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Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard - What, Where, When, Why & How much
- Thread starter t0mat0
- Start date
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Some chips coming potentially for Apple.
Mac Daily news here
Register's take here
Eran Dilger's take here
There's a possibility the hardware coming in v3 iPhone will have Snow Leopard OS version running it.
Another thing from the Special OS 3.0 preview - 1 hour 18 minutes 30 odd seconds in, he's starting to talk about location -
"Go and look at his location based on - here in maps" - Genuine slip up, or is Apple going to have a way to dynamically update a given person's actual location, rather than the location of their work or home address, and the presenter nearly give it away?
Looks like the iPhone just got sensors. Will be interesting to see where that goes with Snow Leopard - it's one of several big steps it seems. Looks like they took a while on CCP for a decent reason. To open up the dock connector, and have wireless interaction with sensors is HUGE. Because this can then with BT, Bonjour etc link to Macs too.
Looks like video creation, editing for the masses, via a new iPhone is on the cards.
http://www.roughlydrafted.com/2009/03/20/the-big-30-how-iphone-will-shift-peripheral-devices/
Mac Daily news here
Register's take here
Eran Dilger's take here
There's a possibility the hardware coming in v3 iPhone will have Snow Leopard OS version running it.
Another thing from the Special OS 3.0 preview - 1 hour 18 minutes 30 odd seconds in, he's starting to talk about location -
"Go and look at his location based on - here in maps" - Genuine slip up, or is Apple going to have a way to dynamically update a given person's actual location, rather than the location of their work or home address, and the presenter nearly give it away?
Looks like the iPhone just got sensors. Will be interesting to see where that goes with Snow Leopard - it's one of several big steps it seems. Looks like they took a while on CCP for a decent reason. To open up the dock connector, and have wireless interaction with sensors is HUGE. Because this can then with BT, Bonjour etc link to Macs too.
Looks like video creation, editing for the masses, via a new iPhone is on the cards.
http://www.roughlydrafted.com/2009/03/20/the-big-30-how-iphone-will-shift-peripheral-devices/
I suspect strongly that this will, in fact, be the case - after all, the current iPhone OS is basically Leopard with a few Snow Leopard features.
...and no paging VM, no AppKit, no Carbon, no CoreText, no WindowManager, etc...
it's a pretty different system in a lot of ways.
it's a pretty different system in a lot of ways.
Apple never announced any release date, so there is no "official" delay or any kind of delays. They only gave out a general time frame which is June/July when they said "a year from now" at last June's WWDC.
Strange to see no mention of Snow Leopard on the skim through of this article
http://www.infoworld.com/article/09...s_pose_next_big_challenge_for_industry_2.html
Will add news soon.
http://www.infoworld.com/article/09...s_pose_next_big_challenge_for_industry_2.html
Will add news soon.
After snow leopard, i just really want a big leap in the way we use our Macs.
A lot more features (UI features) and different ways of organizing things, ect.
For years we have just used the folders technique, and we shall carry on to, most probably, but a different way of using them, like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0ODskdEPnQ
No, it's not practical realistically, but it's doing things differently.
And this could be done with a mouse, it doesn't matter, i just want a new way of doing things (and innovative). Greedy it sounds, but i reckon it's true for most users of any OS. So far Apple has been the best at this, and this is why i own a Mac, but i think so much more can be done, that is within developers limits.
Bit off topic of snow leopard, i just wish it wasn't all about speed, but of course we don't know that it's only about speed, could be about more stuff, but not many new features, as they said it won't be focusing on them.
But i hope it wow's us
Apple hasn't let anyone down so far. I know people were whining about copy & Paste, but they sorted it out, so it's all good.
-Sam
A lot more features (UI features) and different ways of organizing things, ect.
For years we have just used the folders technique, and we shall carry on to, most probably, but a different way of using them, like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0ODskdEPnQ
No, it's not practical realistically, but it's doing things differently.
And this could be done with a mouse, it doesn't matter, i just want a new way of doing things (and innovative). Greedy it sounds, but i reckon it's true for most users of any OS. So far Apple has been the best at this, and this is why i own a Mac, but i think so much more can be done, that is within developers limits.
Bit off topic of snow leopard, i just wish it wasn't all about speed, but of course we don't know that it's only about speed, could be about more stuff, but not many new features, as they said it won't be focusing on them.
