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Funded! This project successfully raised its funding goal on October 27, 2012.

Parallella Survey Results

Update #9 · Oct 10, 2012 · 10 comments

So far we have 894 survey results and they are interesting enough that we wanted to share them with everyone. Sorry if we couldn't record everyone's "other input in this summary". The general conclusion is that we have an incredibly diverse developer community that seems pretty excited about this project. Now we just have to reach out to a larger community. (btw. we are very close to delivering what we think is a compelling video running on the board.)

1.) Are you a developer?

yes:74%

no:26%

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2.) What will you use the Parallella board for?

What will you use the Parallella board for? Parallel programming research 20.40%
Learning parallel programming 45.20%
Computer 9.50%
Media Center 2.30%
Gaming 2.50%
Signal Processing 5.30%
Other 14.30%

(other:bitcoin, gaming, AI, machine vision(>10), robotics,video processing, scientific simulation, neural processor, trading, rendering, fun(>10), education(>10), and many more..)

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3.) What parallel programming model would you most like to see on the Parallella board?

OpenCL 35.60%
OpenMP 8.00%
MPI 4.90%
Erlang 6.80%
Go 8.00%
Hadoop 9.10%
Other   20.20%

(other: no preference/don't know(>50), Haskell, Occam,openACC,Java,Python,Scala,Clojure,pthreads)

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4.) What application would you like to see running on the Parallella board?

Minecraft server 7.20%
XBMC 11.00%
Folding@home 9.80%
SETI@home 5.40%
Rendering 14.50%
Bitcoin Mining 7.40%
OpenCV 18.60%
Other  (View all) 21.70%

(other:boinc,crypto,cracking,sdr,openfoam,web server,FFTs, and many more)

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5.) What feature is missing on the Parallella board?

More RAM 42.50%
PCIe 11.90%
HDD 9.10%
More performance (with more power, no free lunch!) 13.70%
Other  (View all) 16.40%

(other: USB 3.0, SSD, SATA, ADC)

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6.) Where should we focus our energy in order to reach the $750k in funding?

Better video demos 22.10%
More social networking 14.20%
More articles 20.20%
Word of mouth 4.60%
Get a big partner to back us 20.30%
More rewards 1.50%
Other  (View all) 14.20%

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7.) How many friends could you convince to back Parallella? 0 30.00%
1 33.30%
2 19.40%
3 6.40%
Other  (View all) 9.80%

Comments

    1. Missing_small

      Creator seanjensengrey on October 11, 2012

      @Brooks having PCI-e support would also enable a fast path for development and a scalable platform (add more cards). There are lots of systems with PCI-e buses that we don't think about (embedded, mobile, etc).

    2. 486855.small

      Creator Brooks Moses on October 11, 2012

      @Morofoy, @Tarjei Knapstad: There are two possible meanings of "PCI-e on the board" -- one is what you're thinking of, which is the board acting as a PCI-e host for other devices such as graphics and RAID cards. The other possible meaning (which IMO fits the overall system profile better) is for the board to act as a PCI-e _device_, so that it could be used as a coprocessor in a larger computer (much like a GPU used for compute purposes) -- the PCI-e connection would provide a fast data path onto and off of the Parallela board.

    3. Missing_small

      Creator Tarjei Knapstad on October 11, 2012

      @Morofry: I think PCI-e would break with the power profile of the Parallella boards:
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pci_E#Power

    4. Missing_small

      Creator John Arne Birkeland on October 11, 2012

      Very interesting. I would like to comment that a lot of the "other usage" options (computer vision, video processing etc.) should/could be classified as signal processing. Which when you think about it, is what parallel computing is all about.

    5. Missing_small

      Creator Morofry on October 11, 2012

      I would love to see PCI-e on this thing. With that you could add nearly anything you had drivers for; from a dedicated video card to a [sweet jesus] RAID card. With that, you'd have cheap blade servers with an ARM and a RAID in no time at all, and for minimal cost too.

    6. Th.small

      Creator Paul D on October 10, 2012

      Hi Adapteva,

      I'm sorry but I don't have my own Kickstarter campaign - my title reflects a support community I am part if backing that project :)

      I am just a humble backer excited by the potential of your project.

