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I guess the most relevant question within an open source context is, "okay, but when/how do we get to play with this fancy new hardware?" OpenPOWER remains a m
by exikyut 6y ago
I guess the most relevant question within an open source context is, "okay, but when/how do we get to play with this fancy new hardware?"
OpenPOWER remains a massive niche - as in, it's big, but it's still a niche - because nobody (in the sense of "just anybody", ie the long tail) can really get their hands on it. It's nontrivially difficult to maintain access to IBM POWER8 kit, and the Talos is also certainly way beyond what I could personally afford from a "directionless tinkering/learning" standpoint.
If I understand this article correctly, cloud-native means there's not likely to be a Talos equivalent for sale, and it's all remote access only.
Also, OpenPOWER is, like, an entire CPU, with a design is extremely old and can be expected to stay around for a long time, and even with that sort of centralizable focus opportunity it's still a niche.
I get the impression this is suggesting the creation of custom components with somewhat shorter design lifecycles - years, certainly, but not multiples of decades, and maybe only months for individual hardware revisions.
If this really wants to attract developers from outside of the immediate focus of the relevant industries... how are the discoverability and accessibility equations going to be solved?
Of course, the more potential cooks you attract to the kitchen the more overheads you have to deal with, but I wonder if is a necessary element to maintain interest and familiarity with what would apparently prefer to be a fast-changing environment.
- mrmrcoleman 6y ago"how are the discoverability and accessibility equations going to be solved?" - this is the whole challenge. I referred to the WorksonARM project in the blog: https://www.worksonarm.com/ https://www.worksonarm.com/ WorksOnARM solved this problem for ARM by making machines available through Equinix Metal's API for development and testing. Hardware manufacturers can ship boxes to developers, give them access through an API like Equinix Metal's, or some other approach, but one way or another developers are going to need access.