Who remembers the Parallella SBC with 18 cores?

[KNERD]

It was a single board computer, and a big deal around 2016 selling for about $100 USD. Two versions were made. A "desktop" one with HDMI, and a headless one acting as a server only.

https://amzn.to/2Sfs9Vz

The guy who started got tired of running the show, then went to work for the NSA to continue work on similar type of CPUs.

Later, as promised, SBC with 64 core CPU was released for open source, but never went into full production. Only a few of the 64 core CPUs/SBCs were manufactured to those who donated X amount to the original kick starter. I also believe design for a 1024 core  processor were also released.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ada...r-everyone

The CPU plans are open source.

Here is a video he did a while back on it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5M79QFz3F8


I bring this up because a while back, he put out asking if someone wanted to take over the project. I am not even sure if anyone did.


Here is his blog post on it

http://www.adapteva.com/andreas-blog/adapteva-status/

I have tried my best to ensure that the Parallella and Epiphany technology lives on, but clearly at this point the platform will need someone else to step up to the plate in my absence to push the technology forward. If you still believe in Parallella and Epiphany and want to contribute or otherwise collaborate with Adapteva send an email to “support@adapteva.com”.

So with all the great work the Pine64 folks have been doing, I think it would be great if they could continue this work.

Maybe @Luke  could take a look into this.

Thanks!

[xmixahlx]

Interesting. It looks to have recently relaunched as Zero ASIC: https://www.zeroasic.com/

[KNERD]

Interesting. Not much going on there, though

[ajtravis]

Hi,

I've bought a Pinebook Pro and Rockpro64 to host my 4@Parallella cluster!

The Parallella forum is not quite dead, so do take a look if you're interested:

https://parallella.org/forums/

I think the Parallella was developed in the same spirit as the Pine64 products and it would be very nice to see interest in the Parallella from the Pine64 community.

I've just ordered a Rockpro64 'NAS' case to put my Parallellas in hosted by the Rockpro64 :-)

BTW, I'm running Armbian-focal, with Ubuntu-MATE 20.04 LTS on my Pinebook pro and will also install it on my Rockpro64.

Bye,

  Tony.

[Arwen]

Today I would think a RISC-V would be a better overall choice.

This Epiphany RISC might be good for some specialized tasks, like machine learning or embedded uses.

[ajtravis]

Today I would think a RISC-V would be a better overall choice.

This Epiphany RISC might be good for some specialized tasks, like machine learning or embedded uses.

Hi, Arwen.

Epiphany is not just yet another RISC processor: It's a mesh-connected processor, which means you can create an array of interconnected processors: It's an example of 'many-core' processor architecture. Not only that, but the Epiphany interface to the host ARM processors uses an FPGA. It's a very interesting project and I would encourage anyone interested to take a look before writing it off as 'old' technology.

Bye,

  Tony.

[KNERD]

Today I would think a RISC-V would be a better overall choice.

This Epiphany RISC might be good for some specialized tasks, like machine learning or embedded uses.

Hi, Arwen.

Epiphany is not just yet another RISC processor: It's a mesh-connected processor, which means you can create an array of interconnected processors: It's an example of 'many-core' processor architecture. Not only that, but the Epiphany interface to the host ARM processors uses an FPGA. It's a very interesting project and I would encourage anyone interested to take a look before writing it off as 'old' technology.

Bye,

  Tony.

Problem is were are you going to get them now?

[ajtravis]

Problem is were are you going to get them now?

Hi,

They are still listed by DigiKey:

https://www.digikey.com/en/product-highl...ella-board

They are available on eBay:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Adapteva-P1601-DK02-Single-Board-Parallella-Epiphany-III-Desktop-Computer/152712182517?hash=item238e5afaf5:g:b-0AAOSwyNNZkaYW

However, my suggestion was not that Pine64 use the Parallella SBC, but that Pine64 investigate using the open hardware design of the Epiphany processor in a Pine64 SBC:

https://www.adapteva.com/epiphanyiii/

  Tony.

[ajtravis]

Also, check out RISC-V on the Parallella:

https://github.com/parallella/parallella-riscv
https://github.com/eliaskousk/parallella-riscv

  Tony.