But i hope it wow's us
Apple hasn't let anyone down so far. I know people were whining about copy & Paste, but they sorted it out, so it's all good. -Sam
What I don't see is what Cocoa does with Finder for us, average users? Can't find anything about it...
Anyway, here's my list of frustrations in the current OSX:
1) When deleting a file in Finder, it jumps to the folder above. For instance, if I have a photo-album with hard-to-remember names ("CIMG1567") I have to search all the way back and find the last file I've been before deleting. Very annoying and not handy
That's the only thing actually! But ok, there are some other things too:
2) iTunes does not "remember" my sorting in folders. When I select an artist, I want the albums to be sorted on year. Ok, maybe it's too difficult to set this as default for all the artists, but at least remember it if I sort it in the artist-folder!
3) My WLAN connects some times to the wrong network, even that I have my own network on top of the list (where that other network is not included).
4) Open At Login + Hide does not work for all apps. For instance: Mail. I want that my Mail is running automatically so I can see if I got new mail, but I don't want to see the whole application window on my desktop every time!
5) When copying files and the connections fails, the Finder window with the progressions does not go away. Hitting the "x" won't help, you have to restart Finder.
Sorry for this off-topic list, I was just wondering what the Finder update will do (I hope it will solve at least the first thing on my list) and got excited on the way!
Anyway, here's my list of frustrations in the current OSX:
1) When deleting a file in Finder, it jumps to the folder above. For instance, if I have a photo-album with hard-to-remember names ("CIMG1567") I have to search all the way back and find the last file I've been before deleting. Very annoying and not handy
That's the only thing actually!
But ok, there are some other things too:2) iTunes does not "remember" my sorting in folders. When I select an artist, I want the albums to be sorted on year. Ok, maybe it's too difficult to set this as default for all the artists, but at least remember it if I sort it in the artist-folder!
3) My WLAN connects some times to the wrong network, even that I have my own network on top of the list (where that other network is not included).
4) Open At Login + Hide does not work for all apps. For instance: Mail. I want that my Mail is running automatically so I can see if I got new mail, but I don't want to see the whole application window on my desktop every time!
5) When copying files and the connections fails, the Finder window with the progressions does not go away. Hitting the "x" won't help, you have to restart Finder.
Sorry for this off-topic list, I was just wondering what the Finder update will do (I hope it will solve at least the first thing on my list) and got excited on the way!
What I don't see is what Cocoa does with Finder for us, average users? Can't find anything about it...
Anyway, here's my list of frustrations in the current OSX:
1) When deleting a file in Finder, it jumps to the folder above. For instance, if I have a photo-album with hard-to-remember names ("CIMG1567") I have to search all the way back and find the last file I've been before deleting. Very annoying and not handy
That's the only thing actually!
2) iTunes does not "remember" my sorting in folders. When I select an artist, I want the albums to be sorted on year. Ok, maybe it's too difficult to set this as default for all the artists, but at least remember it if I sort it in the artist-folder!
3) My WLAN connects some times to the wrong network, even that I have my own network on top of the list (where that other network is not included).
4) Open At Login + Hide does not work for all apps. For instance: Mail. I want that my Mail is running automatically so I can see if I got new mail, but I don't want to see the whole application window on my desktop every time!
5) When copying files and the connections fails, the Finder window with the progressions does not go away. Hitting the "x" won't help, you have to restart Finder.
Sorry for this off-topic list, I was just wondering what the Finder update will do (I hope it will solve at least the first thing on my list) and got excited on the way!
Cocoa version of Finder probably will not be any different from the Carbon version. Apple is just trying to finish up the total Carbon to Cocoa conversion for all of their apps and Finder is the last major app that hasn't be converted. It is possible we'll see better performance when dealing with network drives (improved multithreading support) and possible tabs but I don't think we'll see any changes at all except for very minor subtle changes such as icon refreshes. Maybe they'll finally remove all the Aqua parts of the GUI.
Who knows. We'll find out in a couple of months.
I'd probably say they'll fix alot of problems up as well given that this is the opportunity to make the disruptive changes and fix somethings once and for all. It probably didn't make sense before given that they were planning to move to Cocoa so instead of changes to a dead code base they thought it probably be best rolling up into a big project and do all at the same time.
