Crowdfunding for TALOS Workstation
  • Yokemate of Keyboards
    Yokemate of Keyboards
    Zylesea
    Posts: 2057 from 2003/6/4
    Quote:

    outlawal2 schrieb:
    OK then I guess I don't understand what is the purpose of this project then? Currently MorphOS runs on 2nd hat MAC equipment and this as far as I can see serves the purpose well. What is the incentive to buy a $2000 machine for MorphOS when we can use it on a $200 used MAC?

    And for the record I am not trying to be difficult, I truly don't understand the re4asoning behind this proposed shift.

    Is the intent to have a specific hardware platform for MorphOS so it could be sold much like the original Amiga?

    And if that is the idea then why not port it to x86 and ensure cheaper hardware moving forward?



    There seem to be some misunderstanding or confusion about TALOS. TALOS is no MorphOS related project. Its a very powerful hardware that comes totally independent of MorphOS (from a company that may have never heard about MorphOS) but that *might* become a possibele tarfget hardware for MorphOS to run on because it ises a POWER cpu.

    The TALOS is a rather expensive computer, but it is also a very powerful computer. Given MorphOS would run on oit, I guess only few ppl would buy it purely for MorphOS, but if you in need of a really powerful system anyway and happen to like MorphOS, then the TALOS may be a pretty fitting solution.
    A powerful hardware for highly demanding tasks hosting Linux (or some BSD) and at the ame time the by far most powerful device for MorphOS. If MorphOS supports teh TALOS I may fall into that category.
    It's important to note that Power9 is very powerfl: a x64 comuter of that power is not a pocket mony machine, too. The price is not too far off. But of course not everryone needs such a beast.

    Bottom line: This computer is expensive but powerful and (yet) there is no MorphOS support announced for TALOS. TALOS itself has nothing to do with MorphOS or any other Amigaish OS.

    [ Editiert durch Zylesea 21.11.2018 - 20:30 ]
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  • »21.11.18 - 19:27
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  • Yokemate of Keyboards
    Yokemate of Keyboards
    Andreas_Wolf
    Posts: 12146 from 2003/5/22
    From: Germany
    > TALOS [...] *might* become a possibele tarfget hardware for MorphOS to run
    > on because it ises a POWER cpu. [...] Given MorphOS would run on oit, I guess
    > only few ppl would buy it purely for MorphOS, but if you in need of a really
    > powerful system anyway and happen to like MorphOS, then the TALOS may
    > be a pretty fitting solution. [...] If MorphOS supports teh TALOS I may fall into
    > that category. [...] (yet) there is no MorphOS support announced for TALOS.

    They could skip the Talos II and go directly for Blackbird for all I care :-)
  • »21.11.18 - 19:51
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  • Order of the Butterfly
    Order of the Butterfly
    Everblue
    Posts: 167 from 2004/1/6
    Quote:

    outlawal2 wrote:
    Thanks for the info, that explains things a bit..

    Also, I apologize for the fact that I am getting my currencies mixed up and if I re-read the thread correctly this time we are looking at $875 not $2000... Still higher than the Tabor but getting closer anyway. That certainly makes things more palatable..

    I think I may download the latest and greatest MorphOS and check it out again as it has been some time since I played with it on my Mini.

    Now if they can utilize more features on that board I might be interested..
    Dang it more hardware to spend my money on...

    Not enough cash to go around.
    :O)



    875 bucks is just for the motherboard without the CPU. So yes, 2000 in total for a complete system sounds just about right.
  • »21.11.18 - 20:40
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  • Order of the Butterfly
    Order of the Butterfly
    Everblue
    Posts: 167 from 2004/1/6
    Quote:

    Andreas_Wolf wrote:
    > if (or when) MorphOS comes to x86 will it be easier/faster to port
    > open source software which exists for Windows/Linux for the same CPU?

    Yes, it would. Existing ASM and SIMD optimizations could be used directly, and source-code dependency on little endian byte order wouldn't be a problem.


    Cool, that's a huge plus for an x86 switch.
  • »21.11.18 - 20:42
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  • Jim
  • Yokemate of Keyboards
    Yokemate of Keyboards
    Jim
    Posts: 4977 from 2009/1/28
    From: Delaware, USA
    Quote:

    Everblue wrote:
    Quote:

    Andreas_Wolf wrote:
    > if (or when) MorphOS comes to x86 will it be easier/faster to port
    > open source software which exists for Windows/Linux for the same CPU?

    Yes, it would. Existing ASM and SIMD optimizations could be used directly, and source-code dependency on little endian byte order wouldn't be a problem.


