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ISA Architecture- CISC versus RISC Debate Print
March 2013

This note is the first attempt to record the fundamentals of computer architecture for customer reference and training.  This note focuses on a decade long of debate- which architecture is better, CISC or RISC.  What are they? 

o Both are Instruction Set Architectures for computers (ISA).  They are also in the category of Von Neumann Architecture which has been the de facto architecture since 1945 when the first electronic computer ENIAC was built. 

o Von Neumann Architecture refers to the arrangement of the central processor taking instructions and data from and to memory storage hardware via a connection.  There are some incidences of computers which separated instructions and data to 2 different connections or had no connections at all but they are by far the minority.

o Some computers are not ISA based.  They do not have predefined instruction sets.  The compiler has direct control of the computer hardware. This category is not common.

o RISC has a set of fixed length instructions whereas CISC has instructions of variable lengths in order to cater for specific computing scenarios.   Despite this difference, both architectures can have SIMD extensions.  SIMD = Single Instruction Multiple Data. 

o Intel and AMD CPU are CISC.  Arm and Power PC are RISC.

(hover mouse over to enlarge images)



 

Which is better?

o A paper presented in IEEE International Symposium on High Performance Computer Architecture HPCA 2013 provides the following information.  The paper title is “Power Struggles: Revisiting the RISC vs CISC Debate on Contemporary ARM and x86 Architectures”.  Authors were from the University of Wisconsin.

o The performance of a CPU depends on ISA issues as well as ISA-independent issues.  Independent issues are semiconductor circuit width (such as 22nm or 34nm), memory bandwidth, operating system, compiler, and workload type.  These independent factors were excluded in order to benchmark RISC and CISC.

o The paper chose Intel Core i7-2700, Intel Atom N450, ARM Cortex A8 and ARM Cortex A9 for benchmarking.   The workloads chosen for benchmarking included mobile clients, desktop applications, web server, and database server.  The paper concluded that the processors were designed to perform at different levels and they consumed powers on a cubic curve (power in Watt consumed went up to the cube of performance in Billion Instructions per Second) irrespective of their RISC or CISC architecture. 

END

 
GK- Beauties of Mathematics Print
March 2013

o Mathematics is a language of symbols and numbers.  It is a tool for logical analysis and deduction of phenomenon in the universe.  Richard Feynman (1918-1988), a Physics Nobel prize winner in 1965 said so in a lecture on Physical Law in Cornell University in 1964.  He also said the Gravitational Force equation is simple and beautiful although the equation has far reaching applications and there was not another language that could express the complex relationships so well.  The Gravitational Force is one of the 4 forces governing the entire universe and it is the most significant for large objects.  The other 3 forces are electro-magnetic forces, weak radiation force, and strong nuclear force.

o Plato (BC428-348) was a mathematician and philosopher in Greece.  His house door had this signage “Those who do not understand mathematics: No Entry”. His view was that mathematicians discover and not invent.  Mathematicians did not create new concepts, but explore the common looks of everything outside of the human body.  Ref: The Little Book of Mathematics by Robert Solomon in 2008, translation version page 36

o Charles Snow (1905-1980) English physicist and novelist said there were 2 types of people in the universe.  One understands Mathematics to appraise the beauty of the universe, and one does not know.  Ref: Richard Feynman “The Characters of Physical Law” 1965, translation version page 105.

(Hover mouse over to enlarge)


 
 
 

Gravitational Attraction Force between Bodies by Isaac Newton (1642-1727)

F = GM1M2 / D2  

Where
G: Gravitational Constant (67 x 10-12 Nm2kg2)
M: Mass of object 1 and 2 respectively
D: Distance between the two objects

We can use this equation to find the mass of Moon, Earth or the Sun

Period of Orbit in Universe by Johannes Kepler (1571-1630)

P2 = 4π2D3 / G (M1+M2)

Where
P: Period of Orbit of M1 around M2
D: Major axis distance between M1 and M2

Earth is 365 days roughly for 150M km, Venus is 225 days for 108M km, and the Moon and Sun etc

Circulating and Escape Velocities

Vc = √ GM/D Where M is total mass inside the orbit
Ve = √ 2GM/D

To escape Earth, Ve ≈ 104 m/s
To escape Black Hole, Ve > C (the speed of light)

Relativity by Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

γ = 1 / √ (1 – (V/C)2
Mv = γ M0

Where
V: Velocity of object
C: Velocity of light (300000km/s found by Maxwell -1879)
M: Mass travelling at velocity and at rest respectively
END

 
GK- Beauties of Mathematics Print
March 2013

o Mathematics is a language of symbols and numbers.  It is a tool for logical analysis and deduction of phenomenon in the universe.  Richard Feynman (1918-1988), a Physics Nobel prize winner in 1965 said so in a lecture on Physical Law in Cornell University in 1964.  He also said the Gravitational Force equation is simple and beautiful although the equation has far reaching applications and there was not another language that could express the complex relationships so well.  The Gravitational Force is one of the 4 forces governing the entire universe and it is the most significant for large objects.  The other 3 forces are electro-magnetic forces, weak radiation force, and strong nuclear force.

o Plato (BC428-348) was a mathematician and philosopher in Greece.  His house door had this signage “Those who do not understand mathematics: No Entry”. His view was that mathematicians discover and not invent.  Mathematicians did not create new concepts, but explore the common looks of everything outside of the human body.  Ref: The Little Book of Mathematics by Robert Solomon in 2008, translation version page 36

o Charles Snow (1905-1980) English physicist and novelist said there were 2 types of people in the universe.  One understands Mathematics to appraise the beauty of the universe, and one does not know.  Ref: Richard Feynman “The Characters of Physical Law” 1965, translation version page 105.

