From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: from mail-lb0-x22c.google.com (mail-lb0-x22c.google.com [IPv6:2a00:1450:4010:c04::22c]) (using TLSv1 with cipher RC4-SHA (128/128 bits)) (Client CN "smtp.gmail.com", Issuer "Google Internet Authority G2" (verified OK)) by huchra.bufferbloat.net (Postfix) with ESMTPS id D932121F538; Sat, 30 Aug 2014 11:01:53 -0700 (PDT) Received: by mail-lb0-f172.google.com with SMTP id 10so4095613lbg.31 for ; Sat, 30 Aug 2014 11:01:51 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=20120113; h=subject:mime-version:content-type:from:in-reply-to:date:cc :content-transfer-encoding:message-id:references:to; bh=l/Kt/hWWiALN8lFIXwNpGhnffyX8xkIBCpFXPWQqrYU=; b=F/oqOpG3Q6ZttPeeplnhg4iGVKgc0q4orkwg8Naqb1jpXcSWs2e6gRTHfmc7L+2xqT Rv5hmiQAUyGf4lP6jYjNrzUqRjqDP4sqzjhEmMRDrWQKOg7RsJZIy2EMGuuBjGbw/eh3 4n6/COO/SzZdG+3R76enzzncKzpSl2I3vlZKAxYm52jS9sXGnwt7DDbm8y1Bj+mgtBwy C1eJgLavDEXs1FgFKlZR9hPvXAXVb9x1nWiAhKi8qsIE/bbUJ5QOsvX+rRnjLyTl4mRk cjTa98un9dZst0SSl4bL3fFFoFjQtvZ1niK+2gSrCCr5SjbohdkeQQ7I6eIXs9G/fG9A Mewg== X-Received: by 10.152.26.6 with SMTP id h6mr18620412lag.74.1409421711298; Sat, 30 Aug 2014 11:01:51 -0700 (PDT) Received: from bass.home.chromatix.fi (188-67-224-93.bb.dnainternet.fi. [188.67.224.93]) by mx.google.com with ESMTPSA id ue4sm5342466lbc.0.2014.08.30.11.01.49 for (version=TLSv1 cipher=ECDHE-RSA-RC4-SHA bits=128/128); Sat, 30 Aug 2014 11:01:50 -0700 (PDT) Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v1085) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii From: Jonathan Morton In-Reply-To: Date: Sat, 30 Aug 2014 21:01:46 +0300 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Message-Id: References: To: Aaron Wood X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.1085) Cc: cerowrt-devel , bloat Subject: Re: [Cerowrt-devel] [Bloat] Comcast upped service levels -> WNDR3800 can't cope... X-BeenThere: cerowrt-devel@lists.bufferbloat.net X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.13 Precedence: list List-Id: Development issues regarding the cerowrt test router project List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 30 Aug 2014 18:01:54 -0000 On 30 Aug, 2014, at 8:19 pm, Aaron Wood wrote: > Do you think this is a limitation of MIPS as a whole, or just the = particular MIPS cores in use on these platforms? =20 There were historically a great many MIPS designs. Several of the = high-end designs were 64-bit and used in famous workstations. The one = we see in CPE today, however, is the MIPS equivalent of the AMD Geode, = based on an old version of the MIPS architecture, and further crippled = by embedded-style hardware choices. It would have been a good CPU in = 1989, considering that it would have competed against the 486 in the PC = space, but it wouldn't have been hobbled by a 16-bit memory bus back = then. I'm not sure how much effort is going into improving the embeddable = versions of MIPS cores, but certainly ARM seems to be a more active = participant in the embedded space. Their current range of embeddable = cores scales from the Cortex-M0 (whose chief selling point is that it = takes only a fraction of a square millimetre of die space) to some quite = decent 64-bit multicore CPUs (which AMD is developing a server platform = for), with a number of intermediate points along that continuum catered = for. So if a particular core works but proves to have inadequate performance, = a better one can be integrated into the next version of the hardware, = without any risk of having to rewrite all the software. That = future-proofing is probably important to manufacturers, and isn't very = obviously available with MIPS cores. I wouldn't be surprised to see something like a Cortex-A5, or possibly = even a multicore Cortex-A7 in CPE. These are capable of running = conventional multitasking OSes like Linux (and hence OpenWRT), and have = a lot of fully-mature toolchain support. But perhaps they would leave = out the FPU, or configure only the most basic type of FPU (VFPv3-D16), = to save money compared to the NEON unit you'd normally find in a = smartphone. - Jonathan Morton