The Adapteva Parallella - is it genuinely free software compatible?
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Has anyone managed to find out if the Adapteva Parallella Kickstarter
[1] is genuinely a free software compatible parallel computing
platform? They use both 'free open source' and 'open source' in their
press releases and it seems right. But, they haven't replied to my
query (they will obviously be inundated) so I thought I'd ask here.
If it is then it makes good sense for free software supporters to back
it as it. Freeing one of the technologies which has the potential to
bypass the limits of standard computing we're to hit shortly is a
sensible free software bet for the future.
And yes, I've already donated to MediaGoblin. One can do both.
Leny2010
[1]
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/adapteva/parallella-a-supercomputer-
for-everyone
I am a member!
I corresponded briefly with the project manager on the first day and he sent me the following:
"All software related to the Epiphany chip (driver, dev tools) will be given
away as free open source. Can't comment on the exact license yet, whether it
is GPLv3 or some other permissive license like BSD. We need to study it some
more and talk to people in the open source software community."
I encouraged either GPLv3 or a dual-license approach which would allow for a copyleft free software version of the driver/firmware, etc. Hey what the heck... I can advocate, right? We shall see what license he chooses.
On Sunday 14 Oct 2012 17:27:33 name at domain wrote:
> I corresponded briefly with the project manager on the first day and he
sent
> me the following:
>
> "All software related to the Epiphany chip (driver, dev tools) will be given
> away as free open source. Can't comment on the exact license yet,
whether
> it is GPLv3 or some other permissive license like BSD. We need to study it
> some more and talk to people in the open source software community."
>
> I encouraged either GPLv3 or a dual-license approach which would allow
for a
> copyleft free software version of the driver/firmware, etc. We shall see
> what license he chooses.
Oh good, thank you! Duly backed.
Students looking at a project next academic year might try discussing
it with their faculty.
Leny / Andrew
I am a member!
Is it true that this thing will put out 45GHz? I've also heard it will do so using 5 Watts. Wow!
This only has 9 days left and still needs A LOT. I think some of these Kickstarter projects pick up speed toward the end. I'm hoping it does.
Please consider joining us and donating.
On Thursday 18 Oct 2012 04:54:30 name at domain wrote:
> Is it true that this thing will put out 45GHz? I've also heard it will do
> so using 5 Watts. Wow!
They're quoting 45 GFlops at 5W for the first board (Epiphany III
based.) The 1GHz dual core ARM A9 with 1GB of RAM would be worth the
$99 starting price alone.
>
> This only has 9 days left and still needs A LOT. I think some of these
> Kickstarter projects pick up speed toward the end. I'm hoping it does.
They're planning a 'soft re-launch' tomorrow (Fri) to illustrate what
you can do with the board *now* in the hope of lifting the funding out
of what they call 'saturation.' It would be a real pity to see free
software missing a good shoehorn into a free implementation of a
future technology. It's also pretty close to a 'ground floor
opportunity' for people like the students who joined us recently.
>
> Please consider joining us and donating.
Someone else who uses the mail interface? I'm already a member and
have also donated twice recently (once as leny2010 and another because
I forgot to login to the site as plain Andrew Lindley.)
Andrew M. 'Leny' Lindley
I am a member!
>> Please consider joining us and donating.
>Someone else who uses the mail interface? I'm already a member and
>have also donated twice recently (once as leny2010 and another because
>I forgot to login to the site as plain Andrew Lindley.)
Sorry. I was referring to supporting the Parallella Kickstarter project. It is currently about $400,000 out of the $750,000 needed for funding to happen.
On Friday 19 October 2012 22:32:26 name at domain wrote:
> >> Please consider joining us and donating.
> >
> >Someone else who uses the mail interface? I'm already a member and
> >have also donated twice recently (once as leny2010 and another because
> >I forgot to login to the site as plain Andrew Lindley.)
>
> Sorry. I was referring to supporting the Parallella Kickstarter project. It
> is currently about $400,000 out of the $750,000 needed for funding to
> happen.
In which case I fully agree with you. Perhaps people need some
project ideas to spark their interest? How about:
Port Tachyon (free software ray-tracing) - currently Tachyon's market
is dominated by the free-as-in-beer POVRay. Tachyon was developed
originally for supercomputers using (IIRC) the MPL API(?). With a
Parallella you'll have your own supercomputer to develop on.
Similarly the Parallella would make a good target for a Blender
rendering backend. Be part of bringing a free software low cost high
quality 3D animation solution to the world.
Or maybe you'd like to work on a game engine and don't have an Intel
GPU to do the physics OpenCL work in free software. Well at $99
Parallella is cheaper than a new Intel box and can be programmed in
the standard for GPGPUs OpenCL.
Adapteva has a white paper on using the processor for image
manipulation. Ever fancied writing a really sick GIMP plug in?
OTOH you could be a Maker and the idea of a robot with full vision
capabilities gets you going? Or if you just want a computer to tell
you who's at the door?
I'm not quite up to robot vision. But, a long time friend who is a
hardware design engineer is designing a small number of robots for an
exhibit at The National Museum of Computing in Bletchley Park, UK
(where Colossus the first electronic computer was built, they have a
cool working recreation). He's kind of 'volunteered' me as a softie,
and the Parallella looks to be the right free software thing for Mommy
robot's 'branez.' Sure there are a lot of robot projects out there
but this is distinct in that being an exhibit all the sensors and
communication are going to be human perceivable. Robots talking in a
musical language, audible 'sonar' etc.
