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IBM's Cell Processor — Not Just for PS3 Anymore
TechFreep writes to tell us that IBM has released a new line of QS20 Blade Servers based on the processor they developed for the Playstation 3. From the article: "Today IBM announced a new line of high-powered QS20 Blade Servers intended for use in seismic research, encryption, digital image rendering and military surveillance applications. Each QS20 will include two nine-cored Cell Processors clocked at 3.2Ghz apiece, which were developed along with Sony and Toshiba for Sony's upcoming Playstation 3 console. As Playstation 3 isn't scheduled for release until November, the QS20 will mark the first application in which the highly-touted Cell will be available to consumers."
It's not just that I hate this word, but what has it got to do with these blade servers? Are they edible?
Of course it runs NetBSD. BTC: 1NT7QvbetmANwaMzhpVL6
I think that stating that the Cell was "developed for PS3" is misleading. The processor, while certainly earmarked for the PS3, was designed all along to go into a full range of computing devices, PS3 was just the most visible (and likely to ship the most units initially). Saying it the other way makes it sound like the chip was developed exclusively for the PS3 and IBM is "just finding uses for it", which is not the case.
...at least I understand it. Servers aren't consumer products so I don't see how this gets consumers any closer to a Cell or any sooner.
Nope. It was concieved as a component for massively parallel processing, but using it in the playstation was the only way to get the volume production that I need to get the kind of reliability I want for my nuclear simulations.
This chip will be to the Pentium what the Pentium is to the 6502 - once the tool chain is understood by software designers. Actually, better, because Cell architecture uses way less gates than pipelining for way more throughput at the same clock speed and feature size. Hell, I might even retire my Sun Niagras.
Sure it won't run Windows very well, but hell, Windows doesn't run very well anyway, and I Don't Care (TM).
Yes, it does run Linux. What about NetBSD?
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No. It can trace some lineage back to the m88k, though[1], which was an even cleaner design than the 68k. If pushed to pick my favourite CPU of all time, I'd probably have to go for the m88k. It was an absolute joy to work with.
[1] As well as to the IBM POWER chip, of course.
"The invisible and the non-existent look very much alike." -- Delos B. McKown
MacOS wouldn't have any problem running on the PPU portion of the Cell. It will take alot of effort to get the OS to effectively utilize the SPU's though. The PPU is awfully slow and has very poor memory access rates. So yes MacOS could run on it, but you wouldn't want it to. Since the PPU is powerPC it wasn't a huge effort to get Linux running on the Cell. The added work was to expose the SPUs through the SPU file system. To the kernel the SPUs just looks like a block device.
Yes but every time I try to see it your way, I get a headache.