil hat off...put keep it near and secure, just in case. true
Wednesday, 24 January 2007, 18:25
power mousey
aside from my concerns and issues of morality and maturity of mankind entering forbidden areas or even growing too fast technologically and also the abuses
and the evil which can be done with these tools and technology...and all the vast and various politcal,social,cultural, fiancial, religious issues
and especially from the standpoint of Bible prophecy-->

this article is a very interesting. And I have to agree with Morgan Herrington with his comments concerning the article too.
Yet, with these 80 cores.....

what if a few fail or don't function properly? What then?
How will these cores or cogs handle using and sharing the same resources? What kind of hub(s) or distribution system be used to time and balance the cores with doing their processing, sharing and allocating the same resources; and to utilize stand alone objects such as the screen, keyboard and mouse input, other objects and applications.

Me thinks too many cooks spoil the broth.

yet, have a few cores or cogs work on both software and hardcore objects....and with a few on standby, just in case. Allocate these cogs and cores in both the hardware and software too.

hey, here are some interesting sample chapters
from the Hydra book. It has to do with the Hydra and also some of the architecture and organization of the Propeller chip.
You can download and read it at:

<sorry the url link doesn't work >

so....goto www.parallax.com

then, click on the left side of the bar Propeller Chips and Tools.
then, on the new page of Propeller Chips and Tools
scroll down and click on Hydra Game Development Kit
read up and all what is there. but scroll down near the bottom to download the sample chapters and other things too.

I have the book. It came along with the kit. I especially like both Chapter 3 and Chapter 11. Chapter 3 talks about the architecture and organization of the Propeller chip and especially of the cogs. Chapter 11 discusses the EEPROM onboard the Hydra and also the 20 pin dip game/memory slot, and also about both the blank experimenter card and the 128k memory cartridge too.



cheers,
Thursday, 25 January 2007, 02:19
JL235
If I few broke I'd expect the whole processor would break, just like current processors.
Thursday, 25 January 2007, 03:52
power mousey
yeah,

just like or what YakYak said or similarly.

Yet, carrying it further....
you would think with all these cogs or cores...and the current Propeller chip only has 8 of em... that collective borgs of them be organized together to carry on where one or a few fail...they are replaced and by which the hub command center and internally hardware and software systems fetch,save and apply the current memory and states before the particular cog or cogs failed...to carry on.
well hey, 80 of them. Either put the rest to work or send them home or let them go on vacation or take sick leave.

I say again, have some cores and cogs and thru the software handle and procees objects. Objects such as the video, keyboard, mouse, network, advanced math/phsics proessing, sensors, other devices, etc.
An then by default a few more cores are back up or are standby to help or even replace if a few fail. With any of the objects towards a core or particular group of cores or cogs.
Also, software programming can override the default with manual allocation of more than one cog or even more than one group of cogs or cores towards each particular object in use.
And also the hub monitors warning signs and error states of each cog and group of cogs as it times,balances and distributes cycles,wait states, process and resource updates and allocation of the memory used and utilized for each object. A few more cores assist the hub or hubs in keeping watch over all the cogs. Refreshing and updating too.

But if the hub(s) go...then throw away the chip for good. Or if there are not that many cogs or cores left.


cheers,