    Cool, that's a huge plus for an x86 switch.



    Well, it does play into the hands of Intel, so I'm not that happy.
    And what other functionality would an X64 port give us that would increase, not decrease, our userbase?

    While legacy Amiga applications could be run under a UAE port, it won't run legacy PPC code easily, and I do not run many 68K programs.

    Power9 does solve the endian issues by being bi-endian, and not locking us into an unlicensable ISA seems worthwhile.
    "Never attribute to malice what can more readily explained by incompetence"
  • »21.11.18 - 22:22
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  • Caterpillar
    Caterpillar
    xilinder
    Posts: 39 from 2018/2/1
    From: USA
    Speaking only for myself. I am thrilled to have a Talos 2. I have not spent this much time 'computing' since working on the Xmos chip on the now abandoned X1000. One of the most beautiful things about this machine is that it comes with full documentation including schematics ( I could not even get an answer to where the addresses where for the GPIO pins going to Xena from anybody that had anything to do with the X1000. Over 2 years of wasted time.I see nothing that is different for the X5000 or any of their future products. They can keep their secrets, I'm done with their hardware.)

    Since the announcement of the Blackbird I have been setting aside money and plan to purchase probably June/July time frame. It will replace the aging 4core x86 something-or-other I only use as a web utility box. I would not even think of doing other than that on any x86. Just me, but by the end of next year not only will this be a Windows free house but also x86 free. :-)

    If MorphOS (or AmigaOS) ran on these machines I would be very happy to purchase and donate to the cause. X86........ not going to happen, that's just jungle computing in my view.

    Ah, the future.
  • »22.11.18 - 14:30
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  • rob
  • Acolyte of the Butterfly
    Acolyte of the Butterfly
    rob
    Posts: 139 from 2008/7/22
    Quote:

    Everblue wrote:
    Quote:

    Andreas_Wolf wrote:
    > That's nearly X5000 territory.

    Yes, but coming with:
    - CPU: 5 to 10 times faster per core (estimated and depending on task)
    - PCIe: two generations ahead
    - RAM: one generation ahead
    - SATA: one generation ahead, two ports more
    - USB: one generation ahead
    - GbE: two ports more


    Very true. But which current software available on MorphOS would make full use of these specs? Same thing with the Amiga OS running on the X5000.


    A lot of productivity software (both PPC and 68k) will take advantage of at least the extra CPU power. If you're batch processing an SD card full of images then you'll also be taking advantage of the faster drive access although not the USB since I'm not aware of any of the Amiga or Amiga Like OSs supporting anything beyond 2.0.
  • »22.11.18 - 18:02
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  • Order of the Butterfly
    Order of the Butterfly
    Everblue
    Posts: 167 from 2004/1/6
    I cannot deny that if they manage to sell a complete Blackbird PPC computer in the 1000 Euro range it would be very interesting, even without MorphOS (and perfect with it). Do Raptor sell in Europe?
  • »23.11.18 - 17:07
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  • Yokemate of Keyboards
    Yokemate of Keyboards
    Andreas_Wolf
    Posts: 12146 from 2003/5/22
    From: Germany
    > if they manage to sell a complete Blackbird PPC computer in the
    > 1000 Euro range it would

    ...mean to almost give away the board :-)

    > Do Raptor sell in Europe?

    No, but they sell to Europe ;-) Seriously, Raptor seems to be in talks with German Vikings GmbH.

    Update:
    https://twitter.com/vikingslibre/status/1132724932075503618

    [ Edited by Andreas_Wolf 29.05.2019 - 01:32 ]
  • »23.11.18 - 20:20
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  • Caterpillar
    Caterpillar
    AltiVeced
    Posts: 31 from 2011/10/25
    CyberMonday special from RaptorCS:
    Blackbird mATX mainboard with 4-core POWER9

    $999

    https://twitter.com/RaptorCompSys/status/1066112465304543232
  • »24.11.18 - 00:22
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  • Order of the Butterfly
    Order of the Butterfly
    Everblue
    Posts: 167 from 2004/1/6
    That's a good price. Hopefully in the future they manage to bring down prices to consumer level in the future to seriously challenge x86/64. Unfortunately the question most people will ask is "how do I install Windows?"

    The answer ideally would be, you don't need Windows, it runs MorphOS :D :D

    [ Edited by Everblue 24.11.2018 - 13:25 ]
  • »24.11.18 - 12:23
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  • Caterpillar
    Caterpillar
    xilinder
    Posts: 39 from 2018/2/1
    From: USA
    Live broadcast going on now using Talos 2 ppc64le.

