Kickstarter: Parallella, biggest contribution to computing

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hello.goo

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Hi all, I would just like to introduce to you a project that could likely make a big impact in the computing front.

The link: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/adapteva/parallella-a-supercomputer-for-everyone?ref=live

Days to go: 6

Goal: $750 000
Got pledged: $410 000+

Biggest reason to back: Will reduce the cost of buying a parallel processor + board from $10 000 to $99. This is because currently each board is made on request, but putting it on a production line will reduce costs.

Guys, it is possible! Bigger "impossibilities" have been seen before and overcome. If I can convince as many students, lecturers, gamers, smart business guys and entrepreneurs, and companies to make this investment, and they their contacts and friends, this project could easily make it, and everybody involved then would like to see it make it. I am not the one making this possible by asking, everyone who gets involved is.

Summary: Adapteva is making parallel processors, which scales much better in terms of performance. I won't ramble on here, it is all on kickstarter.

Specs from the site:
Parallella Computer Specifications

The following list shows the major components planned for the Parallella computer:

Dual-core ARM A9 CPU
Epiphany Multicore Accelerator (16 or 64 cores)
1GB RAM
MicroSD Card
USB 2.0 (two)
Two general purpose expansion connectors
Ethernet 10/100/1000
HDMI connection

Wish I could be more convincing!!!! :erm:

PS: Because it will make it, I don't have to say that you can back another project if it doesn't!
PPS: Thanks anyways regardless of what happens, I know you all read down to here hey.:D
PPPS: To all those who are keen to make a kickstarter backing, but unsure about safety, it is done through amazon.
 
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Or you can spend the same amount of money and buy a cluster of Pentuim 3/4 laptops, and build your own cluster/server farm , all while saving the environment, and working on real x86 hardware meaning you dont have to relearn it later on :)
 
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Bit of a niche thing tbh - I'd back it if I had a use for it. Also, why not just go with GPU processing? Surely that is many times faster?

FaSMaN said:
Or you can spend the same amount of money and buy a cluster of Pentuim 3/4 laptops, and build your own cluster/server farm , all while saving the environment, and working on real x86 hardware meaning you dont have to relearn it later on :)
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Which is going to use 10x the electricity, so no not "saving the environment".
 
FaSMaN said:
Or you can spend the same amount of money and buy a cluster of Pentuim 3/4 laptops, and build your own cluster/server farm , all while saving the environment, and working on real x86 hardware meaning you dont have to relearn it later on :)
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That would be a fun project to do, nonetheless my skills max out at taking apart 1 pc, putting it back together as 1 pc. I'm also interested in them releasing all their software research into the open source environment.

Its likely they(adapteva) had a buy-out offer already, but wanted to try stay independent. I'd hate to see this(parallella project/adapteva) end up in the hands of one of the big manufacturers. Who will use their(adapteva's) research, make it slightly better than current generation processor architecture, selling these versions in a linear improvement fashion over the next few years, as top end processors like intel does for $10 thousand+
 
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For those less computer savvy on the forum, could you perhaps explain it in very simple terms! I'm an accountant = pc's not my strong point! :o
 
FaSMaN said:
Or you can spend the same amount of money and buy a cluster of Pentuim 3/4 laptops, and build your own cluster/server farm , all while saving the environment, and working on real x86 hardware meaning you dont have to relearn it later on :)
Click to expand...

A cluster of computer for under a $100? Good luck...
 
Goliath said:
For those less computer savvy on the forum, could you perhaps explain it in very simple terms! I'm an accountant = pc's not my strong point! :o
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I'm not sure if I'm very business savvy, but I will try. Maybe the point in my prev post will count too, unless it is a completely ridiculous theory..

The first one is affordability. Bring down cost from $10 000 dollar for one unit(motherboard and processor) to $99. Achieved by going into mass production.
Power consumption for the 64 core version is 5Watts. Current desktop computers run from 75Watt under no usage to 377Watt under usage. Source: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpus/2011/07/01/intel-core-i3-2100-review/7

What this "Open Access: Absolutely no NDAs or special access needed! All architecture and SDK documents will be published on the web as soon as the Kickstarter project is funded."

means is that a non disclosure agreement isn't signed, they simply make available the research and kit for software development(SDK) to the public, but only if the goal is made and amazon hands over the funds.
 
Sysem said:
A cluster of computer for under a $100? Good luck...
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Not really a $100, you need to add postage, tax, a power supply, monitor,keyboard, and mouse just to get it up and running, so your looking at $200+ at the end of the day so about R1800, and you will probably want more than one anyway for proper experimentation, you can probably pick up 3x P3 laptops from gumtree at that, and thats if your forced to buy some, there are companies who want there e-trash removed , and thats normally free of charge :)
 
FaSMaN said:
Not really a $100, you need to add postage, tax, a power supply, monitor,keyboard, and mouse just to get it up and running, so your looking at $200+ at the end of the day so about R1800, and you will probably want more than one anyway for proper experimentation, you can probably pick up 3x P3 laptops from gumtree at that, and thats if your forced to buy some, there are companies who want there e-trash removed , and thats normally free of charge :)
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But you'd need a lot more than 3 laptops to get the processing power...
 
I will support them, but dont know at which level yet. $99 sounds cool, but I have other expenses right now.. decisions... decisions.. anyone else getting one?
 
Nefertiti said:
I will support them, but dont know at which level yet. $99 sounds cool, but I have other expenses right now.. decisions... decisions.. anyone else getting one?
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Lol, if money grew on trees we'd all be rich! Well, some people don't need money trees, but for the rest of us there's budgeting, and if this can't make the budget, it can't. What happens, happens.
 
hello.goo said:
Lol, if money grew on trees we'd all be rich! Well, some people don't need money trees, but for the rest of us there's budgeting, and if this can't make the budget, it can't. What happens, happens.
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lol true that, but then I could you know... buy one less pair of shoes... or stop buying so much computer equipment ;) ... or hmmm... maybe not... :P
 
Guys, its made it. It no longer needs funds towards the goal, but if you want a board with a parallel processor for $99 you have 4 hours left to fund. Do the 99 dollar level

Oh, and the reason it made it is because forbes encouraged the rich people to pitch in
 
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