Hi all

I've reading a lot on ARM since I discovered the Efika MX Smartbook. Just trying to figure out how it all works, coming from an x86-only world where Intel and AMD are all there is (intentionally not including VIA).

So the new i.MX53-based Efika Smartbook is hopefully available within a couple months (it seems). That's great! It'll be my first ARM computer (not counting my phone), and, really, the first departure from x86 for me. I'm really looking forward!

What I am wondering though, among other things, is why Genesi releases a Cortex A8-based product *after* several A9-based products have been released. I'm thinking of the Nvidia Tegra 2-based phones (LG Optimus 2X, Motorola Atrix 4G) and tablets (Motorola Xoom, BlackBerry Playbook) and, of course, the iPad 2 with Apple's own A5 SoC.

Also, I'm wondering what the roles of Freescale, Texas Instruments and Nvidia are here in ARM-land. Do these three companies all produce ARM-based SoCs for use in the devices of other companies (like Genesi, LG, Motorola, RIM)?

Why has Genesi (seemingly) chosen Freescale to provide the SoCs for their products? Why not TI or Nvidia?

I guess I'm just a little confused about how all these things fit together.

Developing a product from scratch, as Genesi does, takes some time. Besides, the differences aren't really so great — newer cores are obviously more powerful, but not so much more. They are both based on the same design — ARMv7.
Exactly — it is the same as with, say, Intel and Dell.
Mainly for historical reasons: Genesi's products have always been based on chips by Freescale, so they've built a "friendly" relationship. Genesi is a small company, so having an alliance with someone more powerful is definitely a good thing.

Just like AMD and Intel processors, Tegra2, OMAP, i.MX processors are not interchangeable. Switching to a different chip would likely cause a redesign. Personally, I happen to like Freescale's chips. The performance of the A9 (from what I've seen personally, I have 2 Tegra2 machines) isn't so amazingly over the top (not to mention nVidia's absolute lack of supporting Linux on their Tegra chips)

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Steev Klimaszewski, Genesi USA Inc.
Senior Software Engineer

So... the new product coming out isn't exactly totally 'new', then? The only difference is the SoC?

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\"But I want Wandows!\"

The board design is completely customized. It is entirely new, and it's based on the i.MX53 instead of the i.MX51. It's not the same board and we just "popped" in a new processor.

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Steev Klimaszewski, Genesi USA Inc.
Senior Software Engineer

Sorry, I should have said that better. I know the hardware is new; I seriously doubt that many ARM processors are exactly 'drop-in' replacements. I meant the design of the system itself. As in, does it look identical to the current design? But of course now I realize that you probably couldn't say much either way due to contracts, NDAs, etc. Forget I said anything.

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\"But I want Wandows!\"

While at Linaro/UDS last week, I have seen the FreeScale QuickStart board in action, which is built on iMX535. Most of the time the Full HD playback capacity was on demo, but there were some rare moments, when one could see a desktop running on it. It was noticeably faster than the iMX515.
I have high hopes about Genesi products based on the iMX535, as using the Genesi SmartTop and SmartBook I know that they are not good only for development (like the QuickStart board), but also for daily use.

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CzP
http://czanik.blogs.balabit.com/

The new design is completely new from the ground up, new motherboard, new case design, new panel (not PixelQi yet), new camera, and the keyboard and touchpad have been revisited.

The MX53 gave us some opportunity to basically cut out a lot of cruft from the old design (no need for a dedicated panel controller, since it's built-in on the MX53).

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Matt Sealey

I see. Makes sense that it takes longer for Genesi to make a product from scratch, than it takes giant companies like LG or RIM.

And looking over the specs of the i.MX53 it does include some fairly big advancements as far as I can see. Like the 50% increase in clock speed, up to 2GB DDR3 RAM (with twice the bandwidth). Not to mention the support for 1080p30 high profile H.264 decoding, that really valuable IMO - not even the Tegra 2s have that. It also has NEON - also as opposed to the Tegra 2 - though I'm not sure how much of a difference this makes - whether apps need to be compiled for it or what - but I just think it's cool, though I'm not sure if that's entirely justified or what :).