A fun thread on the PowerPC’s longevity, durability, and performance for ongoing science work!

[B S Magnet]

We all could use a little reminder how PPC tech is still in use today and doing some pretty amazing stuff in 2019 and beyond.

I'll start:

PPC750 (G3) architecture is still in use today and performing admirably for key space science operations.

The radiation-hardened version of the PPC750 series (the RAD750, at 200MHz) is used on at least 150 space-bound devices, including the following exploration missions:

the Deep Impact comet probe (2005); the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (2005–now); SECCHI on both STEREO spacecraft for solar observations (2007–now); the FERMI gamma-ray space telescope (2008–now); the Kepler Space Telescope (exoplanet discovery) (2009–2018); the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (2009–now); the WISE (Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer) (2009–now); Juno (Jupiter explorer) (2011–now); Mars Curiosity rover (2012–now); Van Allen Probes (2012–now); Mars InSight (2018–now); the Mars 2020 rover, and the James Webb Space Telescope [which also will feature a rad-hardened PPC405 processor] (2021).

Successive science missions will eventually adopt a radiation-hardened version of the Power e5500 chip — which itself is based heavily on the proposed, but never executed, Motorola/Freescale successor to the IBM G5 (PPC970) called the PPC7600, or e700 (which on paper was provisionally once known as the PowerPC G6).

While the consumer world cannibalizes itself on a carrion of planned obsolescence and the ecologically crushing heft of disposable hardware, PPC architecture is still solid, reliable, and efficient enough to conduct highly successful science missions in the now.

This knowledge is part of why I maintain an oft-mentioned love for clamshell iBooks and why I still use them.


What's your PPC story?

 

[2984839]

The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter uses PowerPC processors: https://www.militaryaerospace.com/a...hter-leverages-cots-for-avionics-systems.html

Airbus A380s (and likely many other commercial airliners) use PowerPCs as part of a redundant system for flight controls: https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/978-1-4020-8157-6_18.pdf

The redundant flight control system is interesting. They use at least 2 CPUs of different architectures, with software independently developed by different teams to eliminate the risk of the same bug existing in both systems.

 

[B S Magnet]

The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter uses PowerPC processors: https://www.militaryaerospace.com/a...hter-leverages-cots-for-avionics-systems.html

Airbus A380s (and likely many other commercial airliners) use PowerPCs as part of a redundant system for flight controls: https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/978-1-4020-8157-6_18.pdf

The redundant flight control system is interesting. They use at least 2 CPUs of different architectures, with software independently developed by different teams to eliminate the risk of the same bug existing in both systems.

Interesting to learn the Airbus uses PPC processors for critical flight controls!

Less pleasant to hear they're being used for the reserve task of killing people, though.

 

[B S Magnet]

We all could use a little reminder how PPC tech is still in use today and doing some pretty amazing stuff in 2019 and beyond.

I'll start:

PPC750 (G3) architecture is still in use today and performing admirably for key space science operations.

The radiation-hardened version of the PPC750 series (the RAD750, at 200MHz) is used on at least 150 space-bound devices, including the following exploration missions:

the Deep Impact comet probe (2005); the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (2005–now); SECCHI on both STEREO spacecraft for solar observations (2007–now); the FERMI gamma-ray space telescope (2008–now); the Kepler Space Telescope (exoplanet discovery) (2009–2018); the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (2009–now); the WISE (Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer) (2009–now); Juno (Jupiter explorer) (2011–now); Mars Curiosity rover (2012–now); Van Allen Probes (2012–now); Mars InSight (2018–now); the Mars 2020 rover, and the James Webb Space Telescope [which also will feature a rad-hardened PPC405 processor] (2021).

Successive science missions will eventually adopt a radiation-hardened version of the Power e5500 chip — which itself is based heavily on the proposed, but never executed, Motorola/Freescale successor to the IBM G5 (PPC970) called the PPC7600, or e700 (which on paper was provisionally once known as the PowerPC G6).