Finder hasn't really changed much for the past what 10 years? Somehow I doubt it'll be visually any different other than a straight Cocoa conversion in Snow Leopard. My feeling is that theyll change the underlying code, optimize it to death for Snow Leopard with major changes planned for next version just like how they are placing Snow Leopard as optimized stable code base for the next several OS versions.
As for your disruptive comment, Snow leopard isn't the opportunity to make "disruptive" changes, it is the opportunity to clean up, improve and optimize the OS so they can continue to make disruptive changes in the next several versions without hacking the OS to do so. They are trying to avoid or bypass the Windows curse, where all the new features and major changes to OS on top of the aging twenty years old NT code base would turn out to be a disaster (Vista, ME). Notice how XP after ME so far is one of the best OS releases MS ever did and the very similar reactions to Windows 7 after Vista? Apple is in place to release the best OS X release too, hopefully even though Apple is very different from MS.
It is possible I am totally wrong about this.
Ah yes, I keep forgetting about iTunes. I don't think we'll see it in SL but considering the history of Apple releasing iTunes on its own, they probably don't have a goal to get the new Cocoa iTunes into SL especially with the recent release of 8.1 which had a lot of performance improvements.
Interesting:
"Apple close to unveiling guarded Snow Leopard UI overhaul" article by AppleInsider here
Developer builds have apparently not included some features of Snow Leopard, including a potential major UI overhaul, Which Apple "is now preparing for broader consumption, AppleInsider has been told."
The next build will "unleash some of the biggest changes to the next-gen OS since Apple first previewed the software to developers" at June 2008 WWDC.
Changes possible - Overhaul of Mac OS X User Interface - Platinum theme to go, Marble likely to come. (More pictures in the article). The Quicktime Player of the most recent of Snow Leopard is an indication most likely.
AppleInsider are pinning a retail release by August, within 2 months of WWDC 2009, with a lot more info at WWDC 2009.
http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/03/snow-leopard-ui-overhaul-may-entice-consumers-at-wwdc.ars
I'll check in the thread, but isn't there a normal lead time of >4 weeks anyhow, from last major build, to Gold Master and release?
If they're thinking 2 months, that'll mean the frenzy of updates, before going quiet would occur after the start of WWDC. So they could promo the stuff they haven't shown, then give a build which has it, get those features specifically tested, then ship?
We'll see.
"Apple close to unveiling guarded Snow Leopard UI overhaul" article by AppleInsider here
Developer builds have apparently not included some features of Snow Leopard, including a potential major UI overhaul, Which Apple "is now preparing for broader consumption, AppleInsider has been told."
The next build will "unleash some of the biggest changes to the next-gen OS since Apple first previewed the software to developers" at June 2008 WWDC.
Changes possible - Overhaul of Mac OS X User Interface - Platinum theme to go, Marble likely to come. (More pictures in the article). The Quicktime Player of the most recent of Snow Leopard is an indication most likely.
AppleInsider are pinning a retail release by August, within 2 months of WWDC 2009, with a lot more info at WWDC 2009.
http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/03/snow-leopard-ui-overhaul-may-entice-consumers-at-wwdc.ars
I'll check in the thread, but isn't there a normal lead time of >4 weeks anyhow, from last major build, to Gold Master and release?
If they're thinking 2 months, that'll mean the frenzy of updates, before going quiet would occur after the start of WWDC. So they could promo the stuff they haven't shown, then give a build which has it, get those features specifically tested, then ship?
We'll see.
Now that's cool!
Something like that would fit in perfectly with Compiz Fusion, I think. I bookmarked their web site and I may just sign up to be a beta tester. I'm not sure how well it'll run on my present G4 Mac mini, but if I can run it, I'll try it out. If not, well then... it'll have to wait until I eventually get my MacBook.
knowing Apple it will probably be September but im thinking it wont be the 30th. im betting September 1st to 15th.
http://i.gizmodo.com/5183416/onlive-demos-streaming-games-yes-thats-crysis-on-integrated-graphics
Onlinve demo is worth watching.
With WWDC now announced:
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9130538
An article showing the potential for having much higher physical upper limits on RAM, with Nehalem.
Africangecko - In your position, why not just get the Mac Pro? then you can easily buy 10.6 when it comes out. It'll be solid on Leopard, and you can install 10.6 when you want. The ones with a real bind hardware wise are iMac, laptop buyers, who have to wait till Nehalem comes out - laptops with Nehalem will be post WWDC, though they might spring a Nehalem iMac on us.
