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Their competitor, Libre Computer, has mused that given their investment in the graphics stack, they might be headed in the GPGPU / AI direction. Think Raspberry

by l1k 8y ago

Their competitor, Libre Computer, has mused that given their investment in the graphics stack, they might be headed in the GPGPU / AI direction. Think Raspberry Pis that you can cluster together for deep learning, or individual boards that kids can tinker with to learn about AI. The blog post also predicted the 3B+ fairly exactly: https://libre.computer/2017/12/06/raspberry-pi-3x-raspberry-pi-4-broadcom-and-qualcomm/ https://libre.computer/2017/12/06/raspberry-pi-3x-raspberry-... Money quote: > We expect the Raspberry Pi 4 to be based on a new Broadcom SoC based on Cortex-A55 built on < 28nm fabrication process. We can call this BCM2839 and it will feature the much alluded to VC5 GPU and a new form factor. Since that hardware is more than two years away, it is difficult to predict the direction of the industry and thus the exact specifications. We expect such a Raspberry Pi 4 board to utilize dual 32-bit LPDDR3 or LPDDR4 to cope with the bandwidth requirements of OpenCL and neural network acceleration. The exact release date for such a specimen can vary dramatically depending on Broadcom’s tapeout schedule. It should be relatively soon if the Raspberry Pi Foundation expects to release hardware in 2019.

majewsky 8y ago
Please avoid code snippets for blockquotes. It's very annoying to read this with the `overflow-x: scroll` that HN's CSS adds (particularly on mobile). Just put a ">" in front of the paragraph, like so: > We expect the Raspberry Pi 4 to be based on a new Broadcom SoC based on Cortex-A55 built on < 28nm fabrication process. We can call this BCM2839 and it will feature the much alluded to VC5 GPU and a new form factor. Since that hardware is more than two years away, it is difficult to predict the direction of the industry and thus the exact specifications. We expect such a Raspberry Pi 4 board to utilize dual 32-bit LPDDR3 or LPDDR4 to cope with the bandwidth requirements of OpenCL and neural network acceleration. The exact release date for such a specimen can vary dramatically depending on Broadcom’s tapeout schedule. It should be relatively soon if the Raspberry Pi Foundation expects to release hardware in 2019.
- l1k 8y ago
  Ok, done.
- 3pt14159 8y ago
  I still struggle as to why this is still a thing on HN after all these years. Just link to a gist if you have code you want to share that is wrapping too long.
kingosticks 8y ago
Let me get this straight, they think the Raspberry Pi - a primarily low-cost device aimed at teaching kids the fundamentals of computers/computing - is going to ship something more expensive (it will be) to better support AI? Upton has repeatedly made it clear that keeping the price low is key and anything that threatens that needs to add substantial value for Foundation's teaching goals. I think it's fair to say that OpenCL and neural networks are well beyond that. I'm curious, which part of their 3B+ prediction was accurate? It all seems totally wrong and looks like they forgot why the thing exists in the first place. The VC4 doesn't even have hardware support for H.265 decode (I assume they mean decode). You can do it in software with a much faster clocked ARM but that's not what they are saying and you won't get 4k. Why RPF would even care about 4k support I have no idea. I'm also not sure where they got the idea that power consumption is important either. 2GB of RAM is a fantasy considering the substantial cost brings little gain. Making these sort of predictions is so difficult but they really were way off.
planteen 8y ago
I'd love to see more focus on embedded boards with decent GPUs. About a month ago, I was looking for a hobbyist embedded Linux board with Vulkan support. I couldn't find a single one. There's one in development, but it can't be purchased yet: https://www.96rocks.com https://www.96rocks.com

by l1k 8y ago

majewsky 8y ago

Please avoid code snippets for blockquotes. It's very annoying to read this with the `overflow-x: scroll` that HN's CSS adds (particularly on mobile). Just put a ">" in front of the paragraph, like so: > We expect the Raspberry Pi 4 to be based on a new Broadcom SoC based on Cortex-A55 built on < 28nm fabrication process. We can call this BCM2839 and it will feature the much alluded to VC5 GPU and a new form factor. Since that hardware is more than two years away, it is difficult to predict the direction of the industry and thus the exact specifications. We expect such a Raspberry Pi 4 board to utilize dual 32-bit LPDDR3 or LPDDR4 to cope with the bandwidth requirements of OpenCL and neural network acceleration. The exact release date for such a specimen can vary dramatically depending on Broadcom’s tapeout schedule. It should be relatively soon if the Raspberry Pi Foundation expects to release hardware in 2019.

l1k 8y ago
Ok, done.
3pt14159 8y ago
I still struggle as to why this is still a thing on HN after all these years. Just link to a gist if you have code you want to share that is wrapping too long.

kingosticks 8y ago

Let me get this straight, they think the Raspberry Pi - a primarily low-cost device aimed at teaching kids the fundamentals of computers/computing - is going to ship something more expensive (it will be) to better support AI? Upton has repeatedly made it clear that keeping the price low is key and anything that threatens that needs to add substantial value for Foundation's teaching goals. I think it's fair to say that OpenCL and neural networks are well beyond that. I'm curious, which part of their 3B+ prediction was accurate? It all seems totally wrong and looks like they forgot why the thing exists in the first place. The VC4 doesn't even have hardware support for H.265 decode (I assume they mean decode). You can do it in software with a much faster clocked ARM but that's not what they are saying and you won't get 4k. Why RPF would even care about 4k support I have no idea. I'm also not sure where they got the idea that power consumption is important either. 2GB of RAM is a fantasy considering the substantial cost brings little gain. Making these sort of predictions is so difficult but they really were way off.

planteen 8y ago

I'd love to see more focus on embedded boards with decent GPUs. About a month ago, I was looking for a hobbyist embedded Linux board with Vulkan support. I couldn't find a single one. There's one in development, but it can't be purchased yet: https://www.96rocks.com https://www.96rocks.com