Power Up

As a POWER architecture hardware vendor, we've definitely run into quite a few wish-list items for software we want to have on our platform. Whether it's for customers or just to have a feature complete set of packages in everyday distributions, we want to see things build everywhere, and run just as well as the x86 counterparts.

Starting soon, we are kicking off a PowerUp (my cool label) initiative in order to direct POWER developers toward software that needs a little love on our POWER platforms. Software targets range from the completely unsupported (e.g. Google's v8 Javascript engine, D Languages's phobos) to optimizing specifically for POWER (e.g. OpenJDK).

To collect these initiatives together, we will be starting a new PowerUp portal. For now, we have begun a GitHub Team where we have forked relevant repositories. Forums for discussion and participation will also follow. Feel free to clone and hack away. Email me if you have any questions (or wait until the forums and portal open).

NOTE: PowerUp is just my initial name. That may or may not change.

I'll update this blog post when more information is available.

Ubuntu Rolling Releases Vs. Hardware Companies

So I have to speak out on this whole issue. I work for Servergy, and for almost two years I've been working on Ubuntu's PowerPC port in order for our new hardware platform, the CTS-1000, to have an out-of-the-box solution for our customers. We've been hedging on Ubuntu, since it was able to provide us a known quantity for release dates and an open community that we could participate in (especially being able to take advantage of my core-developer status).

Now, after so much work, so much planning, we are worried about 13.04 never being properly released. This would leave us with no stable Linux distribution for our hardware, basically yanking the rug out from under all of our work. Having a stable release every two years also enlarges the support gap for our followup platforms. Now I realize most hardware vendors are x86-based, and their issues are likely limited to supporting peripherals, so this affects us more than most. The issue we face is supporting entirely new hardware platforms and SoCs with a completely new kernel (likely requiring lots of supporting patches). This is the type of thing that, historically, isn't allowed to be added to an LTS release.

So I have to wonder, if Ubuntu does adopt this rolling release schedule, how viable is it for us? I would still be happy if Ubuntu had one release per year, with every other release becoming an LTS. However, the two year window is just entirely too large to depend on for quick moving hardware bring up and release.

Follow-up: Power Architecture Related Tracks Proposed for UDS-r

A few weeks ago I posted about some tracks at UDS concerning PowerPC. Here are links to the session results.

• Virtualization support for Power architecture
• Power Architecture Kernel Development
• PowerPC Bootloader Options

I need to clean up the items. The main take away is that the PowerPC kernels will be maintained separately from the mainline kernels, which means we will be getting support for some new architectures. It will probably be a couple of weeks before I get this setup, but expect it nonetheless.

The other side is the boot loader. This is a tricky and complex implementation point. Details are in the session notes, but this may have implications based on relevant work being done on ARM as well.

That's the extent of it at this point. Looking forward to great things with Raring.

Servergy Announces New PowerPC Developer Board

DISCLAIMER: I work for Servergy, Inc.

This week, at UDS, Servergy has announced that it will be designing and selling a PowerPC based developer board like no other currently on the market. Typical Power dev kits are using out-dated and feature-poor CPUs. As a follow up, they made this formal announcement.

Servergy plans many needed features, including:

• Multi-core processor
• Hardware virtualization (via Linux kernel KVM)
• Gigabit ethernet
• HDMI video output
• Network offloading engines
• SATA controller
• Audio output
• USB Ports
• SD Card slot

Servergy has dubbed this board P-Cubed.

They are planning a wide range of software support including firmware/boot-loader source code and pre-built images for creating bootable SD cards. Support for major Linux distributions will include Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora and openSUSE.

The platform is geared toward making modern Power systems available to developers for a fraction of the cost of full fledged server systems (Servergy's primary market). While the board is aimed at increasing the ecosystem and community around Linux-on-Power, the pricing is sure to attract hobbyists and students as well.

While Servergy did not say the exact price, they are aiming at a sub-$200 system. Keep an eye on Servergy's website for news and pre-order form.

Where to Obtain PowerPC Dev Kits

I was asked this today on #ubuntu-kernel. It's a good question, and one which I hear often. Most people can go with old Mac hardware, but those things are kind of obsolete and largish for many people. Not to mention it doesn't do much justice for the modern CPUs you see today (multi-core, hardware virtualization, SATA, DDR2/3, etc.). Unfortunately, you aren't going to find many cheap modern Power kits like you would expect in the ARM world, but here some some quick links that I was able to put together. I would stick with Freescale, but IBM has some dev kits too.

• Micetek - These are actually really nice
• Embedded Planet - Very low CPU speeds
• IBM 750FX - 64-bit but unsure about pricing
• Emerson - Unsure of pricing, but very broad list of CPUs for IBM and Freescale

If you know of more, please comment and I'll add them to this post.

Power Architecture Related Tracks Proposed for UDS-r

On my ramp-up toward UDS-r, I've created some blueprints and pinged some related folks to get them into the proper tracks.

I'm hoping to get a lot of interest and discussion around there, so here they are:

• Virtualization support for Power architecture
• Power Architecture Kernel Development
• PowerPC Bootloader Options

So this covers a wide range of topics. The most in-depth one is the Virtualization blueprint. As of yet, I've not seen a lot of broad support for non-x86 in OpenStack and related software. While it works (I've set it up), it just doesn't do a lot to make me happy happy.

