Hacker News with Generative AI: Computer Hardware

Why Adding a Full Hard Drive Can Make a Computer More Powerful (wired.com)
“Obviously” is a dangerous word, even in scenarios that seem simple. Suppose, for instance, you need to do an important computation. You get to choose between two computers that are almost identical, except that one has an extra hard drive full of precious family photos. It’s natural to assume that the two options are equally good—that an extra drive with no space remaining won’t aid your computation.
Computer Hardware, Performance Optimization, Technology, Storage
5 points by SethMurphy 3 days ago | 2 comments
An Interview with Oxide's Bryan Cantrill (chipsandcheese.com)
Hello you fine internet folks! Today, we're here at Oxide Computer Company, and I have with me, Bryan.
Interviews, Computer Hardware, Technology
16 points by ryandotsmith 6 days ago | 2 comments
Google calls Gemma 3 the most powerful AI model you can run on one GPU (theverge.com)
A little over a year after releasing two “open” Gemma AI models built from the same technology behind its Gemini AI, Google is updating the family with Gemma 3.
Generative AI, Google, AI Models, Computer Hardware
127 points by gmays 14 days ago | 100 comments
How 'inference' is driving competition to Nvidia's AI chip dominance (ft.com)
How ‘inference’ is driving competition to Nvidia’s AI chip dominance
Artificial Intelligence, Computer Hardware, Competition, Nvidia
7 points by bookofjoe 17 days ago | 2 comments
3dfx: So powerful, it's kind of ridiculous (2023) (abortretry.fail)
In 1988, Silicon Graphics made a series of workstation computers that were based upon two pieces of technology: the MIPS CPU and the IRIS graphics system.
Graphics, Computer Hardware, History, Technology
318 points by kristianp 27 days ago | 268 comments
Homebrew Computer Club in Menlo Park (homeip.net)
The Homebrew Computer Club was a legendary early computer hobbyist group in Menlo Park, California.
History, Computer Hardware, California
6 points by giuliomagnifico 30 days ago | 0 comments
Progress on Intel and Nvidia GPUs on Raspberry Pi (jeffgeerling.com)
Nvidia GPUs have been running fine on Arm for a while now—I just upgraded the System76 Thelio Astra to an RTX 4080 Super and am testing it now.
Nvidia GPUs, Raspberry Pi, Hardware, Computer Hardware
29 points by ingve 34 days ago | 2 comments
Thoughts on Daylight Computer (jon.bo)
When I get to write or read on a screen that’s reflecting the sun back at me instead of needing to be shielded from it, I get a dose of this feeling that this is what all computing could feel like. I want so much more of this in my life.
Computer Hardware, User Experience, Technology
294 points by 3r7j6qzi9jvnve 43 days ago | 151 comments
AMD's game-changing Strix Halo, formerly Ryzen AI Max, poses for new die shots (tomshardware.com)
AMD, Processors, Computer Hardware, Gaming
33 points by rbanffy 44 days ago | 19 comments
How to Run DeepSeek R1 Distilled Reasoning Models on RyzenAI and Radeon GPUs (guru3d.com)
Deep Learning, Computer Hardware, GPUs, AI Models
82 points by waltercool 60 days ago | 22 comments
AI Designed Computer Chips That the Human Mind Can't Understand (popularmechanics.com)
A new neural network process has designed wireless chips that can outperform existing ones.
Artificial Intelligence, Computer Hardware, Neural Networks
4 points by givinguflac 61 days ago | 2 comments
DeepSeek's AI breakthrough bypasses industry-standard CUDA, uses PTX (tomshardware.com)
Artificial Intelligence, Computer Hardware, CUDA
136 points by pseudolus 64 days ago | 72 comments
The Future of Microprocessors • Sophie Wilson • Goto 2024 [video] (youtube.com)
Microprocessors, Computer Hardware, Computer Science, Technology, Conferences
12 points by tambourine_man 66 days ago | 0 comments
100x defect tolerance: How we solved the yield problem (cerebras.ai)
Conventional wisdom in semiconductor manufacturing has long held that bigger chips mean worse yields. Yet at Cerebras, we’ve successfully built and commercialized a chip 50x larger than the largest computer chips – and achieved comparable yields.
Semiconductors, Manufacturing, Artificial Intelligence, Computer Hardware, Yield
331 points by jwan584 77 days ago | 179 comments
Debugging: Indispensable rules for finding even the most elusive problems (2004) (dwheeler.com)
It's not often you find a classic, but I think I've found a new classic for software and computer hardware developers.