Will their be software announcements/launches alongside Snow Leopard/at WWDC?
Anthony Frausto-Robledo at Architosh.com http://architosh.com/2009/03/commentary-snow-leopard-may-make-june/http://architosh.com/2009/03/commentary-snow-leopard-may-make-june/ about a rumor - "A major developer is aiming their Snow Leopard dependent release for the June time-frame"
So hinting
a) There are people developing for 64-bit / concurrency optimisation through Grand Central
b) Snow Leopard launch time-frame
The source is noted as "a solid source on a major developer" with this major developer apparently "waiting to release their big new application for the Mac but cannot do so until Snow Leopard is out due to 64-bit dependancies."
Archistosh article can't apparently "divulge the particular developer in question", but hints "the major software company has a unique and particular relationship with Apple, one that goes back years and years. We can tell you this: we are not talking about Adobe."
So who would that be? Message your thoughts!
With the previous rumour that Apple is close to opening up more about Snow Leopard (User Interface at least), it'll be interesting to see what happens for the next build. (Current build for 10.6 is and was released to developers
There's been no rapid once a week build cycle as of yet - which is they're aiming for June, is potentially going to happen in April - bearing in mind that WWDC will give developers time to see what the differences are, and the changes, and how to implement them.
10.5.7 has been having a near weekly cycle -
29 March 9J39 build Notes here
21 March 9J34 build
13 March 9J30 build
07 March 9J27 build
~27 Feb 9J22 build
10.6 Snow Leopard so far:
09 Jun 2008 10A96
25 Oct 2008 10A190
04 Dec 2008 10a222
04 Feb 2009 10A261
06 March 2009 10A286 - with a shift towards emphasising 64-bit.
WWDC Session information
It's simultaneously giving information, but also what we could already expect - info thus far here - no session timings yet, as you'd expect, just general sessions for iPhone, Mac, IT - covering iPhone, Snow Leopard features that we already know.
That 27 - 28 May session in Moscone West still hasn't been identified...
OpenCL
NVidia has recently revealed that there might be a slight possibility for them porting their PhysX API over to OpenCL.
Currently, a GPU needs to support NVidia's CUDA to accelerate PhysX on the GPU.
AMD has been demoing OpenCL-based Havok physics also, at the Game Developers Conference (GDC). (Havok being Intel-owned)
Put another way:
Neal Trevett is Nvidia's VP of mobile content, and is also president of the Khronos Group, and the chair for OpenCL.
"We're in this to make money, but we don't make money by selling standards."
OpenCL basically allows:
OpenCL goes from HPC to desktop to laptop to handheld. The above quote is from this article. Interestingly, it also points out that
"Intel's Larrabee crew - the engineers creating that GPU/CPU hybrid - are deeply involved in the evolving OpenCL spec"
OpenCL might be an open specification - but Apple is potentially putting itself years ahead, through preparing via PA Semi etc- they're getting custom chips ready, custom OS, on custom hardware. Imagination Technologies hiring for OpenCL engineers may or may not be an example of a hint of what's to come.
Just as a side point - Cisco buying Pure Digital (who put out the Flip video camera). Much though Enderle can be a biased pita -
he points out in this article vReveal software - Which uses GPU to improve video. (article on it here) They're v. likely to become OpenCL compliant soon. The technology to get stills from individual frames is simple, but beyond that - the ability to improve an image, through using frames nearby the one you're interested brings up potential options also. Whilst you'll likely get a better quality still from a camera, the quality from a video recorder is going up.
OnLive
Also in the news, it has to be said - OnLive looks epic. you got a 20Mbit connection in central US? Hit that beta application!
Co-incidence? (Flag words: NVidia, custom-brewed hardware, "new video compression technology", "massive parallel processing". If this isn't on Apple's territory, then they sure are similar things to what might be more achievable with 10.6 and some extreme tweaking (OnLive reports they have some pretty specific custom silicon).
Pretty upturned world when the graphics is farmed out, and you're using the GPU in the machine to help the CPU, for the game...
Onlinve demo is worth watching.
With WWDC now announced:
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9130538
An article showing the potential for having much higher physical upper limits on RAM, with Nehalem.
