Hacker News with Generative AI: Hardware

The Nvidia DGX Spark Is a Tiny 128GB AI Mini PC Made for Scale-Out Clustering (servethehome.com)
With 20 Arm cores connected using C2C to a Blackwell generation GPU, 128GB of LPDDR5X memory, and 200GbE NVIDIA ConnectX-7 networking, the NVIDIA DGX Spark is exciting. At $3999 it is far from cheap. On the other hand, we expect folks to create the most awesome clusters with this.
Artificial Intelligence, Hardware, Networking, Computing, Supercomputing
13 points by PaulHoule 13 hours ago | 4 comments
Attention is NOT all you need: Qwerky-72B trained using only 8 AMD MI300X GPUs (recursal.ai)
We are proud to announce the updated Qwerky-72B and 32B.
Machine Learning, Hardware, AI Research
19 points by jtatarchuk 14 hours ago | 3 comments
Dual RTX 5090 Beats $25,000 H100 in Real-World LLM Performance (hardware-corner.net)
AI enthusiasts looking for top-tier performance in local LLMs have long considered NVIDIA’s H100 to be the gold standard for inference, thanks to its high-bandwidth HBM3 memory and optimized tensor cores. However, recent benchmarks show that a dual RTX 5090 setup, while still pricey, outperforms the H100 in sustained output token generation, making it an ideal choice for those seeking the best possible performance for home use, especially for models up to 70B parameters.
AI, Hardware, Performance, Benchmarking
28 points by mdp2021 17 hours ago | 12 comments
Measuring Acceleration Structures (zeux.io)
Hardware accelerated raytracing, as supported by DirectX 12 and Vulkan, relies on an abstract data structure that stores scene geometry, known as “acceleration structure” and often referred to as “BVH” or “BLAS”. Unlike geometry representation for rasterization, rendering engines can not customize the data layout; unlike texture formats, the layout is not standardized across vendors.
Hardware, Ray Tracing, Computer Graphics
9 points by luu 17 hours ago | 0 comments
Show HN: Terminal dashboard that throttles my PC during peak electricity rates (naveen.ing)
Show HN, Terminal, Energy Efficiency, Optimization, Hardware
91 points by naveen_k 18 hours ago | 58 comments
Notes on the Pentium's microcode circuitry (righto.com)
Most people think of machine instructions as the fundamental steps that a computer performs. However, many processors have another layer of software underneath: microcode. With microcode, instead of building the processor's control circuitry from complex logic gates, the control logic is implemented with code known as microcode, stored in the microcode ROM. To execute a machine instruction, the computer internally executes several simpler micro-instructions, specified by the microcode.
Computer Architecture, Microcode, Hardware, Processors, History
178 points by leotravis10 2 days ago | 32 comments
Nvidia's latest AI PC boxes sound great – for data scientists with $3k to spare (theregister.com)
Nvidia's latest AI PC boxes sound great – if you're a data scientist with $3,000 to spare
Nvidia, Artificial Intelligence, Hardware, Data Science, Finance
44 points by rntn 2 days ago | 55 comments
Build an 8-bit computer from scratch (eater.net)
Hardware, Electronics, DIY, Retro Computing, Programming
5 points by jcartw 2 days ago | 0 comments
Nvidia GPU roadmap confirms it: Moore's Law is dead and buried (theregister.com)
As Jensen Huang is fond of saying, Moore's Law is dead – and at Nvidia GTC this month, the GPU-slinger's chief exec let slip just how deep in the ground the computational scaling law really is.
Nvidia, Moore's Law, Hardware, Technology, Computing
67 points by pseudolus 2 days ago | 61 comments
Tearing Down the Unitree Go2: A Robotics Expert's Deep Dive [video] (youtube.com)
Robotics, Hardware, Reviews, Video
4 points by viewtransform 2 days ago | 0 comments
Xfinity XB3 hardware mod: Disable WiFi and save 2 watts (github.com)
Comcast has a prepaid "Xfinity NOW" service that's cheaper than normal Xfinity, with unlimited data instead of a 1.2TB/month cap.
Comcast, Xfinity, Hardware, WiFi, Energy Saving
86 points by p1mrx 3 days ago | 43 comments
Open source, 3D-printable smart chess board (thangs.com)
Print. Click. Play. OpenChess is a fully open source smart chessboard designed to make interactive, intelligent gameplay accessible to everyone. By combining low-cost electronics, 3D printing, and customizable software, OpenChess empowers makers, educators, and chess lovers to build their own connected chess experience — without the high price tag.
Open Source, 3D Printing, Chess, Education, Hardware
33 points by bdcravens 3 days ago | 20 comments
An Ode to the Game Boy Advance (brainbaking.com)
In March 2001, Nintendo introduced an advanced portable model to the gaming market with the release of the Game Boy Advance (GBA, codenamed Advanced Game Boy or AGB). Equipped with a modernized 32-bit ARM CPU running at twice the speed of the Game Boy Color (GBC), this small device was more than capable of playing SNES-like games—still at the price of only two AA batteries.
Gaming, Retro Gaming, Nintendo, Video Games, Hardware
78 points by Brajeshwar 3 days ago | 39 comments
Lilygo T-Deck Pro is a mobile dev kit with ePaper display, QWERTY keyboard, 4G (liliputing.com)
Last summer LILYGO launched a pocket-sized mobile communications device called the T-Deck Plus that looks like a phone, but is really more of a mobile dev kit with a 2.8 inch IPS LCD display, a BlackBerry keyboard, and support for WiFi, Bluetooth, and LoRa wireless connectivity… but no support for cellular networks.
