• IHeartBadCode
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    1562 years ago

    For hardware folks: Using RISC-V.

    Legit, some dude in US Congress is wanting to crack down on China via… RISC-V exports, because oh no, the technology is too open and might give China some of our IP. Oh and by the way, dude has a pretty big Intel portfolio, but nevermind that!!

    As an aside, why the hell are lawmakers allowed to trade stocks?

    • @Fried_out_Kombi@lemmy.world
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      2 years ago

      It’s especially dumb because RISC-V is – dare I say it – inevitably the future. Trying to crack down on RISC-V is like trying to crack down on Linux or solar photovoltaics or wind turbines. That is, you can try to crack down, but the fundamental value proposition is simply too good. All you’ll achieve in cracking down is hurting yourself while everyone else gets ahead.

      • @rockSlayer@lemmy.world
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        2 years ago

        I’d compare it to the RSA encryption algorithm. It was classified as a weapon by the US and was banned from being spread internationally, so open source advocates put the source code basically everywhere. It was even printed on shirts

      • The Doctor
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        42 years ago

        There’s no trust there. They’re in power and have a good deal of money, so there isn’t a whole lot we can actually do about it. Arguably, wanting power for the express purposes of making a buck and being less accountable for anything is a good reason for running for office.

      • @Fried_out_Kombi@lemmy.world
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        2 years ago

        This talk, given by David Patterson (a legend in computer architecture and one of the people who helped create RISC-V at UC Berkeley) is an excellent (and accessible) introduction.

        • Otter
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          52 years ago

          I got confused seeing my university’s YouTube channel open up, thought I clicked on a recording for one of my classes lol

          If anyone else is from UBC, we’re over at !UBC@lemmy.ca

        • peopleproblems
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          52 years ago

          Thank you so much for that. I haven’t touched hardware in a long time, but it’s exciting to see how much impact it’s already had on ML.

          Also, the bit about a 63,000x improvement over python is going to be something I bring up in a conversation I just see it.

          • @Fried_out_Kombi@lemmy.world
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            2 years ago

            Yeah, I’m working in embedded ML, and it’s an insanely exciting time. We’re getting more and more microcontrollers and single-board computers with special AI accelerators, many of them RISC-V, by the day it seems. One of the next steps (in my opinion) is finding a good way to program them that doesn’t involve C/C++ (very fast but also so painful to do AI with) or Python (slow unless it’s wrapping underlying C code, and unsuitable for microcontrollers). In fact, that’s exactly what I’m working on right now as a side project.

            What’s also cool is RISC-V promises to be the one instruction set architecture to rule them all. So instead of having PCs as x86, phones and microcontrollers as ARM, then all sorts of other custom architectures like DSPs (digital signal processors), NPUs, etc., we could just have RISC-V with a bunch of open standard extensions. Want vector instructions? Well, here’s a ratified open standard for vector instructions. Want SIMD instructions? Congrats, here’s another ratified open standard.

            And all these standards mean it will make it so much easier for the compiler people to provide support for new chips. A day not too long from now, I imagine it will become almost trivial to compile programs that can accelerate tons of scientific, numerical, and AI workloads onto RISC-V vector instructions. Currently, we’re stuck using GPUs for everything that needs parallelization, even though they’re far from the easiest or most optimal devices for many of our computational needs.

            As computing advances, we can just create and ratify new open standards. Tired of floating point numbers? You could create a proposal for a standard posit extension today if you wanted to, then fork LLVM or GCC or something to provide the software support as well. In fact, someone already has implemented an open-source RISC-V chip with posit arithmetic and made a fork of LLVM to support it. You could fire it up on an FPGA right now if you wanted.

    • To answer your question, because we the people allowed it and we continue to allow it by not demanding it be ended or at the very least supporting candidates campaigning on doing something about it.

      • @madcaesar@lemmy.world
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        -12 years ago

        By people, you mean the Republican voter. We Democrats can’t put pressure on our candidates about these issues because losing means a batshit insane right wing / nazi / Christian nationalist wins…

        So we have to pick and chose our battles. I’ve got bigger issues than multi millionaires being allowed to trade stocks.