While the consumer world cannibalizes itself on a carrion of planned obsolescence and the ecologically crushing heft of disposable hardware, PPC architecture is still solid, reliable, and efficient enough to conduct highly successful science missions in the now.

This knowledge is part of why I maintain an oft-mentioned love for clamshell iBooks and why I still use them.


What's your PPC story?

Having just watched the complete launch manoeuvres for the JWST/NGST (which was hella-exciting to see), I am really excited for a bunch of reasons (not least as an amateur astronomer).

And it’s worthwhile to post a bump-reminder how, now en route to Lagrange L2, the telescope is running on a redundant set of radiation-hardened processors, each running a trio of RAD750s at a clock speed of 150MHz, as well as a radition-hardened PPC405 CPU (and 58.9 65 GB of radiation-hardened non-volatile solid-state storage).

 

[barracuda156]

proposed, but never executed, Motorola/Freescale successor to the IBM G5 (PPC970) called the PPC7600, or e700 (which on paper was provisionally once known as the PowerPC G6).

Jobs screwed up everything

 

[lepidotós]

Has anyone mentioned Summit yet? Out in Oak Ridge, #2 fastest computer in the world is humming along with OpenPOWER, doing some pretty hard work (which is PowerPC, just renamed) for the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the guys who brought you the liquid fluoride thorium reactor. It uses, uh... a few POWER9 processors to do its thing.​

 

[Macbookprodude]

Jobs screwed up everything

He sure did.. damn him right ?

 

[r34per]

Hindsight 20/20, but looking back the g5/970 was probably the worst cpu apple could have gone with. It's basically a cut down power4, with all of the "big iron" trappings. It couldn't even turn itself on, there is an embedded powerpc405 in the northbridge whose sole purpose is to handle turning the 970 on, a carryover from POWER's IPL. Had they "thought different" and not got caught up in the Ghz wars like intel was doing, a much more logical G5 would ahve been pa semi's PWRficient cpu. It was a low power 64bit multicore ppc cpu that would have allowed apple to make a g5 laptop as well as desktops. DOn't get me wrong, i don't hate the 970, but it's fun think about how things could have gone.

 

[B S Magnet]

Hindsight 20/20, but looking back the g5/970 was probably the worst cpu apple could have gone with. It's basically a cut down power4, with all of the "big iron" trappings. It couldn't even turn itself on, there is an embedded powerpc405 in the northbridge whose sole purpose is to handle turning the 970 on, a carryover from POWER. Had they "thought different" and not got caught up in the Ghz wars like intel was doing, a much more logical G5 would ahve been pa semi's PWRficient cpu. It was a low power 64bit multicore ppc cpu that would have allowed apple to make a g5 laptop as well as desktops. DOn't get me wrong, i don't hate the 970, but it's fun think about how things could have gone.

I would love nothing more than a brief glimpse, Fringe-style, into the universe where PA Semi was never bought out by Apple and PA Semi worked with Freescale to realize that low-power G5… followed maybe by a G6 based on POWER5.

 

[lepidotós]

I would love nothing more than a brief glimpse, Fringe-style, into the universe where PA Semi was never bought out by Apple and PA Semi worked with Freescale to realize that low-power G5… followed maybe by a G6 based on POWER5.

That's the main reason I wish I could travel to those other timelines that multiverse people like Sean Carroll says exists. I want to pluck a couple of 7500s out of the timeline where Motorola made the G5, and maybe a few 7550s at that. Just imagine, a graphite G5... Or an iMac G5 that doesn't double as a space heater and jet engine.
Going into a different one and plucking out a copy of a Platinum 10.4.11 would be next on the list...​

 

[lepidotós]

The JWST has just finished deployment. (link to 68k News) Fun how a 118MHz G3 and 44MB RAM is enough for massive astronomical work, but a 5GHz Threadripper and 64GB RAM is just barely keeping up with the eighth ad, seventieth tracking pixel, Javascript tracker, and fading picture effect on a single newspaper webpage.
20 years from now, PowerPC, and the G3 at that, will still be bringing us hard-hitting data as that's the length of the JWST's mission. I wonder where current day Ryzen systems will be in that time.​