Linked by Thom Holwerda on Wed 15th Jun 2011 14:23 UTC, submitted by Valhalla
"PathScale announced today that the EKOPath 4 Compiler Suite is now available as an open source project and free download for Linux, FreeBSD and Solaris. This release includes documentation and the complete development stack, including compiler, debugger, assembler, runtimes and standard libraries. EKOPath is the product of years of ongoing development, representing one of the industries highest performance Intel 64 and AMD C, C++ and Fortran compilers." More here.
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Member since:2007-02-17
Does this mean anything for us unwashed masses of end users, or is it purely something for the code monkeys to drool over?
Using the EKOPath 4 Compiler Suite for compiling most C, C++ and Fortran code for Intel 64 and AMD should result in significant performace improvements over binaries compared to the same source code compiled with GCC.
This means that 64-bit binaries (for programs where you have the source code) will get faster. FOSS software has the source code ... even for drivers and the core OS.
Therefore, any given Linux distribution (for example) now has the opportunity to make significantly faster 64-bit binaries, across the board, than they could previously afford.
Drivers, kernel, graphics layers (including the likes of Cairo, GTK and Qt) ... even media players and codec decoders ... should all get a significant performance boost. Then there are the applications themselves, which should likewise enjoy a performance boost.
It seems to me to be something to really look forward to for end-users (of Intel and AMD 64-bit FOSS systems).
Member since:2011-06-16
Sorry I'm late to this conversation (actually I'm not sorry based on some of these other posts)
What I'd like to do is share my biased perspective in general. EKOPath has historically catered to a certain audience and as a result a specific type of code. (HPC which is mostly computationally complex stuff) The performance for that does carry over in most cases (not just EKOPath) to other types of code. I'm happy with a bit of hype, but I want people to have realistic expectations. Something like your cli tools are unlikely to see any gains. Something like mesa which was recently benchmarked could see FPS go from 295 to 301 (I don't remember the exact numbers, but you get the idea)
Keep in mind we're not perfect, but.... - If you're code isn't faster we're going to work with you to fix it. So the potential gains long term imho are there for anyone to at least try.
In the future multicore systems are going to be more commonplace. (Even in your mobile phone) The compiler infrastructure needs to be able to handle the different types of optimizations which are needed to ensure best performance. Languages like C++ may get more/less complex. Our goal whether it's for C++/Fortran/ or something new will be the same. 
RE[2]: Cool and all but...
by Kivada on Thu 16th Jun 2011 15:53
in reply to "RE: Cool and all but..."
Member since:2010-07-07
Nice, going by all this it means that we may even see some nice gains in the CPU limited Gallium3D drivers correct?
Things are looking really good then for my next build if AMD can get Gigabyte to do an A75 Fusion mobo with Coreboot instead of BIOS or UEFI so I can FOSS while I FOSS!
Features
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/13/13 14:35 UTC
The third and final WWDC product I want to talk about is - of course - OS X 10.9 Mavericks. While iOS 7 was clearly the focus of this year's WWDC, its venerable desktop counterpart certainly wasn't left behind. Apple announced OS X 10.9 Mavericks, the first OS X release not to carry the name of a big cat.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/11/13 17:07 UTC
We already talked about iOS 7 yesterday (after a night of sleep, it's only looking worse and worse - look at this, for Fiona's sake!), so now it's time to talk about the downright stunning and belly flutters-inducing new Mac Pro. As former owner and huge, huge, huge fan of the PowerMac G4 Cube - I haven't been this excited about an Apple product since, well, I would say the iMac G4. This is the Apple I used to love.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/10/13 23:13 UTC
Apple held its big keynote event thing at WWDC earlier this evening, but since I was away with friends I've had to read up on it later in the evening. The company announced iOS 7, OS X 10.9 Mavericks, and they gave a preview of the new Mac Pro. Especially the Mac Pro impressed me, and while iOS 7's new Holo/Metro-inspired theme looks messy and garish to me, I do commend Apple for finally breaking the mold. This news item will focus on iOS 7 - I'll dive into the Mac Pro and OS X 10.9 tomorrow (it's late here now).
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/08/13 14:57 UTC
And yes, the PRISM scandal is far, far from over. More and more information keeps leaking out, and the more gets out, the worse it gets. The companies involved have sent out official statements - often by mouth of their CEOs - and what's interesting is that not only are these official statements eerily similar to each other, using the same terms clearly designed by lawyers, they also directly contradict new reports from The New York Times. So, who is lying?
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/07/13 11:40 UTC
This story is getting bigger and bigger. Even though most Americans probably already knew, it is now official: the United States government, through its National Security Agency, is collecting the communications and data of all American citizens, and of non-Americans using American services, through a wide collaboration with the large companies in technology, like Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and so on. Interestingly enough, the NSA itself, as well as the US government, have repeatedly and firmly denied this massive spying on Americans and non-Americans took place at all.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/04/13 12:45 UTC
Ah, patents - the never-ending scourge of the technology industry. Whether wielded by companies who don't actually make any products, or large corporations who abuse them because they can't compete in the market place or because they're simply jerks, they do the industry a huge disservice and are simply plain dangerous. According to The Wall Street Journal (circumvention link), president Obama is about to take several executive actions to address patent trolls - which may seem like a good idea, but I am very worried that all this will do is strengthen the positions of notorious patent system abusers such as Apple and Microsoft.
Linked by nfeske on 05/31/13 10:12 UTC
With version 13.05, the developers of the Genode OS Framework take measures to ensure that Genode continues to scale well with a growing number of users and the steadily broadening platform coverage. Further highlights are the improved SoC support for Exynos 5, OMAP4, Raspberry Pi, i.MX, and new components for realizing headless systems.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/29/13 16:59 UTC
At the D11 conference, Apple CEO Tim Cook once again took the stage to be interviewed by Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher. While most of the interview can be replicated by picking and reading 10 random Apple fanblog stories - there were still a number of very interesting things that warrant some closer scrutiny.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/24/13 17:26 UTC
So, the Xbox One disaster continues. Microsoft's policy for dealing with the used games market has reportedly leaked - and it's a clear and direct attack to destroy the used games market. Prices for used games will be set at the retail value of a new game, and retailers have to hook into Microsoft's computer systems and comply with Microsoft's terms and conditions.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/21/13 21:38 UTC
At an event earlier today, Microsoft unveiled the next Xbox - the third model, but confusingly named Xbox One. The big focus was TV, integrated Kinect, and all the other stuff we all expected to be forced down our throats. I think it took them 25 minutes to actually come to what should be the core of the story: gaming. Nothing groundbreaking in the gaming department, except for how Microsoft intends to handle the used games market and borrowing games from friends: pay up, buddy!More Features »
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Member since:
2010-07-07
Does this mean anything for us unwashed masses of end users, or is it purely something for the code monkeys to drool over?