I think that you should start out with something of the sub-netbook type. These are the next generation and coming up very soon. For a home computer you need at least dual core and at those speeds it will need a very low price and small footprint.<div>
<br></div><div>If you could sneak in on the sub-net quick perhaps power could become 2nd to ARM as AMD is to Intel. Intel is trying to sneak in but there could be some anti-trust issues, especially if there are other contenders (maybe).</div>
<div><br></div><div>Its really too too bad PA-SEMI killed by apple last year. I am still mad about that. That was a really really nice cpu, 2ghz and 7watt and 64bit. Should have been illegal.</div><div><br></div><div>The first subnetbook may likely be an apple product, and a tablet with an optional separate keyboard and a 9.5 inch screen, and the ARM cpu...</div>
<div><br></div><div><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sat, Sep 26, 2009 at 10:58 AM, Guennadi Liakhovetski <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:g.liakhovetski@gmx.de">g.liakhovetski@gmx.de</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
On Sat, 26 Sep 2009, Konstantinos Margaritis wrote:<br>
<br>
> (Sorry for the cross-posting, please ignore if you are not interested in this,<br>
> CC me as I'm not subscribed)<br>
> Hi,<br>
><br>
> First some introductions. I'm Konstantinos Margaritis, a long time<br>
> Amiga/BeOS/Linux user/developer and a PowerPC fan, former Debian Developer,<br>
> also a SIMD/AltiVec fanatic and the author of libfreevec. I've posted this on<br>
> the following sites:<br>
><br>
> <a href="http://amigaworld.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?mode=viewtopic&topic_id=29594&forum=33&start=0&viewmode=flat&order=0" target="_blank">http://amigaworld.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?mode=viewtopic&topic_id=29594&forum=33&start=0&viewmode=flat&order=0</a><br>
><br>
> <a href="http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?t=49424" target="_blank">http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?t=49424</a><br>
><br>
> <a href="http://www.morphzone.org/modules/newbb_plus/viewtopic.php?topic_id=6465&forum=11" target="_blank">http://www.morphzone.org/modules/newbb_plus/viewtopic.php?topic_id=6465&forum=11</a><br>
><br>
> <a href="http://aros-exec.org/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?viewmode=flat&topic_id=3768&forum=4" target="_blank">http://aros-exec.org/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?viewmode=flat&topic_id=3768&forum=4</a><br>
><br>
> <a href="http://www.haiku-os.org/community/forum/market_research_new_powerpc_system#comment-12604" target="_blank">http://www.haiku-os.org/community/forum/market_research_new_powerpc_system#comment-12604</a><br>
><br>
> To anyone who is not a PowerPC user, it might seem like crazy, but here it<br>
> goes:<br>
><br>
> I'm considering funding the design & production of a new PowerPC system (well,<br>
> the motherboard, the rest are typical pc stuff and a case). No this is not a<br>
> joke, I've been wanting to do this for a long time, and perhaps the chance<br>
> will be given to me now. But before I spend any money on this, I want to do a<br>
> little market research first. I know the market is literally "dying" for a new<br>
> powerpc motherboard, but exactly how many are there that want to buy one?<br>
<br>
Ok, just a short comment. In principle I like diversity, competition, etc.<br>
And it was somewhat sad when Apple abandoned ppc. But honestly - why<br>
should I be buying a ppc desktop system? If we restrict our comparison to<br>
Linux, because that's what I'm using, what advantages would a ppc system<br>
give me over a comparable in price ix86 system? This is not meant<br>
negatively, I just have not followed recent ppc CPUs from the "desktop"<br>
range, so, this is a real honest question. Would such a system provide<br>
more MIPS per Watt at the same price? Or more periferals? Or some specific<br>
hardware blocks unavailable or unsupported om ix86?<br>
<br>
Thanks<br>
Guennadi<br>
<br>
><br>
> Ok, let's give some rough specs first. I'm considering 3 choices -not in order<br>