Africangecko - In your position, why not just get the Mac Pro? then you can easily buy 10.6 when it comes out. It'll be solid on Leopard, and you can install 10.6 when you want. The ones with a real bind hardware wise are iMac, laptop buyers, who have to wait till Nehalem comes out - laptops with Nehalem will be post WWDC, though they might spring a Nehalem iMac on us.
Will their be software announcements/launches alongside Snow Leopard/at WWDC?
Anthony Frausto-Robledo at Architosh.com http://architosh.com/2009/03/commentary-snow-leopard-may-make-june/http://architosh.com/2009/03/commentary-snow-leopard-may-make-june/ about a rumor - "A major developer is aiming their Snow Leopard dependent release for the June time-frame"
So hinting
a) There are people developing for 64-bit / concurrency optimisation through Grand Central
b) Snow Leopard launch time-frame
The source is noted as "a solid source on a major developer" with this major developer apparently "waiting to release their big new application for the Mac but cannot do so until Snow Leopard is out due to 64-bit dependancies."
Archistosh article can't apparently "divulge the particular developer in question", but hints "the major software company has a unique and particular relationship with Apple, one that goes back years and years. We can tell you this: we are not talking about Adobe."
So who would that be? Message your thoughts!
With the previous rumour that Apple is close to opening up more about Snow Leopard (User Interface at least), it'll be interesting to see what happens for the next build. (Current build for 10.6 is and was released to developers
There's been no rapid once a week build cycle as of yet - which is they're aiming for June, is potentially going to happen in April - bearing in mind that WWDC will give developers time to see what the differences are, and the changes, and how to implement them.
10.5.7 has been having a near weekly cycle -
29 March 9J39 build Notes here
21 March 9J34 build
13 March 9J30 build
07 March 9J27 build
~27 Feb 9J22 build
10.6 Snow Leopard so far:
09 Jun 2008 10A96
25 Oct 2008 10A190
04 Dec 2008 10a222
04 Feb 2009 10A261
06 March 2009 10A286 - with a shift towards emphasising 64-bit.
WWDC Session information
It's simultaneously giving information, but also what we could already expect - info thus far here - no session timings yet, as you'd expect, just general sessions for iPhone, Mac, IT - covering iPhone, Snow Leopard features that we already know.
That 27 - 28 May session in Moscone West still hasn't been identified...
OpenCL
NVidia has recently revealed that there might be a slight possibility for them porting their PhysX API over to OpenCL.
Currently, a GPU needs to support NVidia's CUDA to accelerate PhysX on the GPU.
AMD has been demoing OpenCL-based Havok physics also, at the Game Developers Conference (GDC). (Havok being Intel-owned)
Put another way:
Neal Trevett is Nvidia's VP of mobile content, and is also president of the Khronos Group, and the chair for OpenCL.
"We're in this to make money, but we don't make money by selling standards."
OpenCL basically allows:
OpenCL goes from HPC to desktop to laptop to handheld. The above quote is from this article. Interestingly, it also points out that
"Intel's Larrabee crew - the engineers creating that GPU/CPU hybrid - are deeply involved in the evolving OpenCL spec"
OpenCL might be an open specification - but Apple is potentially putting itself years ahead, through preparing via PA Semi etc- they're getting custom chips ready, custom OS, on custom hardware. Imagination Technologies hiring for OpenCL engineers may or may not be an example of a hint of what's to come.
Just as a side point - Cisco buying Pure Digital (who put out the Flip video camera). Much though Enderle can be a biased pita -
he points out in this article vReveal software - Which uses GPU to improve video. (article on it here) They're v. likely to become OpenCL compliant soon. The technology to get stills from individual frames is simple, but beyond that - the ability to improve an image, through using frames nearby the one you're interested brings up potential options also. Whilst you'll likely get a better quality still from a camera, the quality from a video recorder is going up.
OnLive
Also in the news, it has to be said - OnLive looks epic. you got a 20Mbit connection in central US? Hit that beta application!
Co-incidence? (Flag words: NVidia, custom-brewed hardware, "new video compression technology", "massive parallel processing". If this isn't on Apple's territory, then they sure are similar things to what might be more achievable with 10.6 and some extreme tweaking (OnLive reports they have some pretty specific custom silicon).
Pretty upturned world when the graphics is farmed out, and you're using the GPU in the machine to help the CPU, for the game...
So the WWDC has been announced for June 8th.