    • @TheImpressiveX@lemmy.ml
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      42 years ago

      While we’re on the topic, can anyone recommend some good RISC-V computers? It seems interesting and I’d like to try it out.

  • @Mokujin@lemmy.world
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    762 years ago

    I never knew adblockers were a thing until the most recent hubbub with YouTube, so I went down a rabbit hole and the world is a better place.

    Imagine what I might learn tomorrow.

        • @morrowind@lemmy.ml
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          82 years ago

          I got a mechnical keyboard after listening to you internet nerds and have been sorely disappointed

          • @Rambi@lemm.ee
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            22 years ago

            Really? That’s surprising. Are you just indifferent about the clickiness?

            I definitely aren’t as fanatical about them as most people, I don’t mind using non mech keys. But I definitely prefer using a nice mech keyboard when I have the option.

        • Do I need a mechanical keyboard if my typing speed is around 60 wpm? I don’t type fast, which is why I never saw the appeal of mechanical keyboards

          • @Rambi@lemm.ee
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            32 years ago

            Well a mechanical keyboard could help you type a little faster actually. I think the primary appeal of them is that they feel nice to type on though. Another reason people buy them is because they’re good for playing games competitively such as CS:GO.

              • @Rambi@lemm.ee
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                2 years ago

                That’s a nice keyboard, I personally can’t stand the “gamer aesthetic” so it looks good to me. I used to use a Cherry keyboard which looked like one of those large beige keyboards from the 90s, which I liked not just because Cherry manufacters the switches you see in more expensive mech keyboards so it was nice having a Cherry brand keyboard, but also because it looked quite unique compared to modern keyboards. That keyboard had Cherry blue switches, unfortunately I broke that keyboard (entirely my fault.) My current keyboard looks very similar to that one, with Kailh blue switches.

                There’s two main companies that manufacture the keys for mech keyboards, Cherry and Kailh. Cherry is a German company and their switches last longer and are usually considered to be a little better to use but that is quite subjective. Kailh is a Chinese company, like I say they don’t last for quite as long but you’ll definitely still get minimum 3 years out of them, most likely they’ll last 5+ years with daily use. Kailh switches are cheaper and so the keyboards are cheaper (except for Razer, they use Kailh switches but charge the same price as companies that make keyboards with Cherry switches lol.) I haven’t used Cherry/Kailh brown switches (that keyboard has Kailh browns) but I understand they’re good switches for general use, especially in an office context. They’re less clicky but otherwise similar to blues.

                You might want look up a comparison of the various switches, but here’s a graphic I could find with some basic info. Linear switches have no “bump” where you can feel the switch being actuated, tactile and clicky switches do but with tactiled you only feel it, there is no corresponding click sound (or much less of one.)

                • Hey, thanks for the great reply! I plan to go for this or the Lenovo Thinkpad wired keyboard because I’m used to laptop keyboards and like the low-profile keyboards more.

                  Cheers

    • KptnAutismus
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      32 years ago

      once again, the streisand effect at play. great job fucking your profits by trying to restrict people on the internet.

    • @dustyData@lemmy.world
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      312 years ago

      The fact that this was a legit proposal by cable companies and even got patented serves as evidence of the lengths that corporations will go to enshittify services for profit.

  • MenKlash
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    412 years ago

    I HATE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY I HATE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

        • Zorque
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          162 years ago

          “Millions of people doing lower waste”

          Basically saying that reducing the problem in smaller steps on a larger scale does more than a few fanatics doing everything all by themselves.

          Its also to help alleviate the guilt of not being able to reduce waste to nothing.

  • @uis@lemmy.world
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    72 years ago

    US and Belarus are the only countries I know that have death penalty. I wonder who is potato dictator in US.

  • The Doctor
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    52 years ago

    I’ll be surprised if I’m still alive, to be honest. The way things seem to be going, affording any ongoing healthcare won’t be possible. Hell, I’d be surprised if I can still afford rent anywhere (there’s no way I can afford to actually buy property anywhere that isn’t in the middle of nowhere, let alone property with a house of some kind on it) by 2030.