What are you thinking of using yours for gnufreeme?
Andrew M. 'Leny' Lindley
I am a member!
To start off, what I want to do most is digitize everything in my life that is possible. I would love a machine to crunch all of these numbers quickly. I want to choose "lossless" versions in anticipation of future computing power that will make everyone else sorry they chose "lossy" codecs.
I would love to get into Blender. After completing some much needed projects here at home, I will have more time as I recently gave up a second part-time job and am now back at 40 Hrs/week for the first time in 11 years. I have a lot of imagination and could see myself producing some cool things with Blender & GIMP. I know it may be a daunting task but we need a "feature-length" movie made exclusively with free software.
Also I want to look into Asterisk & VOIP, hosting useful torrents such as Trisquel ISOs & public domain or CC works, providing a (Freedombox?) server for all of my family to share and 3D Printing... stuff like that. Then I'll branch out into some cool projects like making something to create a water show in the back yard. That would be fun with LEDs and movable water spouts.
I'll leave the high-concept projects to you. Just let me know when you put out your Freebot 1.0 stable release or when you need crowdfunding. :-) I'm not a PhD computer scientist unfortunately, and it's not likely at 43. But if you cannot be an athlete be an athletic supporter, right? Perhaps people like me can use this device to provide some computing power to one of your creations like SETI@Home did. Your ideas seem very worthwhile. I need my robotic butler!
At any rate, humanity needs a free hardware platform to begin building the next generation of computers without restrictions like DRM & lock-in. It's necessary for freedom... and freedom is necessary self-evidently.
>I have a lot of imagination and could see myself producing some cool things with Blender & GIMP. I know it may be a daunting task but we need a "feature-length" movie made exclusively with free software.
You might like these guys http://urchn.org/
On Saturday 20 October 2012 21:58:40 name at domain wrote:
Some very good ideas were snipped.
> I'll leave the high-concept projects to you. Just let me know when you put
> out your Freebot 1.0 stable release or when you need crowdfunding. I'm
> not a PhD computer scientist unfortunately, and it's not likely at 43
Nah, this is a British project. Done for fun, on a shoestring,
'expertise' cobbled together out of people you know who have vaguely
related experience. Start with something very basic and iterate. If
we do invent something new it'll only be by accident. My involvement
is hobby level.
Wrt PhDs, don't get distracted by qualifications. RMS's email doesn't
say Dr ... PhD. The history of science and technology has plenty of
contributions from those who merely doing it out of personal interest.
Nobody in free software asks for a copy of your qualifications when
you submit a patch. You're as good as your contribution. Do your
projects, if in 10 years time you find yourself wondering how come
graduates these days don't seem to know anything or you're startled
because some Professor on the other side of the world phones when
they're having problems compiling your code then don't come
complaining to me.
Andrew M. 'Leny' Lindley
http://apertus.org/ - Free software with open hardware. Everything is free! =)
I am a member!
Congratulations seems it came though!
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/adapteva/parallella-a-supercomputer-for-everyone
with hours to spare!
I was able to make a small contribution, fiu! that was a a close call.
I am a member!
I really didn't think it was possible.
Who is funding this? Where was it advertised? What did they do to draw in that money?
How can a freedom friendly ISP kickstarter project fail and something like this succeed?
I am a member!
This is also freedom friendly.
what was the ISP kickstarter? can you post a link?
following the comments above, this would help science, 3d animation, and general number crunching. there probably some company interest as well as personal.
kickstarter has had a huge buzz lately and some of the projects are publicized by media. it seems you can get money and publicity at the same time by hosting in kickstarter. plus there is the little rewards depending on the amount you pledge. like media goblin. or humble indie ebook bundle.
I am a member!
I worded that wrong. The goal was privacy and it was not a kickstarter campaign because they had no product. The guy who started it was involved in fighting National Security Letters.
Here is the site:
http://www.indiegogo.com/calyx
I posted this here once before.
----- Mensaje original -----
> I worded that wrong. The goal was privacy and it was not a kickstarter
> campaign because they had no product. The guy who started it was
> involved in fighting National Security Letters.
>
> Here is the site:
>
> http://www.indiegogo.com/calyx
>
> I posted this here once before.
Wow sounds like it was pretty big! But one million dollars is a lot of money it would probably help to start thing up. I'm glad they continued with what they got and did not give up entirely.
Maybe it was seen as being too focused in US only?
I had forgotten about indie gogo i wonder why kickstarter got more buzz.
http://apertus.org/ - Free software with open hardware. Everything is free! =)
I am a member!
UPDATE:
The developer of the Adapteva Parallella has licensed his sdk and libs under GPLv3+.
This is great news.
By request, I had previously sent him my opinions of the various licenses and what goals they ultimately serve. I also added some patent trolling concerns. I advocated GPLv3, with the ability to relicense to later versions.
I don't know to what degree (if any) my comments might've nudged his thinking in our direction, but I'm happy to see that he chose the most user-centric license.
I can't wait to play around with mine when it gets here.
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