    Go here first. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8auI9RIFJQ

    Then open new tab and go here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18n-m_o-b-0
    For live.
  • »16.12.18 - 15:48
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  • Yokemate of Keyboards
    Yokemate of Keyboards
    Andreas_Wolf
    Posts: 12146 from 2003/5/22
    From: Germany
    >> Special developer system available for 1600 USD: [...]

    > That's cheaper than an X5000. Why does A-Eonkit even bother?

    Trevor on the Talos II:

    "I'm sitting looking at a very expensive, heavy but at the moment useless lump of electronics and metal sitting in the corner of my office. Hey who said an AmigaOne! ;-) In August last year I ordered a Talos II Secure Workstation from Raptop Computing Systems. You may have heard of Raptor as the company that launched a failed crowd funding campaign in October 2016 to create inexpensive low cost IBM Power8 Workstations. [...] Their goal was to raise US$3.7 million but when the campaign ended on January 14th, 2017 it had attracted 268 backers (including me) but was only 14% funded. [...] In August the company announced it was re-launching the Talos II programme but this time with IBM POWER9 processors [...]. [...] as I needed a secure independent server for all my technical and business data, what better than a new POWER9 based system. I ordered a crazily high specification machine [...]. In addition to all the standard Talos II features it included two 18-core PowerP CPUs, 96 Gb of DDR 4 Ram, an LSI 9300 8-port SATA interface card together with a Radeon Pro WX7100 Workstation graphics card and a 500 Gb Sumsung Flash storage drive. I paid my money and waited for the system to be developed. With the price I paid including shipping and NZ import duties I could have purchased 8 or 9 complete AmigaOne X5000 systems which can actually run AmigaOS 4, MorphOS and Linux. Almost one year after I placed my order the machine finally arrived. It was very well packed and had survived the long journey to New Zealand. The machine is a very heavy beast and extremely noisy but seems to be extremely well engineered. It is a server of course so I suppose the noise is to be expected, although I might have to set it up in the garage or the garden shed IF I can ever get Linux installed. I ordered the system with PowerPC Linux pre-installed but it arrived with instructions to download a WIP Linux image from the web. I suppose I shouldn't complain as the certificate supplied with the machine indicated my system was Order Number 1. It might explain why none of the installation procedures work. I have to admit trying to install the beta Linux makes my initial foray into the Linux world with the AmigaOne X1000, X5000 and A1222/Tabor seem like a walk in the park. OK I am the first to admit I am no Linux server expert, but I have installed various Linux distributions on multiple PowerPC and x86 machines in the past. I even supervised the Linux support for the AmigaOne X1000 and wrote the early installation guide before the first Ubuntu Live CD was produced by Pat Wall. The Talos II Secure Workstation is really aimed at a Linux administrator in a data centre and to be honest, I've been so busy with other pressing work over the past three months that I put the Workstation in the corner and forgot about it. However, it's now time to actually get it working as I need to create a backup SVN for some important source files. I've now written to Raptor Computing asking for assistance."
    http://blog.a-eon.biz/blog/?m=20181222
  • »22.12.18 - 23:16
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  • Jim
  • Yokemate of Keyboards
    Yokemate of Keyboards
    Jim
    Posts: 4977 from 2009/1/28
    From: Delaware, USA
    Interesting price comparison. Treavor usually isn't one to BS, but 8 or 9 X5000s? That is nonsense.
    And Raptor's MATX board will be much cheaper.

    Frankly, the man sounds scared.

    The P50X0 is far less suited to desktop use than a Power 9 CPU with fewer PCIe lanes and older generation I/O devices.

    At one time Qorlq CPUs were our only remaining PPC option. That is no longer so.
    "Never attribute to malice what can more readily explained by incompetence"
  • »24.12.18 - 08:31
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  • Moderator
    Kronos
    Posts: 2319 from 2003/2/24
    Don't forget "Terons cost 5000$".



    Feels like I'm in a timeloop and soon someone will claim that an A1 is cheaper than the Pegasos1 (omitting VAT for only one of the two).......


    On the other hand, Trevor does seem like a guy who would sink big money into overspecced HW he has no use for.

    What he lists as planned uses could have been done something around rPI specs.....
  • »24.12.18 - 09:12
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  • Yokemate of Keyboards
    Yokemate of Keyboards
    Andreas_Wolf
    Posts: 12146 from 2003/5/22
    From: Germany
    > Interesting price comparison. Treavor usually isn't one to BS,
    > but 8 or 9 X5000s? That is nonsense.

