Cavium Is an Arm Server Contender

Re:Cavium Is an Arm Server Contender by throw2016 on Monday November 27, 2017 @06:01PM (#15792498)

ARM on desktop or server will be tightly controlled closed SOCs with zero driver support. These will be nothing like the relatively open systems in the PC world, so there is nothing to look forward to.

This is ARM's model and they have shown no interest in improving things beyond kicking open source developers between the ARM and SOC vendors each blaming the other for years on end.

Intel, even with something as nasty as ME, look like an angel in comparison.

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Re:Cavium Is an Arm Server Contender by andreiw on Monday November 27, 2017 @08:30PM (#15793488)

That’s not true at all.

That has been true only for the embedded and mobile space.

The server space is exactly being made open and compatible between SoCs (in the same way AMD and Intel machines are). Platform crud (i2c, gpio, i2c, clock trees and pinnmuxes) is hidden in firmware behind ACPI, PSCI and UEFI just like on x86. SBSA and SBBR specs mandate stringent compatibility requirements. Machine error handling is firmware-first. IO is basically PCIe now.

For an OS vendor or an IT guy these machines look almost exactly like an x86 box. And then they look the same between the Arm vendors too.

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Re:Cavium Is an Arm Server Contender by cat199 on Tuesday November 28, 2017 @05:01AM (#15795837)

> This is ARM's model

ARM's model is to develop/license the ARM processor ISA - What the vendors choose to do with this is their own business.

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