I'm going to be buying a new Mac Pro 2.26, but was planning on waiting the 2 months until snow leopard comes out, but now I'm reading that it probably won't go on sale until August, which is quite a long time to wait.
Is it likely that they will only release it about 2 months after the WWDC and is it just a bit of a waste waiting that long when I can just update the OS when they ship it.
I'm a bit torn as you can read, but my currest PC is really slow so I'm going to get a big boost with a new Mac.
Cheers for any help and predictions.
I'm going to be buying a new Mac Pro 2.26, but was planning on waiting the 2 months until snow leopard comes out, but now I'm reading that it probably won't go on sale until August, which is quite a long time to wait.
Is it likely that they will only release it about 2 months after the WWDC and is it just a bit of a waste waiting that long when I can just update the OS when they ship it.
I'm a bit torn as you can read, but my currest PC is really slow so I'm going to get a big boost with a new Mac.
Cheers for any help and predictions.
XServe, Snow Leopard rumors
AppleInsider reports here that Apple might release updated XServes in a few weeks (last update in Jan 2008). Expected to use Intel Xeon 3500 "Bloomfield" / Xeon 5500 "Gainestown" processors (as seen in the new Mac Pros - they were only officially introduced v recently though).
Single processor:1x 2.66GHz, 2.93GHz, 3.2GHz Quad Core Bloomfield CPU
Dual processor: 2x 2.26GHz, 2.66GHz, 2.8GHz, or 2.93GHz Quad Core Gainestown CPU.
Will we see GPGU for XServe now, or in the next update? Will the new XServe and current Mac line up have a decent bump from Snow Leopard? We'll see. The XServe, bar the Mac Pro, seems the one of the best Macs in Apple's lineup to get the most from improvements coming from Grand Central Dispatch and other changes.
Will SME and others want to use 10.6 on their XServe, this new version or current ones, or wait awhile? Will be interesting to watch uptake in business, in comparison to Vista/Windows 7.
One other question to you all - who might be the "major developer" who may or may not be "waiting to release their big new application for the Mac but cannot do so until Snow Leopard is out due to 64-bit dependancies." ?
Will have to wait, like with Mac Pro to get some decent benchmarks on 10.5, but for now, the taster quotes seem appealing:
- a ~50% reduction in system idle power compared to the previous generation.
- Idle cores able to power down independently
- Capgemini, "one of the world's largest business and IT consultancy firms" noticed "an enormous performance increase up to 500%, while the power usage dropped a staggering 65%"
It also brings up the issue of ZFS in Snow Leopard read/write for 10.6 Server edition at least.
Snow Leopard Roadmap
AppleInsider has a few more tidbits about Snow Leopard here
They've been "provided with a bit more clarity on Apple's pre-release build cycles for Snow Leopard" and also "tipped off to several Pro application updates currently undergoing beta tests."
Roadmap 1st: It currently, from their information, calls for the release of three 'key' builds through the company's high-membership Apple Developer Connection (ADC).
Build 1 - between now and WWDC (8th June). "This build will reportedly include "big updates" to system components and functionality."
Build 2 - Arriving alongside WWDC so June 8th.
Expected to be the 1st build that's "feature complete," , "bundling significant changes to the Mac OS X interface, assuming those changes are not approved for inclusion in the aforementioned build."
Build 3 - 3rd and final build - A few weeks after WWDC - "tentatively scheduled to make its way to developers in the weeks between WWDC and the software's formal release. This build is expected to serve as a lead-in to the final candidate stage that precedes the declaration of a Gold Master build suited for duplication on optical media."
So Feature complete at WWDC, then 2 months later, around August, a release. Apple also likely to have a flurry of builds just before going quiet, taking a month or so, then going GM.
Pro App updates
Will be interesting to see what Xsan has in store, in relation to the Nehalem Xeon boost for the XServe update that's on the books.
OpenCL (again)
Interesting to see on hpcwire.com about PRACE here. PRACE is Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe - They'll be looking at a range of system and component prototypes for multi-Petaflop/s class systems. They're getting prototypes made up.
The following PRACE partner sites:
CINECA (Italian universities) Looking at SSD amongst other things.
EPSRC-EPCC (Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre, UK) - part of the FPGA High Performance Computing Alliance (FHPCA) will look at their "Maxwell" FPGA prototype supercomputer.