The boot loaders blueprint is basically an RFC. The idea of Power architecture on a non-embedded system not having OpenFirmware is about on par with Dell selling an Intel system without a BIOS. The Power systems do have u-Boot (Das Boot), but that's not as robust as it needs to be. I'm thinking something like grub2 being compiled agains the u-Boot API that u-Boot can load modularly or perhaps something like the kexec based loader that the ps3 used.

Finally, the kernel development is a host discussion that needs to be hammered out with the Canonical Kernel Team so we can all be happy and not step on the primary architectures, but still being able to spread some support for newer Power equipment.

Cheers and see you in Denmark!

EDIT: Updated link for boot loaders blueprint

The Rack Revolution

As I sit here in my cozy home on my comfy couch, I am bewildered and amazed at just how far things have come in the last decade.

Let's take a quick inventory of my immediate surroundings:

• ✔ Laptop
• ✔ WiFi
• ✔ Smart Phone
• ✔ HD TV
• ✔ High Speed Internet
• ✖ Server Farm

Hmm...that last one's a bit different from the old days. I used to have a nice collection of loudly humming, room-warming servers in my garage. As a telecommuter, I needed it. My blog was running on it, my email was running on it and my firewall was running on it.

What happened? Well, we all know the answer to that question: things consolidated into the "Cloud." Instead of under-the-table boxes running our local services, we now have providers doing the heavy (literally) lifting for us.

So what do they run on? Practically the same loudly humming room-warmers that we used to keep under our desks. However, in recent years, the move is being made to lower the operating costs of these rack farms into quiet, low-powered, self-cooling, maintainable animals.

As most places have tried to just tone down, or spread thin, some have been making the move to efficiency. Enter the reverse revolution of the CPU to something more applicable to today's computing needs. Instead of powering with high-wattage x86 chips, many are dipping their toes into the shallow end of the alternative-processor kiddy-pool.

And with that I introduce an amazing NEW and WILD CPU: PowerPC!

Oh, you've heard of it? It's legacy and old-hat, you say? I must be thinking of a different PowerPC CPU then. The company I've been gainfully employed with for the past 1.5 years seems to be using something quite different than your grandmother's Power chip. Not quite the behemoth of the IBM Power7 iron (in size nor noise), but not the wussy of your old PowerMac neither.

We're talking multiway SoCs with full floating-point running at a fraction of the wattage of just about anything else on the market. Add with it full hardware virtualization (via KVM), and you begin to see where in the market this is headed.

We've already been engaging multiple Linux and software vendors to give a complete and first rate experience on this new class of hardware. You'll have multiple choices when it comes to supporting and administrating, whether it's one system or a room full of racks filled.

So here's my not-so-humble way of introducing you to Servergy, Inc.. They've been around for 3 years, but expect to be hearing a lot more about us in the coming months. If you're going to be at a Linux or Cloud/Server related event in the near future, chances are you will run into one of us. I'll actually be at Ubuntu's UDS-r in Copenhagen at the end of October. I'm hoping to have a live demonstration while I'm there.

Cheers

NOTE: In this article I am speaking solely on my behalf. None of what I've said can be taken as a statement by the company I work for: Servergy, Inc.

The Community Conundrum: PowerPC

In my recent work, I've been dealing a lot with PowerPC. As an old Mac user, I've had a soft spot for PowerPC for ages. Like most people, until recently, I've considered PowerPC an aging and dying architecture. Even with IBM selling PowerLinux systems, the lack of cheap hardware for developers has left a hole not easily filled, no matter how man old PowerMacs you buy in eBay.

However, there are a lot of PowerPC platforms that do fill this gap left by PowerMac. Some are even 32-bit platforms that can compete in today's markets.

So why have you never heard of them? Why can't you download Fedora or Ubuntu to install on your PowerPC of today? Several reason:

• Distributions don't really support it.
  
• The "community" behind it is driven at the kernel and low-level, not at the distribution level (see last bullet item).
  

This circle of support appears to be the hold up. Convincing even community supported architectures like Ubuntu and Fedora to support these different kernel flavors is met with archaic skepticism, and is usually concluded with "there is no community" to which I usually respond "because there is no support."

Something has to give here. Linux and Open Source isn't where we want the chicken-and-egg scenario to happen. You can't walk up to a Linux distro with a community and say "Here we are, let's do this" in much the same way as you can't go to a community and say "Come over here with us. We don't support you yet, but we'd like you to prove that you're worth it."

So where to begin...

Reviving the Ubuntu PowerPC community effort

Just is just a heads up to some people who may be interested. I am trying to breath some life back into the Ubuntu PowerPC community. My interest extends from my current job and focus on the server market. That's not to say that I don't think PowerPC should have a desktop life (though most people would only like it for the legacy ppc Mac systems out there), just that my personal focus won't cover much of that beyond perhaps some CD creation and fixing fails-to-build-from-source problems.

So, come one, come all. I've sent a quick note out to the Ubuntu PowerPC LaunchPad Team. There's also a mailing list now.

I'll be posting more of a road-map soonish.