> of probability/importance:<br>
><br>
> 1. MPC8640D-based. It will be dual core at 1Ghz -most likely, higher<br>
> frequencies are much more expensive and the cost of the final board would be<br>
> prohibitive.<br>
> 2. MPC8610-based. Single core at 1Ghz, slightly less expensive, and includes a<br>
> 2D DIU display unit -quite fast, but no 3D unfortunately.<br>
> 3. QorIQ P1022-based. Again dual core at 1Ghz (1055Mhz to be precise). Apart<br>
> from the much lower chip price, this one includes dual gigabit ethernet, dual<br>
> SATA, USB 2.0 and a 2D DIU display unit (same as the MPC8610). So this one<br>
> would lower the cost of the board quite much. Disadvantages: No AltiVec unit<br>
> (it sucks I know), though it includes an SPE unit which is not that bad, and<br>
> availability will be in Q3/Q4 2010, so that's a long wait.<br>
><br>
> Now, the end motherboard will probably be MicroATX (in the 8640D/8610 case) or<br>
> PicoITX (in the P1022 case), and it will definitely include:<br>
><br>
> * SATA connectors<br>
> * USB (possibly 2 back and 2 front, but that's discussable)<br>
> * Dual gigabit (at least one will be there, in the case of the MPC8640D we<br>
> might even have 4!!!)<br>
> * Sound (of course, SPDIF support will definitely be there)<br>
> * 1 PCI-e slot 1x<br>
> * 1 PCI-e slot (4x in the P1022 case, 8x in the MPC86xx cases)<br>
><br>
> Ok, what I want to know is if people would really really buy one of these. End<br>
> price is estimated to be ~around~ 350EUR for the P1022 board or ~500EUR<br>
> (definitely more in the case of 8640D) in the case of the other boards.<br>
> Besides being more expensive, the MPC86xx chips, don't include SATA, USB and<br>
> only one of ethernet/sound (quad-gige in MPC8640D case, or sound in the case<br>
> of MPC8610). I know this sounds a lot, but it's the reality, there is not<br>
> enough funding to build enormous amounts of units and bring the prices down<br>
> substantially, we have to start low and build up from there. In case you are<br>
> wondering, yes, the boards will be designed/produced by bPlan and funded by my<br>
> company (Codex).<br>
><br>
> Support for OSes: Linux definitely, Haiku most probably and there is a<br>
> possibility of supporting AmigaOS/MorphOS, which will depend on the actual<br>
> feedback I get from those users.<br>
><br>
> I would like to make a list of everyone that is really interested in such a<br>
> system, so it would really help me make a decision sooner rather than later if<br>
> you would send me a few personal details to <a href="mailto:markos@codex.gr">markos@codex.gr</a> with subject<br>
> "PowerPC board":<br>
><br>
> * Name<br>
> * Country<br>
> * email (definitely, I'd have to reach you back!)<br>
> * Phone/Skype (optional, please include international prefix)<br>
> * Forum you saw this post (ok, Morphzone in this case)<br>
> * OS of preference<br>
> * board you would be most interested in (MPC8610/MPC8640D/P1022)<br>
> * preferred price (please have in mind the estimated price quotes I mentioned,<br>
> it might be lower but that's not very probable)<br>
> * Other notes/comments<br>
><br>
> Also, I found out that I had to state my case on many forums to prove that<br>
> this is not vapourware. Well, it will not be vapourware, if I get feedback. So<br>
> far the feedback I got can be summarized here:<br>
><br>
> <a href="http://www.codex.gr/index.php?pageID=&blogItem=60" target="_blank">http://www.codex.gr/index.php?pageID=&blogItem=60</a><br>
><br>
> Thanks a lot for your time and I hope this system becomes a reality.<br>
><br>
> Konstantinos Margaritis<br>
><br>
> Codex<br>
> _______________________________________________<br>
> Linuxppc-dev mailing list<br>
> <a href="mailto:Linuxppc-dev@lists.ozlabs.org">Linuxppc-dev@lists.ozlabs.org</a><br>
> <a href="https://lists.ozlabs.org/listinfo/linuxppc-dev" target="_blank">https://lists.ozlabs.org/listinfo/linuxppc-dev</a><br>
<br>
---<br>
Guennadi Liakhovetski, Ph.D.<br>
Freelance Open-Source Software Developer<br>
<a href="http://www.open-technology.de/" target="_blank">http://www.open-technology.de/</a><br>
<font color="#888888"><br>
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