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ARM Designer Steve Furber On Energy-Efficient Computing

Posted by timothy on from the tell-us-how-it's-done dept.

ChelleChelle writes "By now, it has become evident that we are facing an energy problem — while our primary sources of energy are running out, the demand for energy is greatly increasing. In the face of this issue, energy-efficient computing has become a hot topic. For those looking for lessons, who better to ask then Steve Furber, the principal designer of the ARM (Acorn RISC Machine), a prime example of a chip that is simple, low power, and low cost. In this interview, conducted by David Brown of Sun's Solaris Engineering Group, Furber shares some of the lessons and tips on energy-efficient computing that he has learned through working on this and subsequent projects."

5 of 195 comments (clear)

  1. so why can't i buy a !@##$% low powered computer? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    That means a portable computer with an ARM processor and a reflective monochrome display big enough to hold normal text pages. In other words an Amazon Kindle DX (separate wired or bluetooth keyboard is fine), but with an open OS that lets me write and run my own programs without having to jailbreak past some DRM crap. Somebody please make something like that? Please??

  2. Re:Netbooks will make the ARM viable. by Lunix+Nutcase · · Score: 4, Insightful

    We just need to see Windows support for ARM, and then we'll be well on our way towards it being a widely available option.

    And you also mean the porting of thousands and thousands of x86 apps as well? If the ARM version of Windows can't run the apps people want, they aren't going to by an ARM netbook.

  3. The funny part is newer computers are more by NotSoHeavyD3 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    efficient. I mean if you consider any unit of computation vs energy expended. I bet my current desktop computer would compare from a computation point of view to a super computer from the late 80's. (GFLOP to GFLOP) However my current computer pulls about 300W, I'm pretty sure that's alot better than any super computer from the 80's that would compare to it.

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  4. Re:Energy Efficient Tips by mirix · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Bit shift instead of multiply by powers of two

    I'd think a decent compiler should do that automagically, no?

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  5. Re:Netbooks will make the ARM viable. by Dog-Cow · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You haven't actually ported any non-trivial app, have you?