
Architecture of HP's “The Machine” - JoshTriplett
http://keithp.com/blogs/the_machine_architecture/#
======
walterbell
No mention of prior work on memristors? From
[http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memristor](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memristor)
:

 _" Leon Chua ..argued that the memristor is the oldest known circuit element,
with its effects predating the resistor, capacitor and inductor. In 2008, a
team at HP Labs claimed to have found Chua's missing memristor.._"

Imagine an alternate universe where Bell Labs decided to use transistors to
build "A Machine", instead of enabling others to construct many possible
machines.

Hopefully HP research on memristors will inspire the worldwide scientific
community.

------
spydum
interesting, so essentially a giant memristor blob store which a bunch of
compute nodes can simultaneously leverage? If the memristor promises are to be
realized, TB if not PB levels of storage at >SSD speeds, accessed by many
compute nodes as shown in diagram, which could also be many cores by
themselves. Think of like a hadoop style cluster, self-contained on
amphetamines?

If any of this is true, why not start in phases where you have memristor
replacing SSD/existing system memory.. why this monster design? unless they
are trying to leverage their new fancy technology to disrupt the
cisco/dell/supermicro enterprise server market?

~~~
techdragon
Because that's exactly what HPA want to do, foolishly try and disrupt the
market with unproven hardware no one can afford.

~~~
yitchelle
> foolishly try and disrupt the market with unproven hardware no one can
> afford.

Sometimes, that is what research is all about. Some work out, some don't. I am
actually quite excited about this for HP.

~~~
spydum
nobody objects to that.. the thing is, it sounds as if they have some very
cool technology (memristors) which could make other existing products
significantly better, but are explicitly withholding because they want to
force some paradigm shift.. that seems like a pretty bold bet. What if nobody
wants it?

------
nailer
If anyone is wondering: KeithP is Keith Packard of X.org fame - he was the
driving force behind forking and advancing an otherwise stagnant xfree86,
giving us things like the DAMAGE extension and other good stuff.

------
joshuapants
I'd be interested in seeing whether different hardware paradigms lead to
different OS paradigms. He says they're working on Linux for The Machine, but
I wonder if that's their endgame or if it's just to have something to run on
it for now.

Any OS-dev people able to chime in on what they would do?

------
anon3_
Not to rain on anyone's parade, but where are the hard facts?

    
    
        HP has that solution in The Machine. By discarding a computing model that has stood unchallenged for sixty years, we are poised to leave sixty years of compromises and inefficiencies behind. We’re pushing the boundaries of the physics behind IT, using electrons for computation, photons for communication, and ions for storage.
    

Where is the review of the hardware? The pictures? Prices?

I'm glad that you're having fun there, getting your 15 minutes of fame, making
a living doing R&D. I'm sure you work hard. I wish that when you publicized -
you had something more than a generic PR site with pablum.

I'm sincerely interested in what you're doing. Please show actual prototypes,
or there's nothing to prove to us it's not Vaporware. I'd be more satisfied
your tithe is justified.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8RyKrREzuI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8RyKrREzuI)

~~~
dang
> I'm glad that you're having fun there, getting your 15 minutes of fame

Your comment's substantive point is squandered by this personal ugliness.
That's not ok here.

~~~
anon3_
People have personalities.

If you don't like people's personality, or at least give them the benefit of
the doubt and assume good faith - do expect other's to just lobotomize
themselves for you?

When I said that, it's really my initial impression and feeling. It's a
comment. I think, if done civilly, people can be allowed to express themselves
without being PC robots.

Edit: Oh sorry, When I said "Having fun, getting 15 minutes of fame", I meant
those as _two separate things_. However, it reads as if I'm brushing them off.

~~~
dang
I hear you about expressing feeling, and it's a fair point. The problem is
that some of those expressions, perhaps normal in regular conversation, become
volatile chemicals online. There's too much room for misinterpretation, and
the downside is unbounded.

The rules on HN aren't anti-personality, they're based on long experience with
what we all have to do to maintain the substantiveness and civility of the
discourse. It's a tradeoff. The cost is a certain blandness sometimes. But the
alternative would, in the long run, ruin the community.