Mobile Development, Hardware, Embedded Systems, Connectivity, ePaper Displays
12 points by tosh 3 days ago | 0 comments
Ploopy Classic 2 open source trackball (ploopy.co)
The Classic 2 is a brand new revision of the original Classic, and kits are available today starting at $144CAD!
Hardware, Open Source, Retro Computing
4 points by namanyayg 3 days ago | 0 comments
Commodore C64 still used in Indiana bakery as cash registers (tomshardware.com)
Retro Computing, Hardware, Business, Technology, History
8 points by wojtczyk 3 days ago | 0 comments
6502 as a Service (emulationonline.com)
The 6502 is now available in the Chiplab! This allows you to upload your programs to be queued for running against a real 6502 chip. For each cycle of execution, you can observe the values of all the busses of the physical chip.
Emulation, Retro Computing, Hardware, Programming
55 points by emulationonline 3 days ago | 5 comments
U.S. Atari parts store still open after 41 years, spent $100K+ designing parts (tomshardware.com)
Retro Gaming, Hardware, Business, History, Atari
28 points by wojtczyk 3 days ago | 0 comments
Swapping Apple's M4 SSD – Faster, Bigger, Cheaper [video] (youtube.com)
Hardware, Apple, SSD, Video
10 points by jbverschoor 4 days ago | 2 comments
Lvgl: Embedded graphics library to create beautiful UIs (github.com/lvgl)
LVGL is the most popular free and open source embedded graphics library to create beautiful UIs for any MCU, MPU and display type. It's supported by industry leading vendors and projects like  Arm, STM32, NXP, Espressif, Nuvoton, Arduino, RT-Thread, Zephyr, NuttX, Adafruit and many more.
Embedded Systems, Graphics Libraries, Open Source, User Interfaces, Hardware
209 points by tosh 4 days ago | 33 comments
Bolt Graphics Zeus a New GPU Architecture with Up to 2.25TB of Memory and 800GbE (servethehome.com)
Bolt Graphics Zeus The New GPU Architecture with up to 2.25TB of Memory and 800GbE
Hardware, Memory, Networking
27 points by Teever 4 days ago | 12 comments
Real Time Chess – A physical chess board without the concept of turns (github.com/misprit7)
Chess is boring. I'm boring too so I enjoy it anyways, but I can't help but think "I could design it better." Normally in chess players move sequentially in turns, but this introduces a huge latency bug that the developers of chess forgot to patch: you spend literally half the time waiting for your opponent!
Chess, Game Design, Software, Hardware
259 points by dschuessler 4 days ago | 42 comments
Show HN: Physical Pomodoro Timer with ESP32 and e-paper screen (github.com/Rukenshia)
This is the repository for an ESP32 based pomodoro timer. It uses an ePaper display and a rotary dial for input. The code in this repository will not be ready-to-use, as some assets and fonts have been removed. However, if you really want to you should be able to adapt the code to your needs.
Hardware, Electronics, Open Source, Programming, Time Management
313 points by rukenshia 4 days ago | 68 comments
PCIe Endpoint on Xilinx 7-Series FPGAs with PCIe_2_1 Hard Block and GTP (github.com/regymm)
PCIe Endpoint on Xilinx 7-Series FPGAs using the PCIE_2_1 hard block and GTP transceivers. No proprietary Vivado IP cores! Compatible with openXC7!
Hardware, FPGAs, Xilinx, Open Source, PCIe
34 points by transpute 4 days ago | 0 comments
Show HN: Multi UPS SNMP based shutdown (serve.zone)
Network Management, Servers, Hardware
25 points by PhilKunz 4 days ago | 14 comments
Google discontinues Nest Protect smoke alarm and Nest x Yale lock (arstechnica.com)
Google continues backing away from smart home hardware.
Google, Smart Home, Hardware, Discontinued Products
11 points by pseudolus 5 days ago | 4 comments
FPGA-Based Implementation of Signal Processing Systems (2nd Edition) (wiley.com)
An important working resource for engineers and researchers involved in the design, development, and implementation of signal processing systems
FPGA, Signal Processing, Engineering, Hardware
12 points by teleforce 5 days ago | 0 comments
Researchers get spiking neural behavior out of a pair of transistors (arstechnica.com)
A paper published in Nature on Wednesday describes a way to get plain-old silicon transistors to behave a lot like an actual neuron. And unlike the dedicated processors made so far, it only requires two transistors to do so.
Neuroscience, Hardware, Artificial Intelligence, Semiconductors
20 points by rbanffy 5 days ago | 5 comments
A note on the USB-to-PS/2 mouse adapter that came with Microsoft mouse devices (microsoft.com)
Back in the early days of USB, Microsoft mouse devices often came with a USB plug at the end of the cable, but also came with a small green adapter to convert the USB type-A plug into a PS/2 plug. How did this adapter work?
Hardware, Legacy Technology, Computer Peripherals, Microsoft
381 points by luu 5 days ago | 141 comments
Colossus: How we deliver SSD performance at HDD prices (cloud.google.com)
From YouTube and Gmail to BigQuery and Cloud Storage, almost all of Google’s products depend on Colossus, our foundational distributed storage system.
Cloud Computing, Storage, Google, Hardware, Distributed Systems
7 points by caution 7 days ago | 0 comments