The pride of being Power!

[MauryG5]

Friends of Power comunity, I decided to open the first general discussion on our beloved architecture because this damned Corona Virus COVID-19 is putting a strain on the whole world but it is precisely for this reason that something that concerns us closely, is being setting in motion to resolve the situation. I speak obviously of Summit that for a few days now, it begins to peep out not only in the specific articles of technology and computers where it usually is but rather in the news pages of every day and for everyone. I shared these articles both here and on Facebook as well, just to pay homage and support the work that the United States Energy is doing and to praise our beautiful architecture and our legendary Power 9 because maybe thanks to him there will be a great contribution to defeating COVID-19! Let's say it is a great satisfaction and a pinch of pride for me to see this thing, as a sort of revenge on all those who continue to think that in the world there is only X86 and only with that you can do everything ...! So I'd say Summit come on, we're with you!

[MauryG5]

Dear friends of the Open Power community, seeing no participation I also tell you what reason prompted me to open this post. The excuse was that through Summit I could connect to the serious problem that now afflicts the whole world or Covid-19. Maybe I should have specified it better in the opening mass but I believed that it could be alone a way to connect to the Virus and thus be able to exchange information with you about the situation in different world countries since our community expands precisely in all parts of the globe. Since this is a general section of Power discussion, we can think of taking the opportunity to talk about this big problem. Here in Italy, as you know, I think all of you, a great epidemic broke out, we have become the second most infected country unfortunately and now we are in a really bad way. The government has had to enact a series of amendments which have unfortunately forced us and I rightly say so, not to leave the house any more except for necessities such as work, food, medical examinations and drugs. The climate is surreal, seeing few cars around the streets or anyone around, makes us understand the gravity of the situation. Yesterday 9 Chinese doctors who specialized in COVID-19 arrived in Rome and should help us fight this damned virus. They also brought medical supplies such as masks and other medical instruments. The hospitals in northern Italy are collapsing, 1100 people have died so far and now they are coming to the south from me and the hospitals are also preparing for us. Unfortunately, our government has not been able to take action before and now we are in this absurd situation ... I know there are friends from Germany like my friend MPC 7500 or Flingblackbird, others who are from other states, how are you? evolving the situation from you? We have also started the local super computer to try to find a solution as soon as possible, so not only Summit but also others are working to try to defeat this damned virus ... In any case, we currently situation is dramatic ...

[AbstractConcept]

I am not entirely sure to reply to such such a post; I intend no offense, but your writing is difficult for me to read and respond to in a more conversational manner; therefore I will jump straight to saying:

I suspect it may interest you to hear that Sierra, Summit's smaller CORAL sibling, has also been tasked with SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 related work as well:
Coronavirus: Lawrence Livermore Lab researchers examine virus in hopes of blocking, treating it - ABC7 News (San Francisco news station)

Also slightly on topic, Folding@Home has been working on SARS-CoV-2 proteins as well:
Folding@home update on SARS-CoV-2 (10 Mar 2020)
and FoldIt is also working to a similar goal:
Special update on coronavirus puzzles - round 3 announcement; check homepage (not blog) if round 3 has ended

I do not know if either FoldIt or Folding@Home is available for Power[PC], but if someone has time for puzzles or too many unused threads on their CPU, might be worth taking a look.

[MauryG5]

If you didn't understand the meaning of my post, I launched it both to praise IBM's work and to share this bad experience that is uniting us all over the world because this COVID-19 is becoming a worldwide problem and I wanted to share with the whole Power community which is located in various parts of the world. Except that there is not much participation perhaps the meaning of this post has not been understood ...

[AbstractConcept]

Hmm, I suppose to me praising a company or expressing pride in an architecture seems like a very strange thing to do -- I wish I knew a more delicate way to say it, but what you wrote sounds to me somewhat fanboy-ish or like corporate PR.