    I've just tried to recreate Trevor's order at the Raptor website according to the mentioned specs and have arrived at 10829 USD. With estimated 500 USD shipping costs from US to NZ and 2600 USD import duty this adds up to about 13930 USD total.
    X5000 is 2025 USD at AmigaKit. With estimated 200 USD shipping costs from UK to NZ and 550 USD import duty this adds up to about 2775 USD total.
    In conclusion, what he paid for his Talos II system could have bought him 13930/2775 ≈ 5 complete AmigaOne X5000 systems. So yes, 8 or 9 seems to be nonsense.

    > The P50X0 is far less suited to desktop use than a Power 9 CPU
    > with fewer PCIe lanes and older generation I/O devices.

    POWER9 lacks most of QorIQ P5's I/O controllers and therefore requires external controllers for the (same or newer generation) functionality. Fortunately, this is no problem thanks to the big number of POWER9's available PCIe lanes.
  • »24.12.18 - 12:37
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  • Jim
  • Yokemate of Keyboards
    Yokemate of Keyboards
    Jim
    Posts: 4977 from 2009/1/28
    From: Delaware, USA
    Quote:

    Andreas_Wolf wrote:
    > Interesting price comparison. Treavor usually isn't one to BS,
    > but 8 or 9 X5000s? That is nonsense.

    I've just tried to recreate Trevor's order at the Raptor website according to the mentioned specs and have arrived at 10829 USD. With estimated 500 USD shipping costs from US to NZ and 2600 USD import duty this adds up to about 13930 USD total.
    X5000 is 2025 USD at AmigaKit. With estimated 200 USD shipping costs from UK to NZ and 550 USD import duty this adds up to about 2775 USD total.
    In conclusion, what he paid for his Talos II system could have bought him 13930/2775 ≈ 5 complete AmigaOne X5000 systems. So yes, 8 or 9 seems to be nonsense.

    > The P50X0 is far less suited to desktop use than a Power 9 CPU
    > with fewer PCIe lanes and older generation I/O devices.

    POWER9 lacks most of QorIQ P5's I/O controllers and therefore requires external controllers for the (same or newer generation) functionality. Fortunately, this is no problem thanks to the big number of POWER9's available PCIe lanes.


    The problem with Trevor's order is it is based on complete systems.
    I already have an EATX case and a 750 watt PSU with two 8 pin 12V power connectors.

    Compare the prices of the boards alone, buy the additional components needed, and assemble the systems yourself and the pricing is much closer.

    Better yet, buy Raptor's new uATX board and the Power 9 system is cheaper than the Qorlq based system.

    The 8 core/32 thread offering is particularly attractive.
    "Never attribute to malice what can more readily explained by incompetence"
  • »24.12.18 - 18:09
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  • Paladin of the Pegasos
    Paladin of the Pegasos
    redrumloa
    Posts: 1424 from 2003/4/13
    Quote:

    Andreas_Wolf wrote:
    > Trevor on the Talos II: [...]

    Cameron Kaiser replies:

    https://www.talospace.com/2018/12/who-got-talos-ii-order-1.html


    Good reply by Cameron. I too find it pretty ridiculous that Trevor claims downloading and burning a Linux DVD is too difficult and requires a professional System Administrator. Looks like he bought S/N#1 just to promote his own overpriced product.
  • »26.12.18 - 19:24
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  • Yokemate of Keyboards
    Yokemate of Keyboards
    Andreas_Wolf
    Posts: 12146 from 2003/5/22
    From: Germany
    > Trevor claims downloading and burning a Linux DVD is too difficult
    > and requires a professional System Administrator.

    Actually, what he claims is that after downloading of the Linux image (whichever he means), the actual installation is what does not work for him ("none of the installation procedures work") and requires the knowledge of a Linux administrator.

    > he bought S/N#1

    He bought order #1. Considering that Cameron's order #8 is serial #12, Trevor's order #1 might be serial #5.
  • »26.12.18 - 21:56
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  • Caterpillar
    Caterpillar
    xilinder
    Posts: 39 from 2018/2/1
    From: USA
    I don't think Trevor meant anything rude with his comments about the Talos II.
    Certainly he, if anybody, knows the many things that cannot be foreseen in developing a new hardware package. Heck, the guy has several websites..... ask for help, He must know by now that several people in these groups have Talos machines.
  • »29.12.18 - 16:23
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  • Yokemate of Keyboards
    Yokemate of Keyboards
    Andreas_Wolf
    Posts: 12146 from 2003/5/22
    From: Germany
    > ask for help

    That's what Trevor said he finally did.
  • »29.12.18 - 17:46
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