Contents
Global computing overviews
Upstream
Processors
- CPU main processor
- GPU for parallel processing
- AMD APU combines a general-purpose AMD64 CPU and 3D integrated graphics processing unit (IGPU) on a single die
- CISC architecture single instructions can execute several low-level operations (such as a load from memory, an arithmetic operation, and a memory store) or are capable of multi-step operations or addressing modes within single instructions
- RISC architecture key operational concept of the RISC computer is that each instruction performs only one function (e.g. copy a value from memory to a register)
- RISC processor design include the ARC processor, DEC Alpha, the AMD Am29000, the ARM architecture, the Atmel AVR, Blackfin, Intel i860, Intel i960, LoongArch, Motorola 88000, the MIPS architecture, PA-RISC, Power ISA, RISC-V, SuperH, and SPARC
- ARM architecture Advanced RISC Machines
- ARM processors arm, Cortex, Snapdragon, ...
- Semiconductor Intellectual Property core (SIP) - Wikipedia reusable unit of logic, cell, or integrated circuit layout design that is the intellectual property of one party.
- List of SIP vendors
Intel
Arm
UK, Cambridge. Arm Holdings plc (formerly an acronym for Advanced RISC Machines and originally Acorn RISC Machine) is a British semiconductor and software design company based in Cambridge, England, whose primary business is the design of central processing unit (CPU) cores that implement the ARM architecture family of instruction sets.
Since 2016, it has been owned by Japanese conglomerate SoftBank Group.
See also local info on TEE and Rust.
Architecture
See https://developer.arm.com/documentation/102404/0201/System-architecture
Architectures profiles:
- A-profile - Application processors - designed to run a rich OS such as Linux or Windows, e.g. Armv8-A and Armv9-A
- R-profile - Real-time processors - for networking equipment and embedded control systems
- M-profile - Microcontrollers - IOT
A smartphone may contain:
- An A-profile processor as the main CPU running a rich OS like Android.
- A cellular modem, based on an R-profile processor, provides connectivity.
- Several M-profile processors handle operations like system power management.
- The SIM card uses SecurCore, an M-profile processor with additional security features. SecurCore processors are commonly used in smart cards.
Architecture specifies instruction set, registers, exception model, memory model, debug, trace and profiling. This is referred to as the first layer, the Instruction Set Architecture (ISA).
On top of this the Base System Architecture BSA specification describes a hardware system architecture that system software can rely on. The BSA covers aspects of the processor and system architecture, for example the interrupt controller, timers, and other common devices that an OS needs. This provides a reliable platform for standard operating systems, hypervisors, and firmware.
Other standards can build on the BSA, e.g. the Server Base System Architecture SBSA, a supplement to the BSA for servers. SBSA describes the hardware and feature requirements for a server OS.
The Base Boot Requirements BBR specification covers requirements for systems that are based on Arm architecture and that operating systems and hypervisors can rely on. This specification establishes the firmware interface requirements, like PSCI, SMCCC, UEFI, ACPI, and SMBIOS. BBR also provides the recipes for targeting specific use cases, for example:
- SBBR: Specifying UEFI, ACPI, and SMBIOS requirements to boot generic, off-the-shelf operating systems and hypervisors like Windows, VMware, RHEL, Oracle Linux, and Amazon Linux. The SBBR also supports other OSes like Debian, Fedora, CentOS, SLES, Ubuntu, openSUSE, FreeBSD, and NetBSD.
- EBBR: Specifying, along with the EBBR specification, UEFI requirements to boot generic, off-the-shelf operating systems, like Debian, Fedora, Ubuntu, openSUSE, and providing benefits for vertically integrated OS platforms.
- LBBR: Specifying potential requirements for the LinuxBoot firmware, to boot the OSes that some hyperscalers use.
- Additionally: Trusted Board Boot Requirements TBBR, a Platform Design Document (PDD), implemented by a.o. Trusted Firmware-A (TF-A)
Products
Product lines include:
- Cortex-A (Application processors)
- Cortex-R (Real-time processors)
- Cortex-M (Microcontrollers)
- Neoverse (infrastructure processors)
- Graphics processing units (GPUs): Mali, and the newer Immortalis (with hardware-based ray-tracing)
- Ethos neural processing units (NPUs)
- Corelink/CoreSight System/SoC IP
- TrustZone/CryptoCell/SecurCore Security IP
Virtualisation of Arm devices
- Corellium - mobile app dev and pen testing, ...
- Azeria-labs - Arm expertise, exploitation, TrustZone research, ...
AMD
AMD basics
US, Santa Clara. GrayTiger runs on 'AMD Ryzen 7 5700U with Radeon Graphics'. Ryzen = X86_64.
Since the introduction of Zen-based processors, AMD renamed their APUs as the 'Ryzen with Radeon Graphics' and 'Athlon with Radeon Graphics'.
AMD security
The AMD Secure Processor is a dedicated on-chip security processor integrated within each system-on-a-chip (SoC) and ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) designed by AMD. It enables secure boot with root of trust anchored in hardware, initializes the SoC through a secure boot flow, and establishes an isolated Trusted Execution Environment.
Bear in mind AMD entered into a partnership with ARM to inject ARM's TrustZone technology into AMD chips via a SoC design methodology.
Other
EU
- EU European processor initiative European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU)
- European Processor Initiative (EPI)
- New family of low-power European processors for extreme scale computing, high-performance Big-Data and emerging applications
- Rhea, Gen1/2 GPP, Risc-V
- European supercomputers Joint Undertaking
- Sipearl EPI - collaborating with AMD to provide a joint offering for exascale supercomputing systems, combining SiPearl’s energy-efficient HPC microprocessor, Rhea, with AMD Instinct™ accelerators.
US
Apple
Development
Porting, OpenSource, Shareware
Shops
Intel
IBM
Manuals and publications
Technology
Oracle
Microsoft
MSDN and Technical Stuff - TechNET
Microsoft - Active code
Microsoft - Security
Microsoft - alternative sources
Component software
- ComponentSource - mainly for Microsoft
- Janus GridEX: to build a user interface similar to Outlook, based on grids
- IP*Works! SSL: security components to handle certificates, secure ftp, soap, XML, etc
HP/DXC
US - Other