I think I share your enthusiasm for Power/PowerPC, and it does make me happy to see Power architecture being put to work and proving itself, but I cannot imagine myself describing that as "pride", nor Power as "beloved". Your wanting to "pay homage" to a company/product also sounds... religious? As if you are a worshiper of Power or IBM.

You write that you are in Italy, so I suspect that something is being lost in translation from Italian?

I point this out not to ridicule your English, but I think your writing *might* be a component of why there were no other responses to this thread. My gut instinct upon reading your post was a suspicion that it might be spam or trolling; or sarcastic. Were I in your shoes I think I might have written something more along the lines of the following for the first post (though were I writing for myself I would write in a different tone):

With COVID-19 putting a strain on the whole world, I am proud to see that Summit is being used help resolve the situation; as this is reaching mainstream news, I have been eagerly sharing information here and on Facebook. I am happy to see US DOE and POWER9 being used to defeat COVID-19! In addition to pride at seeing my favourite architecture at work, it makes for a nice comeback in response to those who say x86 is required to do anything of merit.

[MauryG5]

quiet my english is basic as i have to use the translator to write and therefore it is obvious that something is lost on the street and i won't be offended if you tell me that you don't understand well. About Power I have a passion for this architecture and I have always been a supporter of the X86 alternatives, mine is also a battle against what everyone thinks wrong, I speak of the mass obviously not of us, that X86 just because it is the most used means that it is the best. So I've been carrying on this battle against that architecture for years and I'm proud of it. For the rest I repeat, it was an excuse to share the experiences of each country in these very problematic days, a way to call everyone back from all parts of the world and see how it goes ... Obviously I was wrong ...

[MPC7500]

You should use DeepL. It's far better than Google Translator.

[MauryG5]

Ok thanks MPC, I'll use this and see how it behaves compared to Google translator.

[Borley]

I share your enthusiasm and hope that the momentum behind Power does not get killed by this pandemic.

[MauryG5]

No, let's hope not, Rapotor says that production does not stop in any case as far as the factory is concerned, only that shipments will be delayed due to this emergency that is really putting the whole world to the test. Here in Italy cases continue to increase despite government restrictions, people do not want to understand that they must stay at home to limit the count. I know that unfortunately the cases are increasing in the United States too, and I believe that President Trump must take serious measures to limit the count too ...

[AbstractConcept]

…  I have always been a supporter of the X86 alternatives, mine is also a battle against [the popular assumption] that X86, just because it is the most used, means that it is the best.

I can certainly understand that. There are many less-popular specifications, from SAS to DisplayPort to IEEE-1394/FireWire/i.link that I find myself sympathetic to, where much of the opposition seems to be due to existing popularity/install-base. I only hope Power ISA’s future is more like DisplayPort than FireWire.


It looks like the USA have different policies per-state, but Illinois (where I think Raptor is based) does have computer companies marked as exempt from the stay-at-home order, in Section 1 Subsection 12.n.
https://www2.illinois.gov/Pages/Executive-Orders/ExecutiveOrder2020-10.aspx

[MauryG5]

Of course, the production and shipping of COVID-19 in this period also becomes a serious problem for Raptor, also in Italy in Italy they have closed almost everything except the essential companies and others converted to the production of protective masks. Except that if I'm not mistaken, the production plant, Raptor has it in Texas so maybe they don't have any particular restrictions yet but I don't know what kind of situation is in Texas currently ...

[MPC7500]

There are many less-popular specifications, from SAS to DisplayPort to IEEE-1394/FireWire/i.link that I find myself sympathetic to, where much of the opposition seems to be due to existing popularity/install-base. I only hope Power ISA’s future is more like DisplayPort than FireWire.

Oh yeah, I like IEEE1394 (in 2005 we produced FB6000 from Stryker, which was/is used for brain surgery. This board also used 1394b.) pretty much. Sadly, FW3200 never apeared in the mainstream. NuBus was also very cool back in that date.

[ClassicHasClass]

I just got shipping notification on my dual-8 second Talos II system, so they're definitely getting stuff out as parts come in.

[MPC7500]

That are great news for us and Raptor, too!