5 ms·

I cannot wait until I can buy a good simple ARM server for my home. Something like an RPi 4 but with more disk I/O and RAM. Or a slightly more baked version of

I cannot wait until I can buy a good simple ARM server for my home. Something like an RPi 4 but with more disk I/O and RAM. Or a slightly more baked version of a ROCKPro64 in a nice case.

0x202020 4y ago
I would love to see something akin to an M-based Mac as a dev board of sorts, but I’m fairly sure it would never happen. My home server has transitioned over time from various 4u rack mount options, to a 2u and an M1 Mac Mini, to a Mac Studio with a disk enclosure. I even tried using a Snapdragon phone dev board for awhile for something more than an RPi
- rbanffy 4y ago
  It's a bit annoying that (with the exception of Apple) ARM only exists in the low end and in the high-end cloud server space. There is no ARM equivalent to the Core i5 generally available.
  - my123 4y ago
    I'd say that there's one: Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3. (See the ThinkPad X13s)
    - jeffbee 4y ago
      The 8cx Gen 3 is better than Qualcomm's other stuff but it's still generations behind a current Core i5. They're about 20% slower than a last-gen Core i5.
      - rbanffy 4y ago
        Can one install other OS on that Thinkpad or is it doomed to run Windows forever?
        my123 4y ago
        Linux support for the X13s is a work in progress. Booting and Wi-Fi connectivity work since a few months now for example.
        rbanffy 4y ago
        This is great news. It's a good EUR 500 cheaper than a similarly outfitted M1 Macbook (although the performance is closer to Celeron than to M1)
  - smoldesu 4y ago
    My (non-professional) opinion is that Intel has invested a lot of money into making really good memory and I/O controllers. We need someone to do that in the ARM space as well, which is a really hard-sell. There are no manufacturers out there that want to pay the ARM licensing fee, period. Apple can eat the costs because they sell direct-to-consumer and like to control as much of their stack as possible. Other companies are probably groaning at the thought of fixing all of ARM's problems just so they can be treated as a second-class platform relative to Apple Silicon. Besides Nvidia or Qualcomm, I don't really think there are many companies poised to deliver this, much less an incentive to provide anything. RISC-V on the other hand, seems like it could be ripe for rapid iteration. We're obviously still in the super-early days of the ISA, but the lack of oppressive licensing has already been a boon for the dozens of hobbyist boards we've seen released in the past few years. As long as Apple doesn't try to EEE the ISA like they're trying to do with ARM, I think the future is pretty bright for open architectures.
wmf 4y ago
Sounds like the Honeycomb.
e40 4y ago
Agreed! We needed a Linux ARM server recently and bought an M1 mini and ran Asahi then ran the Linux we needed in a docker container. This is a good solution, IMO, until better hardware comes along.
_ph_ 4y ago
What about a Mac Mini? It is now available quite cheap in the basic configuration.
snvzz 4y ago
>Something like an RPi 4 but with more disk I/O and RAM. Have you seen the RISC-V based VisionFive2? Uses 4x SiFive U74 cores, so it is actually between rpi3b and 4 in CPU performance, but using way less power (especially idle). The SoC has an industrial operating range: It can go up to 125C, it doesn't use or need a heatsink; at full load in human room temperatures it won't even reach 70C. GPU performance is supposedly 4x that of RPi4. As for I/O, it has 2x GbE and a M.2 slot, besides USB3 and a RPi-like GPIO header. 4GB and 8GB versions are available, but 8GB won't ship until February. Both versions are <$100.

I cannot wait until I can buy a good simple ARM server for my home. Something like an RPi 4 but with more disk I/O and RAM. Or a slightly more baked version of a ROCKPro64 in a nice case.

0x202020 4y ago

I would love to see something akin to an M-based Mac as a dev board of sorts, but I’m fairly sure it would never happen. My home server has transitioned over time from various 4u rack mount options, to a 2u and an M1 Mac Mini, to a Mac Studio with a disk enclosure. I even tried using a Snapdragon phone dev board for awhile for something more than an RPi

rbanffy 4y ago
It's a bit annoying that (with the exception of Apple) ARM only exists in the low end and in the high-end cloud server space. There is no ARM equivalent to the Core i5 generally available.
- my123 4y ago
  I'd say that there's one: Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3. (See the ThinkPad X13s)
  - jeffbee 4y ago
    The 8cx Gen 3 is better than Qualcomm's other stuff but it's still generations behind a current Core i5. They're about 20% slower than a last-gen Core i5.
    - rbanffy 4y ago
      Can one install other OS on that Thinkpad or is it doomed to run Windows forever?
      - my123 4y ago
        Linux support for the X13s is a work in progress. Booting and Wi-Fi connectivity work since a few months now for example.
        rbanffy 4y ago
        This is great news. It's a good EUR 500 cheaper than a similarly outfitted M1 Macbook (although the performance is closer to Celeron than to M1)
- smoldesu 4y ago
  My (non-professional) opinion is that Intel has invested a lot of money into making really good memory and I/O controllers. We need someone to do that in the ARM space as well, which is a really hard-sell. There are no manufacturers out there that want to pay the ARM licensing fee, period. Apple can eat the costs because they sell direct-to-consumer and like to control as much of their stack as possible. Other companies are probably groaning at the thought of fixing all of ARM's problems just so they can be treated as a second-class platform relative to Apple Silicon. Besides Nvidia or Qualcomm, I don't really think there are many companies poised to deliver this, much less an incentive to provide anything. RISC-V on the other hand, seems like it could be ripe for rapid iteration. We're obviously still in the super-early days of the ISA, but the lack of oppressive licensing has already been a boon for the dozens of hobbyist boards we've seen released in the past few years. As long as Apple doesn't try to EEE the ISA like they're trying to do with ARM, I think the future is pretty bright for open architectures.

wmf 4y ago

Sounds like the Honeycomb.

e40 4y ago

Agreed! We needed a Linux ARM server recently and bought an M1 mini and ran Asahi then ran the Linux we needed in a docker container. This is a good solution, IMO, until better hardware comes along.

_ph_ 4y ago

What about a Mac Mini? It is now available quite cheap in the basic configuration.

snvzz 4y ago

>Something like an RPi 4 but with more disk I/O and RAM. Have you seen the RISC-V based VisionFive2? Uses 4x SiFive U74 cores, so it is actually between rpi3b and 4 in CPU performance, but using way less power (especially idle). The SoC has an industrial operating range: It can go up to 125C, it doesn't use or need a heatsink; at full load in human room temperatures it won't even reach 70C. GPU performance is supposedly 4x that of RPi4. As for I/O, it has 2x GbE and a M.2 slot, besides USB3 and a RPi-like GPIO header. 4GB and 8GB versions are available, but 8GB won't ship until February. Both versions are <$100.