Comments on: Linux powers unusual multicore machine

Start-up uses 16-core MIPS processor originally designed for networking gear to take a crack at Linux server market.

[qnetter]

Don't give SGI the credit...

...for creating the MIPS architecture. It came out of Stanford and was first sold by the independent Mips Computer Systems Inc. in the mid-1980s. Mips generated four generations of chips (R2000, R3000, R6000, R4000) as an independent company and built systems themselves out of them which they sold directly and through partnerships with such companies as Prime, CDC, and Bull; the chips were also used in system designs by Digital and Silicon Graphics, among others. SGI did not buy the company until 1992, and spun them back out around the turn of the century.

[ThePenguin]

MIPS

The original processors developed by MIPS were great processors, the procs that SGI developed (R10K r12K R14K R16K) were all top performers. On efficiency per clock, the older R1x variants were on par with the Alphas.

I have managed several very large SGI installations, from a 4 processor Origin 200 with 4 180MHz R10Ks upto a very large 512 proc Origin 3000 with R14Ks.

The little O200 would readily smoke anything from SUN or DEC, even with more processors.

The real legacy of the MIPS chips was the fact the true 64bit computing was readily available for anyone to purchase. I should know, I have several SGIs in my collection, from the R4400 powered Indy 2, to the UMA SGI R5K O2, to the R4K base SGI Iris Crimson VGXT graphics supercomputer, to my latest the SGI Tezro with 4 R16Ks. Now, that 64bit perf came with a very large pricetag (Indy2 was $5500).

So, indeed SGI does deserve the credit for the R1X variants, but were built on the legacy of some very talented MIPS engineers.

Unfortunately, people equate SGI with only graphics, which was true upto the release of the Origin 200 and 2000. Sun managed to capture the "business" market, while SGI captured the high pers technical market as well as the ultra high end graphics. Ever been in a CAVE? or to a planetarium run by SGI system? AMAZING.

The 16 core systems are doomed. Intel and SPARC are the dominant players. Those 16 core chips combined with SGI's low latency high performace interconnects, there might be an application within the supercomputer segment. Tie those 16 core chips with SGIs interconnect, along with SGIs RASC (FPGA arrays) systems, that would be a world killer in the supercomp market.

Best industrial design as well.

[rbanffy]

Cool thing a nice SMP machine on a chip

Really cool.

But am I the only one who wants a SMP-MIPS desktop computer? I could develop software on a rackmount unit, but a low power, small desktop system would be really cool thing.

And, besides that, not only it wouldn't be Microsoft-free, it would be completely Microsoft-proof. That's something every real geek desires.