PC Thoughts

[andrewducker]

Considering the success of Linux laptops like the Eee, how long until someone brings out a non-x86 variant?

Are there processors out there that would be as faster, cheaper and more power-efficient?

Comments

[andrewducker]

Atom does look good. I was just wondering if anything else was better.

I'm thinking that Windows is what's giving the x86 chips the massive advantage they have (although obviously it's self-sustaining as well). If Linux becomes more common then compiling on other architectures becomes, at least, possible.

Using the Eee, I'm mostly using exactly the same software I use 95% of the time on Windows: Thunderbird, Firefox and Pidgin. If I was running those on an ARM machine that'd be the same experience too.

Not for the next couple of years though.

[sbisson.livejournal.com]

Run your timescale up a year or so. ARM 11 derived processors hit the end of this year, and go volume round about H209.

They're initially targetted at MID-class devices (so wll go head to head with Intel's SOC Silverthorns.)

/me enjoys going to processor conferences...

[andrewducker]

I was more wondering how long it would take the software to catch up - whether there was code in things like Pidgin that are x86 specific, or if it would just be a recompile to get it onto ARM...

But I guess that wouldn't take _that_ long.

Getting Flash working might take a while - but I know how fast coders can work when they need to :->

[robhu.livejournal.com]

Why would Pidgin have x86 specific code in it?

I think the problem is even with the FOSS stuff there is a big difference between 'everything should compile on alien architecture' and 'big distro has a stable release in alien architecture'.

Unless you're uber big you don't want to have to have your own distro or QA your open port of another distro to a different architecture.

[andrewducker]

Why would Pidgin have x86 specific code in it?

Dunno - but I know that there frequently is code in apps that is architecture specific, especially if they do any complex stuff with pointers or the like.

[robhu.livejournal.com]

Sure, I just wouldn't expect any fancy pointer stuff happening in Pidgin.

[andrewducker]

You never know when people are going to have horribly complicated things going on inside, just because someone decided it would make the code 0.3% faster.

[figg.livejournal.com]

Just to point out:

* complex stuff with pointers and the like

What? Have you been swallowing toothpaste again?


Pidgin is based on libpurple and gtk, both of which are portable. If you google for pigdin + ppc you will find a few precompiled pacakaged.