Week 47 of 2019 summary

[cobito]

Intel presents its new GPU

The graphics card will not be aimed at the graphics world but at computing. The API (called oneAPI) is based on SYCL, the language for OpenCL which in turn is based on C++ 11.

Writing USB drivers

Someone has published this entry explaining the process of programming drivers for a device that is no longer supported. This case is about an Epiphan VGA2USB LR, an adapter that receives a VGA signal and outputs video as a webcam through USB.

Matlab on a Ryzen

Someone has posted a guide on Reddit on how to take advantage of vector sets through Intel's MKL (Math Kernel Library) on a Ryzen. The performance improvements are from 20 to 300%.

Demand for hard drives skyrockets

In the third quarter of this year, the record for sold capacity of mechanical hard drives has been broken.

VIA presents its new x86 processor

The third has presented the new CPU that comes with 8 cores with AVX-512 support and an additional coprocessor with compatibility with bfloat16 data types, that is, intended for AI. Recall that VIA has received a significant amount of resources from China in recent times.

Windows switches to encrypted DNS

The people at Microsoft are working on bringing DoH to Windows. DNS is the last bastion of unencrypted information when using any service that needs name resolution, such as the web.

AMD's low-end range

The processor developer has presented the Athlon 3000G, which comes with 2 Zen cores with SMT at 3.5GHz, a TDP of 35W and a price of 50€. It represents a reduction of 20€ compared to the 2200G, which is the closest one at the moment.

ARM servers with GPU

It seems that Nvidia will offer ARM servers where raw power will be developed in their graphics cards through CUDA.

Intel continues to be short of CPUs

The company has published a letter of apology due to the scarcity of processors. The problem has been there for two years, coincidentally since the number of cores in their chips began to increase significantly.

Android will be closer to kernel development

Although Android is a kind of Linux distribution, the reality is that there is no universal version for ARM (not even for Qualcomm's micros), which is quite different from what happens on other platforms. This occurs because with each processor model (even of the same architecture), changes are introduced to the code. In addition, each manufacturer of phones/tablets adds their own changes for specific hardware. The idea of Android is to introduce those changes in the original kernel, so that the system is more universal.

Memory demand increases again

Perhaps saying that it is the best time to buy memory is a bit exaggerated, especially when the Chinese are putting "their" chips on the market. The increase in demand has been 4%.

Hardware for free software

If you are looking for a component that works with free drivers and allows you to modify its firmware, on this page of the FSF you will find a list of brands and models.

"Best cores" vs "preferred cores" of AMD

In this extensive entry by Anandtech, it is explained how cores and their maximum frequencies are managed in Zen 2.

Mozilla asks Facebook to eliminate tracking outside its web

There are many pages that use Facebook to comment on them or to be able to click on the "like" button. This, which seems like a shot in the dark, is part of the campaign that the foundation initiated a long time ago to achieve "a better Internet".