Yellow Dog Linux

I came across this company completely by accident via a Google ad which appeared inconspicuously above my incoming mail listing. The company known as Velocity Micro offers an incredible collection of hardware in several packages which are interesting to professionals interested in running YDL for CUDA. I felt this was the perfect place to introduce others of the YDL community to them as we move forward beyond the PS3.

For reasons which have nothing to do with Linux or professional programming development or even consumer interests Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony have determined that their devices (Xbox, Wii and PS3) will not run Linux with their approval. This puts, the YDL community back where it was before the PS3 was an interesting platform to work on meaning that the community returns to it's roots as a collection of programmers, developers (institutions and individuals) at various levels of skills and interests. Of course, this was not Terra Soft Solution's plan or goal; their early association with Sony was seen as a win for the entire YDL community as well as Sony. The management within Sony at that time expressed a great deal of enthusiasm; that Sony management no longer exists and neither does Terra Soft Solutions.

The future is along the lines of YDL for CUDA, and Fixstars. The YDL Community, whatever that means today, has to shift along with the times. The YDL Community of the past, was always interested in advanced hardware. I thought an element of this interest might yet exist which is why I believed Velocity Micro as a platform for YDL for CUDA should be explored. A better much more intense system which contains over 300+ cores which YDL for CUDA should be able to work with is produced by V3 Gaming PC, which makes this power available as a laptop. As the laptop interests me here is the link which refers to various models. Other laptops which contain the Nvidia Geoforce GTX 485M which has 385 cores is the Schenker XMG P501/the Clevo P150HM. The Clevo P150HM has the Nvidia Geoforce GTX 580 which is faster than the 485M while keeping the same amount of cores. A detailed review examining the performance of Schenker XMG P501/the Clevo P150HM is available here. Alienware M18x also has the 580; the details are available here.

Perhaps others of the YDL Community as they discover other interesting advanced hardware can post their observations in this thread so that we can consider their potential running YDL for CUDA as technical community.

aguilarojo wrote:Perhaps others of the YDL Community as they discover other interesting advanced hardware which could be great systems to run YDL for CUDA on can post them in this thread so that we can consider their potential as a technical community.

My 2 cents worth:

It might be more interesting to keep a list of the nVidia cards folks are using than computers from a specific hardware vendor.

As far as I know, any system with an Intel-family processor capable of executing x86_64 instructions, and an nVidia video card capable of running CUDA can run YDL for CUDA.

There is no other requirement that necessitates buying "custom" hardware or indeed buying from a particular vendor. YDL for CUDA is a fairly straightforward compile of CentOS with additional libraries.

That being said - yes - those are impressive machines. Machines I could never afford, mind you, but impressive nonetheless.

Sadly - they only sell them with either Windows, Fedora or no OS at all. Maybe Fixstars should hook up with these folks?

Cheers,
Paul

P.S. BTW - the nVidia graphics card isn't really a hard and fast requirement. Most of the time, I run YDL for CUDA on a Virtual Machine using the default X11 drivers. It's just nicer with the nVidia drivers.

Of course, using X11 drivers without nVidia hardware means you can't run any CUDA applications. But - personally - I don't plan on spending a lot of time doing that. I'm just looking for basic Linux functionality in a distribution I'm comfortable with. Your programming mileage - of course - may vary.

ppietro wrote:
My 2 cents worth:

It might be more interesting to keep a list of the nVidia cards folks are using than computers from a specific hardware vendor.

As far as I know, any system with an Intel-family processor capable of executing x86_64 instructions, and an nVidia video card capable of running CUDA can run YDL for CUDA.

There is no other requirement that necessitates buying "custom" hardware or indeed buying from a particular vendor. YDL for CUDA is a fairly straightforward compile of CentOS with additional libraries.

Your comments are worth more than that, c'mon!! Thanks for clarifying the matter regarding YDL for CUDA explaining what it comprises. However, my interest is narrowly focused upon laptops. Current design parameters don't allow laptops to have the same flexibilities replacing hardware components as desktops. Generally whatever one purchased is whatever one utilizes for however long one owns the laptop.

ppietro wrote:That being said - yes - those are impressive machines. Machines I could never afford, mind you, but impressive nonetheless.

Sadly - they only sell them with either Windows, Fedora or no OS at all. Maybe Fixstars should hook up with these folks?

Cheers,
Paul

I think we could lead the YDL Board Community to examine what current vendors who utilize Nvidia hardware which can exploit CUDA a path forward to abandon the PS3 and get into working on YDL for CUDA continuing their game interests with companies which won't abuse them as Sony has.

All the best...