Day by day, Kickstarter projects are grabbing public’s attention. Again this time, an interesting new project is waiting in Kickstarter for public’s response. Chipmaker Adapteva wants to make parallel computing available to everyone. The semiconductor company named the project Parallella. If the company achieves success, the cost of their developed “Supercomputer” will be only $99. Get some more details inside.
Adapteva was founded in 2008. Since then, it has been focusing on building low-power RISC chips. On the other side, to make parallel computing ubiquitous, developers need access to a platform that is affordable, open, and easy to use. Adapteva is trying to build and provide such a platform through Parallella. The project Parallella will be built on the following principles :
- Open Access: Absolutely no NDAs or special access needed! All architecture and SDK documents will be published on the web as soon as the kickstarter project is funded.
- Open Source: The Parallella platform will be based on free open source development tools and libraries. All board design files will be provided as open source once the Parallella boards are released.
- Affordability: Hardware costs and SDK costs have always been a a huge barrier to entry for developers looking to develop high performance applications. Our goal is to bring the Parallella high performance computer cost below $100, making it an affordable platform for all.
With the cost of $99 Parallella Computer, backers will receive a full developer kit including the followings :
- Dual-core ARM A9 CPU
- Epiphany Multicore Accelerator (16 or 64 cores)
- 1GB RAM
- MicroSD Card
- USB 2.0 (two)
- Two general purpose expansion connectors
- Ethernet 10/100/1000
- HDMI connection
- Ships with Ubuntu OS
- Ships with free open source Epiphany development tools that include C compiler, multicore debugger, Eclipse IDE, OpenCL SDK/compiler, and run time libraries.
- Dimensions are 3.4” x 2.1”
Andreas Olofsson, the founder and CEO of Adapteva, says parallel computing is the only way for the computer industry to move forward and scale accordingly. A pledge of $99 guarantees supporters a 16-core board by May 2013, while a pledge of $499 guarantees delivery by February. If the $3 million goal is hit, Adapteva will make a $199 64-core board hitting 45GHz and 90 gigaflops. Both the $99 and $199 will have a dual-core ARM A9-based system-on-chip. The current hardware is in the prototype phase.
The project goal is to get $750,000 fund for their project. The project has been launched September 27 and last date of funding is October 27. As of writing (September 30), 977 backers have already pleaded $107,645.
If you think Parallella is something you could benefit from, visit the Kickstarter website or check below to make a pledge and help Parallella become a reality.
Source : Kickstarter
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