(Hover mouse over to enlarge)


 
 
 

Gravitational Attraction Force between Bodies by Isaac Newton (1642-1727)

F = GM1M2 / D2  

Where
G: Gravitational Constant (67 x 10-12 Nm2kg2)
M: Mass of object 1 and 2 respectively
D: Distance between the two objects

We can use this equation to find the mass of Moon, Earth or the Sun

Period of Orbit in Universe by Johannes Kepler (1571-1630)

P2 = 4π2D3 / G (M1+M2)

Where
P: Period of Orbit of M1 around M2
D: Major axis distance between M1 and M2

Earth is 365 days roughly for 150M km, Venus is 225 days for 108M km, and the Moon and Sun etc

Circulating and Escape Velocities

Vc = √ GM/D Where M is total mass inside the orbit
Ve = √ 2GM/D

To escape Earth, Ve ≈ 104 m/s
To escape Black Hole, Ve > C (the speed of light)

Relativity by Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

γ = 1 / √ (1 – (V/C)2
Mv = γ M0

Where
V: Velocity of object
C: Velocity of light (300000km/s found by Maxwell -1879)
M: Mass travelling at velocity and at rest respectively
END

 
2013-04 Maths, CPU Debate, Storage, Big Data Print
March 2013

Compucon CPD Seminars
10 April 2013 Wed
Compucon House

4:00 - 4:20pm   Beauties of Mathematics (TN)
4:20 - 5:00pm   CPU Update & Technology Debate (TN)
5:10 - 5:30pm   Compucon Storage Direction (Edmond)
5:30 - 6:00pm   Big Data Computer Hardware (Edmond)
6:00 - 7:30pm   Wine & Cheese (All)


Beauties of Mathematics

Plato, Richard Feynman and Charles Snow- well known philosophers, Nobel winner, scientists, and writer spanning 2500 years, have proclaimed the essence and beauties of mathematics.  Plato even stated no entry to those who did not understand mathematics on his house door.  Feynman said mathematics is a language that has no better alternative and quoted the gravitational attraction equation as simplify beautiful.  Feynman was not just a Physics Nobel winner but was well known for his efforts of teaching.  How can we refuse his teaching?  Snow said there were 2 types of people in the world- the intelligent type who understands mathematics to appraise life and the other who does not and waste their life.  This session attempts to talk about Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, Johan Kepler, and the SKA Telescope via mathematics.

CPU Update & Technology Debate

The Intel Tick-Talk clock is about to talk again any time now.  Intel has disclosed some feature and spec info on Haswell which is the 4th generation Multiple Core technology.  What else can be new these days apart from having more cores than before?  Does AMD sit still?  AMD still maintains leadership in graphics from the CPU and will release 8 cores processors for the middle market soon. ARM is twisting a lot of arms these days and is even going into the server space.   We will examine a University of Wisconsin debate report on Intel versus ARM.

Compucon Storage Direction

Compucon has been offering reliable large data storage computer systems for over 10 years.  In the meantime, we are preparing to introduce a software based storage systems as an extension of our coverage.  It is ZFS and not software or host RAID.  ZFS was developed by Sun Microsystems and has been formally incorporated in Solaris 11 for enterprise class of servers.  Our team has looked into 3 implementations of ZFS, tested their performance and user friendliness, learned about their eco-systems, and built up our readiness to support soon.  Our roadmap is scalable from TB to PB and ZB and includes DAS, NAS and SAN.  Edmond will take this opportunity of showing a new and stylist Compucon keyboard.  

Big Data Computer Hardware

Does New Zealand have a market for big data systems and how big is big?  Let us define big here to be a PC system with 10 hard disks or more.  Then we know there are many thousands of customers going into tens of thousands over the next ten years.  This session attempts to assist our peers to be ready when the opportunities are spotted.  We will explain a simple one with 24 disks in a chassis, a design with multiple PC in a single chassis, and finally to blade servers with multiple processing and storage blades in a single chassis.  Pedestal takes a max of 10 disks.  We rely on racks to take more disks as well as for better economies.  We are aware that there is some overlap of big data with high performance computing. 
END

 
OPK Workaround - Installing Windows Server 2012 Essentials Print
March 2013
  • Complete normal Compucon pre-installation
  • Setup wizard window sitting there in perpetual state
  • Confirm SYSPREP is runnig by going alt-tab (it should be behind the setup wizard window)
  • Shift+F10 to bring up command prompt
  • Type explorer.exe
  • Terminate the setup wizard using Task Manager
  • We should now be in sysprep mode
  • This may happen every restart
If this is not done, the WinRE feature may not work. Refer to Daryl and Greg Moore. WinRE is automatically run after 2 unsuccessful Windows startups. (no more F8 options)
 
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