Re: Old platforms: bring out your dead

William Breathitt Gray
2021-01-13T12:32:25Z

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On Wed, Jan 13, 2021 at 01:02:20PM +0100, Linus Walleij wrote:
> On Wed, Jan 13, 2021 at 11:27 AM Andy Shevchenko
> <andy.shevchenko@gmail.com> wrote:
> > On Mon, Jan 11, 2021 at 11:55 AM David Laight <David.Laight@aculab.com> wrote:
>
> > > basically 486 but have a few extra instructions - probably just cpuid
> > > and (IIRC) rdtsc.
> > > Designed for low power embedded use they won't ever have been suitable
> > > for a desktop - but are probably fast enough for some uses.
> > > I'm not sure how much keeping 486 support actually costs, 386 was a
> > > PITA - but the 486 fixed most of those issues.
> >
> > Right, we have "last of mohicans" (to date) Intel Quark family of CPUs
> > (486 core + few i586 features).
> > This is for the embedded world and probably not for powerful use.
>
> What is the status of PC/104?
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PC/104
>
> I have three GPIO drivers for PC/104 machines and these are for
> embedded industrial usecases. I am curious about what CPUs these
> beasts run on in practice? Are they getting upgraded?
>
> Paging William, I think he work on these daily.
>
> Yours,
> Linus Walleij

I don't really see pure PC/104 systems around that much anymore, but
there are still plenty of PC/104-Plus and PCI-104 setups in production.
The PC/104 form factor is popular because users can stack PC/104
compatible modules easily together to build custom solutions; see for
example the diagram on this page:
https://www.advantech.com/embedded-boards-design-in-services/embedded-single-board-computers/pc104-and-pc104-plus

As far as the CPU is concerned, these systems are typically for
industrial applications and run CPUs geared for low-power consumption --
you're looking at processor series such as the Intel Bay trail
(https://www.winsystems.com/product/epx-c414/), DMP Vortex86DX
(http://www.diamondsystems.com/products/helios), and AMD G-series
(https://www.advantech.com/products/1-2jkltu/pcm-3356/mod_0706f4d5-2e44-473a-a7b7-53bd1a7bd1a0).

TLDR; PC/104 is certainly a niche market focused on industrial
consumers, but the form factor and devices are still popular and
upgraded reguarly.

William Breathitt Gray

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