Software Development, Debugging, Programming, Computer Hardware
532 points by omkar-foss 80 days ago | 227 comments
The Missing Nvidia GPU Glossary (modal.com)
We wrote this glossary to solve a problem we ran into working with GPUs here at Modal: the documentation is fragmented, making it difficult to connect concepts at different levels of the stack, like Streaming Multiprocessor Architecture, Compute Capability, and nvcc compiler flags.
Nvidia GPUs, Documentation, Glossary, Computer Hardware
230 points by birdculture 81 days ago | 70 comments
FreeBSD Suspend/Resume (wordpress.com)
I have been using FreeBSD on the desktops/laptops since about 20 years now and I have described all that I configured in the FreeBSD Desktop series.
FreeBSD, Operating Systems, Computer Hardware
139 points by vermaden 82 days ago | 64 comments
Dell will no longer make XPS computers (arstechnica.com)
Dell won't make Precision or Inspiron PCs anymore, either.
Dell, Laptops, Computer Hardware, Technology
77 points by MRPockets 87 days ago | 110 comments
My favourite computer ergonomics hack (jacobvosmaer.nl)
In this post I will talk about my favourite computer ergonomics hack, a DIY device I call "The Beeper".
Ergonomics, DIY, Computer Hardware
236 points by vortex_ape 91 days ago | 71 comments
The DEC VT220 – Design excellence from 1984 [video] (youtube.com)
Computer Hardware, Retro Technology, Design, Video
7 points by rbanffy 93 days ago | 0 comments
I helped fix sleep-wake hangs on Linux with AMD GPUs (gitlab.io)
I dual-boot my desktop between Windows and Linux. Over the past few years, Linux would often crash when I tried to sleep my computer with high RAM usage. Upon waking it would show a black screen with moving cursor, or enter a "vegetative" state with no image on-screen, only responding to magic SysRq or a hard reset. I traced this behavior to an amdgpu driver power/memory management bug, which took over a year to brainstorm and implement solutions for.
Linux, AMD, Computer Hardware, Bug Fixes, Open Source
9 points by LorenDB 94 days ago | 1 comments
Are PC hardware companies driving technology into restricted closed ecosystems? (scottrlarson.com)
I am a Computer Hardware professional. I started working with computer technology in the early eighties. I have seen the evolution of technology starting with closed platforms like the game console era and then the move toward open platforms like the Home Computer Golden Age. In the last 5 or 10 years, I have witnessed technology changes that are slowly moving away from open hardware designs towards hardware that is locked down and can’t be modified by the user.
Computer Hardware, Technology, Open Source, Closed Systems, Industry Trends
209 points by trinsic2 95 days ago | 156 comments
The RAM Myth (purplesyringa.moe)
The RAM myth is a belief that modern computer memory resembles perfect random-access memory.
Computer Hardware, Technology, Misconceptions
196 points by signa11 105 days ago | 165 comments
The Power Mac 4400 (512pixels.net)
In November 1996, Apple released the Power Macintosh 4400 with a starting price of $1,725. Also sold as the Power Macintosh 7220, it’d be easy to write this machine off as just another grain of sand on the beige beach that was Apple’s product line in the 1990s.
Apple, Computer Hardware, Retro Computing, Technology History
114 points by speckx 108 days ago | 150 comments
Fujitsu 144-core Arm chip: 2nm and 5nm chiplet, 3D-stacked CPU cores over memory (tomshardware.com)
Computer Hardware, ARM, Chipsets, Processors, Memory
7 points by ksec 111 days ago | 0 comments
The Pentium FDIV bug, reverse-engineered (oldbytes.space)
Computer Hardware, Reverse Engineering, Security
213 points by croes 113 days ago | 51 comments
Valve dev fixes 3D lighting, exposes flawed graphics card math (pcgamer.com)
Gaming, Computer Hardware, Graphics, Software Development
11 points by xbmcuser 119 days ago | 2 comments
My new POWER Indigo 2 (thejpster.org.uk)
On Mastodon, I recently came across a post by Kestral, with a link to their website:
Computer Hardware, Social Media, Web Design
89 points by ingve 131 days ago | 40 comments
DIMM vs. Udimm vs. Rdimm vs. Sodimm vs. Cudimm: What's the Difference? (corsair.com)
It’s fair to say that there’s plenty of jargon around computer memory.
Computer Hardware, RAM, Memory, Technology, Comparison
63 points by trelane 137 days ago | 14 comments
Apple drops soldered storage for 2024 Mac Mini (theregister.com)
Apple's Mac Mini product line has been around for a while, and the latest model was launched this month, replete with M4 or M4 Pro chips. It is significantly smaller than its predecessors with Thunderbolt, HDMI, and Ethernet ports on the back and a pair of USB-C ports and a 3.5 mm headphone jack on the front.
Apple, Hardware, Consumer Electronics, Computer Hardware
37 points by lisper 140 days ago | 11 comments