a lot of the software was written to connect to the iSeries box over an unencrypted telnet session. The ‘front end’ was really just a telnet wrapper, we did have 1 piece of software that actually had a GUI with what seemed like Windows 95 aesthetics. Even that still connected back to the iSeries via unencrypted telnet. Really though, saying this software originated sometime around the early 90’s is probably a good guess. The terminal stuff actually originated on Green screen terminals. (i still have 3 of those in the back, just in case.)
an IBM infowindow 3488-v can actually still be used with the iSeries that i have. if memory serves, it needs a special controller card in a separate chassis that connects back to the iSeries with this huge cable. but (luckily) I have not had to use it in that configuration.
we literally just stopped using this stuff a little over 1 year ago. i still have the POWER5 iSeries on a shelf in the back room.
Today on HN
https://www.cpushack.com/2022/06/05/cpu-of-the-day-p-a-semi-pa6t-powerpc/
I had no idea power efficient power chips were a thing.
Yeah, I have worked with most that were embedded in switches.
Oh yea. Once I’ve worked on a monitoring project and noticing from the SNMP hardware info mibs some cisco routers running on POWER but never gave too much attention. I wonder if they were part of this PWRFicient set of processors.
I don’t know. Back in the day, everything was on MIPS. When I saw my first POWER based switch, I was so stoked. And it was SMT4, single core.
For posterity, this is the link to the specific writeup that @FaunCB is referring to; part shortages are requiring a PCB redesign that should finish soon.
Interesting PS3 dev kit:
Looks like the cell be dual gigaaccel 180 blades ibm and fixstars released
When the machines are rackable like that they are often based on other systems that have been adapted.
Nothing is new, sorry to say.
Was the footpedal also a part of the,
Any idea how much or little this was customised?
a few companies made oem things mostly fixstars tho
i have one giggaccel but im caught up in other projects to play with it fully
The foot pedal is a game dev thing. Likely what was added was around the main board, the mainboard itself being based off a blade design.
I’m too cheap for any of Raptor’s boards so I’m eagerly waiting for better Linux support for the Nintendo Wii U https://wiki.linux-wiiu.org/ It would be great if it could boot with only the console because they’re usually like €50 on ebay.
I forgot the Wii U was POWER based. I just checked and the specs seem to be way better than the PS3.
If you want a cheap PPC platform just grab a used TP-Link TL-WDR4900 ?
There are also more powerful PPC platforms available that are “cheap” such as
I dont get what the hype is though, Wii U is using a very old 32-bit PowerPC 750-like CPU. Your average ARM board is faster and has better support…
One of the few reasons the Wii U is attractive/hyped is there is great potential for modding & running applications.
I’m hoping the PowerPC laptop is produced in large numbers, it has far more potential due to the amount of existing PowerPC ported software.
I’m sorry I should had clarified that I was speaking about memory. The CPU is slower than the PS3 but 256MB is an annoying memory constraint. According to Marcan the whole device seems to be a lot more hackable too.
Other than that I speak for myself but I don’t think most people around here care for efficiency and instead are just interested in different things to talk about or fiddle.
Rene Rebe grabbed one of these PCIe Fixstars units off of ebay. I been trying to score one for while but they are so rare.
He was able to get T2sde running on it with his existing PS3 code base. My goal is to use the device as intended as real-time video stream mixer and decode/encoder and plumb that into OBS.