
ARM Processor – Sowing the Seeds of Success [video] - tambourine_man
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jOJl8gRPyQ
======
vegabook
I love arm and own a cubietruck and a Pi. But my initial hopes of clustering
up tons of arms together have been dashed by a very hard dose of reality: the
bog-standard core i7 in my Dell M3800 is _50x_ faster. Try this on your pi in
iPython:

    
    
      import numpy as np
      xx = np.random.rand(1000000).reshape((1000, 1000))
      %timeit np.linalg.eig(xx)
    

67 seconds on my RPi B 2, 1.2 seconds on my i7 (admittedly, using MKL
optimizations but the factor would still be 15x without it, and arguably, MKL
is simply making full use of the Intel instruction set). I get 0.65 on my
desktop Precision Xeon. Fully 100x faster.

So yes ARM is great. But let's be honest, Intel is vastly, _vastly_ ahead when
it comes to anything that is not a toy.

~~~
danellis
> let's be honest, Intel is vastly, vastly ahead when it comes to anything
> that is not a toy.

That just shows a lack of understanding of the market. Not every application
needs powerful processors. Sometimes they need low-power or low-cost
processors. Something is not a "toy" when it is specifically engineered to
meet different but equally serious requirements.

ARM-based processors _vastly_ outsell Intel processors.

~~~
JoeAltmaier
Latest figures I can find (2012) show Intel outselling all ARM/mobile by 5X.
That must have changed?

~~~
Veratyr
Intel during Q3 2014 set a record 100 million processor sales that quarter[1].

During the same period, ARM reports 1.1 billion "processors and smartcards"
shipped[2]. As for how many of those are in smartphones (powerful), ARM is
estimated to power 90% of smartphones[3], of which 326 million were sold
during Q3 2014[4].

If you're after dollar sales, Q3 2014 had them at $320m[2] and Intel at
$14.6b[5].

[1] [http://www.tomshardware.com/news/intel-finance-record-
revenu...](http://www.tomshardware.com/news/intel-finance-record-
revenue-3q13,27889.html)

[2] [http://www.arm.com/about/arm-holdings-plc-reports-results-
fo...](http://www.arm.com/about/arm-holdings-plc-reports-results-for-the-
third-quarter-and-nine-months-ended-30-september-2014.php)

[3] [http://www.forbes.com/sites/darcytravlos/2013/02/28/arm-
hold...](http://www.forbes.com/sites/darcytravlos/2013/02/28/arm-holdings-and-
qualcomm-the-winners-in-mobile/)

[4]
[https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS25224914](https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS25224914)

[5]
[http://newsroom.intel.com/community/intel_newsroom/blog/2014...](http://newsroom.intel.com/community/intel_newsroom/blog/2014/10/14/intel-
reports-record-third-quarter-revenue-of-146-billion)

~~~
JoeAltmaier
Why are smartcards conflated with processors, do you think?

~~~
danellis
[http://www.arm.com/markets/embedded/smart-
cards.php](http://www.arm.com/markets/embedded/smart-cards.php)

------
acqq
Also the parts of the interview of prof Furber:

[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=y4WG549i3YY](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=y4WG549i3YY)

"Building the BBC Micro (The Beeb) - Computerphile"

[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=izy6h_vvSxU](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=izy6h_vvSxU)

"The Path Towards ARM & BBC B - Computerphile"

------
todd-davies
I'm lucky enough to have Professor Furber as a lecturer at Manchester. His
insights into how mobile systems are designed and engineered are fascinating,
as is his work with SpiNNaker project.

~~~
danellis
Me too, in 1997! He often referred to his work from the 80s, and it was great
to hear it from the horse's mouth.

------
pjmlp
Back in the day I remember going through Computer Shopper (UK version) and
learning about the Archimedes in alternative computing section.

Sadly never saw one live.

~~~
danellis
I grew up with Acorn computers. The Archimedes was an amazing machine for its
time, and for an aspiring programmer, having a structured BBC BASIC (fastest
interpreted BASIC in the world) with a built-in ARM assembler made for some
quick learning.

