linux-kernel - Re: Old platforms: bring out your dead

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Message-ID: <X/7n5JQLQrBLKGaf@shinobu>
Date:   Wed, 13 Jan 2021 21:30:28 +0900
From:   William Breathitt Gray <vilhelm.gray@...il.com>
To:     Linus Walleij <linus.walleij@...aro.org>
Cc:     Andy Shevchenko <andy.shevchenko@...il.com>,
        David Laight <David.Laight@...lab.com>,
        Arnd Bergmann <arnd@...nel.org>, Willy Tarreau <w@....eu>,
        Linux ARM <linux-arm-kernel@...ts.infradead.org>,
        Linux Kernel Mailing List <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>,
        Krzysztof Adamski <krzysztof.adamski@...ia.com>,
        Oleksij Rempel <o.rempel@...gutronix.de>,
        Baruch Siach <baruch@...s.co.il>,
        Russell King - ARM Linux <linux@...linux.org.uk>,
        Daniel Tang <dt.tangr@...il.com>,
        Uwe Kleine-König 
        <u.kleine-koenig@...gutronix.de>, Jamie Iles <jamie@...ieiles.com>,
        Barry Song <song.bao.hua@...ilicon.com>,
        Viresh Kumar <viresh.kumar@...aro.org>,
        Jonas Jensen <jonas.jensen@...il.com>,
        Marc Gonzalez <marc.w.gonzalez@...e.fr>,
        Hartley Sweeten <hsweeten@...ionengravers.com>,
        Lubomir Rintel <lkundrak@...sk>,
        Neil Armstrong <narmstrong@...libre.com>,
        Shawn Guo <shawnguo@...nel.org>, Alex Elder <elder@...aro.org>,
        Alexander Shiyan <shc_work@...l.ru>,
        Koen Vandeputte <koen.vandeputte@...ntric.com>,
        Hans Ulli Kroll <ulli.kroll@...glemail.com>,
        Vladimir Zapolskiy <vz@...ia.com>,
        Wei Xu <xuwei5@...ilicon.com>,
        Steven Rostedt <rostedt@...dmis.org>,
        Yoshinori Sato <ysato@...rs.osdn.me>,
        Mark Salter <msalter@...hat.com>,
        Michael Ellerman <mpe@...erman.id.au>,
        Geert Uytterhoeven <geert+renesas@...der.be>,
        Thomas Bogendoerfer <tsbogend@...ha.franken.de>
Subject: Re: Old platforms: bring out your dead

On Wed, Jan 13, 2021 at 01:02:20PM +0100, Linus Walleij wrote:
> On Wed, Jan 13, 2021 at 11:27 AM Andy Shevchenko
> <andy.shevchenko@...il.com> wrote:
> > On Mon, Jan 11, 2021 at 11:55 AM David Laight <David.Laight@...lab.com> wrote:
> 
> > > basically 486 but have a few extra instructions - probably just cpuid
> > > and (IIRC) rdtsc.
> > > Designed for low power embedded use they won't ever have been suitable
> > > for a desktop - but are probably fast enough for some uses.
> > > I'm not sure how much keeping 486 support actually costs, 386 was a
> > > PITA - but the 486 fixed most of those issues.
> >
> > Right, we have "last of mohicans" (to date) Intel Quark family of CPUs
> > (486 core + few i586 features).
> > This is for the embedded world and probably not for powerful use.
> 
> What is the status of PC/104?
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PC/104
> 
> I have three GPIO drivers for PC/104 machines and these are for
> embedded industrial usecases. I am curious about what CPUs these
> beasts run on in practice? Are they getting upgraded?
> 
> Paging William, I think he work on these daily.
> 
> Yours,
> Linus Walleij

I don't really see pure PC/104 systems around that much anymore, but
there are still plenty of PC/104-Plus and PCI-104 setups in production.
The PC/104 form factor is popular because users can stack PC/104
compatible modules easily together to build custom solutions; see for
example the diagram on this page:
https://www.advantech.com/embedded-boards-design-in-services/embedded-single-board-computers/pc104-and-pc104-plus

As far as the CPU is concerned, these systems are typically for
industrial applications and run CPUs geared for low-power consumption --
you're looking at processor series such as the Intel Bay trail
(https://www.winsystems.com/product/epx-c414/), DMP Vortex86DX
(http://www.diamondsystems.com/products/helios), and AMD G-series
(https://www.advantech.com/products/1-2jkltu/pcm-3356/mod_0706f4d5-2e44-473a-a7b7-53bd1a7bd1a0).

TLDR; PC/104 is certainly a niche market focused on industrial
consumers, but the form factor and devices are still popular and
upgraded reguarly.

William Breathitt Gray

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