ETHZ-CSCS (Swiss National Supercomputing Centre, Switzerland) - study new parallel programming paradigms (e.g. PGAS (Co-Array Fortran, UPC) and DARPA HPCS language (like Cray's Chapel) on a 3328 cores Cray XT3 system.)
FZJ (Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany) "will provide a power efficient special-purpose architecture called eQPACE for lattice Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD)." based on IBM PowerXCell 8i processors and a custom 3d-torus interconnect implemented within FPGAs supporting presently only nearest-neighbor communication. One of the main goals will be to extend the concept to general all-to-all communication. So that's a 3D shaped beast then.
GENCI-CEA (Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique, France) - hybrid system of nVIDIA Tesla S1070 coupled with BULL Novascale R425 systems. (Bull help out with Tesla anyhow). - Will evaluate different programming environments like CUDA, HMPP (from CAPS Entreprise), OpenCL and the GPU aware version of Allinea's DDT debugger.
BAdW-LRZ (Leibniz Supercomputing Centre, Germany) will assess new data stream parallel programming language RapidMind on x86 multicore systems and multiple accelerators (nVIDIA and AMD/ATI GPUs, IBM Cell and Intel Larrabee).
BAdW-LRZ and GENCI-CINES - look at SGI thin nodes (ICE system) and fat nodes (UltraViolet) coupled with Clearspeed (e710 boards) and Intel Larrabee GPUs. Planning to evaluate novel hardware (Intel Nehalem-EP/EX processors, NUMAlink5 and 4X QDR Infiniband networks, Clearspeed accelerators and Intel Larrabee manycore GPUs) as well as software components (Lustre filesystem) on synthetic benchmarks and real applications.
Results should be interesting.
AppleInsider reports here that Apple might release updated XServes in a few weeks (last update in Jan 2008). Expected to use Intel Xeon 3500 "Bloomfield" / Xeon 5500 "Gainestown" processors (as seen in the new Mac Pros - they were only officially introduced v recently though).
Single processor:1x 2.66GHz, 2.93GHz, 3.2GHz Quad Core Bloomfield CPU
Dual processor: 2x 2.26GHz, 2.66GHz, 2.8GHz, or 2.93GHz Quad Core Gainestown CPU.
Will we see GPGU for XServe now, or in the next update? Will the new XServe and current Mac line up have a decent bump from Snow Leopard? We'll see. The XServe, bar the Mac Pro, seems the one of the best Macs in Apple's lineup to get the most from improvements coming from Grand Central Dispatch and other changes.
Will SME and others want to use 10.6 on their XServe, this new version or current ones, or wait awhile? Will be interesting to watch uptake in business, in comparison to Vista/Windows 7.
One other question to you all - who might be the "major developer" who may or may not be "waiting to release their big new application for the Mac but cannot do so until Snow Leopard is out due to 64-bit dependancies." ?
Will have to wait, like with Mac Pro to get some decent benchmarks on 10.5, but for now, the taster quotes seem appealing:
- a ~50% reduction in system idle power compared to the previous generation.
- Idle cores able to power down independently
- Capgemini, "one of the world's largest business and IT consultancy firms" noticed "an enormous performance increase up to 500%, while the power usage dropped a staggering 65%"
It also brings up the issue of ZFS in Snow Leopard read/write for 10.6 Server edition at least.
Snow Leopard Roadmap
AppleInsider has a few more tidbits about Snow Leopard here
They've been "provided with a bit more clarity on Apple's pre-release build cycles for Snow Leopard" and also "tipped off to several Pro application updates currently undergoing beta tests."
Roadmap 1st: It currently, from their information, calls for the release of three 'key' builds through the company's high-membership Apple Developer Connection (ADC).
Build 1 - between now and WWDC (8th June). "This build will reportedly include "big updates" to system components and functionality."
Build 2 - Arriving alongside WWDC so June 8th.
Expected to be the 1st build that's "feature complete," , "bundling significant changes to the Mac OS X interface, assuming those changes are not approved for inclusion in the aforementioned build."
Build 3 - 3rd and final build - A few weeks after WWDC - "tentatively scheduled to make its way to developers in the weeks between WWDC and the software's formal release. This build is expected to serve as a lead-in to the final candidate stage that precedes the declaration of a Gold Master build suited for duplication on optical media."
