From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: jonathan@jonmasters.org (Jon Masters) Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2013 23:05:21 -0500 Subject: ACPI In-Reply-To: <201311220129.54828.arnd@arndb.de> References: <201311191915.57516.arnd@arndb.de> <20131121200344.GD14725@sirena.org.uk> <201311220129.54828.arnd@arndb.de> Message-ID: <528ED801.8040705@jonmasters.org> To: linux-arm-kernel@lists.infradead.org List-Id: linux-arm-kernel.lists.infradead.org Hi Arnd, On 11/21/2013 07:29 PM, Arnd Bergmann wrote: > On Thursday 21 November 2013, Mark Brown wrote: >> On Tue, Nov 19, 2013 at 07:15:57PM +0100, Arnd Bergmann wrote: >> >>> of them apply here. You keep saying "servers", but that isn't actually >>> a feature of how the system is designed, rather than what is running >>> on them. Given these examples (or any others, you could come up with), >>> which ones do you actually see as relevant here: >> >>> 1. An exterprise server (SPARC enterprise M9000, Power 795, Integrity >>> Superdome) with the CPU core changed to run ARM instructions >>> 2. An ATX whitebox server mainboard with one to four sockets and PC >>> peripherals and plug-compatible ARM CPU chips. >>> 3. A purpose-built server SoC based on standard components >>> 4. A new server SoC based on an older proprietary embedded or mobile >>> SoC design (think Exynos, OMAP, Snapdragon, ... based) >>> 5. A server built from using a cheap devboard (BeagleBone, Cubieboard, ... >>> style) with an unmodified SoC. >>> 6. A virtual machine running on KVM or Xen. By 64-bit ARM server, I mean a system conformant with a series of specifications that define what such a server system consists of. It might be a physical system featuring an ARM-based SoC containing a core conformant to the v8 Architecture, along with standardized peripherals, or it might be a virtual platform. The boot architecture would include UEFI (specifically a sequential progression from an initial EL3 reset secure ROM on through to a verified Tiano build), and ACPI being used to convey the platform devices, as well as for runtime event delivery. >> I'd also ask if we need to consider desktops and laptops here - do we >> really mean distros here rather than servers, even if servers are the >> primary use case for distros right now? > > Jon has previously said (multiple times) that he cares about servers > only, so I assume that is still given. If you take the exact same > hardware and firmware and add a PCIe GPU to turn it into a workstation > or laptop, I don't see that change anything from the kernel perspective, > but I'm trying to narrow the scope here, not widen it ;-) I expect to see a series of useful announcements soon that will serve to articulate what I am referring to by an ARM v8 server. I will followup then with more thoughts about how this fits together. Thanks, Jon.