So Feature complete at WWDC, then 2 months later, around August, a release. Apple also likely to have a flurry of builds just before going quiet, taking a month or so, then going GM.
Pro App updates
Will be interesting to see what Xsan has in store, in relation to the Nehalem Xeon boost for the XServe update that's on the books.
OpenCL (again)
Interesting to see on hpcwire.com about PRACE here. PRACE is Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe - They'll be looking at a range of system and component prototypes for multi-Petaflop/s class systems. They're getting prototypes made up.
The following PRACE partner sites:
CINECA (Italian universities) Looking at SSD amongst other things.
EPSRC-EPCC (Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre, UK) - part of the FPGA High Performance Computing Alliance (FHPCA) will look at their "Maxwell" FPGA prototype supercomputer.
ETHZ-CSCS (Swiss National Supercomputing Centre, Switzerland) - study new parallel programming paradigms (e.g. PGAS (Co-Array Fortran, UPC) and DARPA HPCS language (like Cray's Chapel) on a 3328 cores Cray XT3 system.)
FZJ (Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany) "will provide a power efficient special-purpose architecture called eQPACE for lattice Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD)." based on IBM PowerXCell 8i processors and a custom 3d-torus interconnect implemented within FPGAs supporting presently only nearest-neighbor communication. One of the main goals will be to extend the concept to general all-to-all communication. So that's a 3D shaped beast then.
GENCI-CEA (Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique, France) - hybrid system of nVIDIA Tesla S1070 coupled with BULL Novascale R425 systems. (Bull help out with Tesla anyhow). - Will evaluate different programming environments like CUDA, HMPP (from CAPS Entreprise), OpenCL and the GPU aware version of Allinea's DDT debugger.
BAdW-LRZ (Leibniz Supercomputing Centre, Germany) will assess new data stream parallel programming language RapidMind on x86 multicore systems and multiple accelerators (nVIDIA and AMD/ATI GPUs, IBM Cell and Intel Larrabee).
BAdW-LRZ and GENCI-CINES - look at SGI thin nodes (ICE system) and fat nodes (UltraViolet) coupled with Clearspeed (e710 boards) and Intel Larrabee GPUs. Planning to evaluate novel hardware (Intel Nehalem-EP/EX processors, NUMAlink5 and 4X QDR Infiniband networks, Clearspeed accelerators and Intel Larrabee manycore GPUs) as well as software components (Lustre filesystem) on synthetic benchmarks and real applications.
Results should be interesting.
Attachments
10A314 seed
Anyone care to add details? Appleinsider adds info here (saying there aren't interface changes apparent).
From pretty much the 3rd place on google search indexed for "10A314":
09 Jun 2008 10A96
25 Oct 2008 10A190
04 Dec 2008 10a222
04 Feb 2009 10A261
06 March 2009 10A286
02 April 2009 10A314
WorldOfApple is saying that Xcode is seeing "significant performance improvements when building, searching, or indexing due to adoption of Grand Central technology. " (The GCD (libdispatch) and OpenCL APIs saw a decent improvement in the 10A261 build from WoA notes) - haven't heard from any developers about snappyness from GCD in XCode or elsewhere yet.
Anyone care to add details? Appleinsider adds info here (saying there aren't interface changes apparent).
From pretty much the 3rd place on google search indexed for "10A314":
09 Jun 2008 10A96
25 Oct 2008 10A190
04 Dec 2008 10a222
04 Feb 2009 10A261
06 March 2009 10A286
02 April 2009 10A314
WorldOfApple is saying that Xcode is seeing "significant performance improvements when building, searching, or indexing due to adoption of Grand Central technology. " (The GCD (libdispatch) and OpenCL APIs saw a decent improvement in the 10A261 build from WoA notes) - haven't heard from any developers about snappyness from GCD in XCode or elsewhere yet.
If that wasn't so nicely and thoughtfully programmed I would call it moronic, however, if you take this principle to the ENTIRE COMPUTER and not just a desktop, this idea is utterly brilliant.
Entire computer organization is now very complex and hairy. If there was a way to have boxes with folders and documents and you can work over the entire organization of the computer as well as where everything is, it would probably clear up lots of trouble most folks have with computers.
Personally, on Windows, I can never figure out where the computer is hiding all the files and preferences and things. There is always some new little nook the OS hides data within.
Converting the entire function of a computer to simplistic, practical visuals would be excellent.