      All the best,

      Paul D

    7. Missing_small

      Creator Len Reinhart on October 10, 2012

      I second the academic community. Be sure to communicate with the Computer Engineering department of the University of Central Florida. There is a simulation community near by. I graduated from there 36 years ago, but know no one there now.

    8. Missing_small

      Creator Aaron on October 10, 2012

      Very interesting, I think that the answer to #2 is very telling. The majority of us want to learn parallel programming, or use it for academic type pursuits .

      BTW, I love the base 2 value for the number of available rewards ;)

    9. Adapteva_220x220.small

      Creator Adapteva on October 10, 2012

      @Paul D Thanks for backing us! Good luck with the end of your own campaign and let me know if you have any advice for how to repeat your success.

      Thanks for offering to reach out to your network. The best link to send is probably just the kickstarter link:
      http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/adapteva/parallella-a-supercomputer-for-everyone

    10. Th.small

      Creator Paul D on October 10, 2012

      Thank you for the survey results. I only backed today (after following progress for a while). Perhaps we can reach-out / advertise this project through the academic community. The $99 price point is good for many students I would suspect - just need to forgo beer for a fortnight :)
      Which link would be the best to share when reaching out through our networks, in my case LinkedIn/Twitter/university alumni?

4,965
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See full bio

  • Pledge $15 or more

    306 backers

    SUPPORTER REWARD: You will get project updates along the way and get to reserve a user name on the parallella.org community portal before the rest of the world. Every dollar helps us in our goal to create a parallel computing platform accessible to everyone.

    Estimated delivery: Nov 2012
  • Pledge $25 or more

    116 backers

    FAN REWARD: You get everything in the SUPPORTER REWARD and you get a black T-Shirt with a Parallella slogan on it 'OR' The book "An Introduction to Parallel Programming" to be written by the Adapteva team.(your choice) The book will be provided in PDF form and will include source code examples of parallel programs that use OpenCL, OpenMP, Erlang, and MPI.

    Estimated delivery: Feb 2013
  • Pledge $50 or more

    32 backers

    STUDENT REWARD: You get everything in the SUPPORTER REWARD and receive a black T-Shirt with a Parallella slogan on it 'AND' The book "An Introduction to Parallel Programming" to be written by the Adapteva team. The book will be provided in PDF form and will include source code examples of parallel programs that use OpenCL, OpenMP, Erlang, and MPI.

    Estimated delivery: Feb 2013
  • Pledge $99 or more

    2676 backers Limited (62860 of 65536 left)

    MAKER: You get everything in the SUPPORTER reward and an Epiphany-III based Parallella board loaded with the development software needed to create your own innovative projects.(International order should add $20 to the pledge amount). We can't wait to see what you come up with.

    Estimated delivery: May 2013
  • Pledge $199 or more

    298 backers Limited (65238 of 65536 left)

    PAIR: You get everything in the SUPPORTER reward and a pair of Epiphany-III based Parallella boards (2 ARM cores and 16 Epiphany cores on each board) so that you can create complete distributed encoding/decoding, compression/decompression, receiver/transmitter type applications without having to borrow an extra board from other pledgers. Both boards come loaded with the development software needed to create your own innovative projects. (International order should add $20 to the pledge amount).

    Estimated delivery: May 2013
  • Pledge $199 or more

    903 backers Limited (64633 of 65536 left)

    64-CORE: You get everything in the SUPPORTER reward and a 64-core Epiphany-IV based Parallella board (2 ARM cores and 64 Epiphany cores) if we reach our stretch goal of $3M. If we don't reach our stretch goal but meet our minimum funding goal, you will receive a pair of Epiphany III boards (2 ARM cores and 16 Epiphany cores). Both boards come loaded with the development software needed to create your own innovative projects. (International order should add $20 to the pledge amount).

    Estimated delivery: May 2013
  • Pledge $495 or more

    148 backers Limited (1900 of 2048 left)

    MINI-CLOUD: This package arrives as a ready to use "cluster in a box" and includes four Epiphany-III based parallella boards (a total of 72 CPUs), a gigabit switch, cat cables, and the power supply adapters. If we reach our $3M stretch goal, then it will be possible to choose two 64-core Epiphany-IV based boards instead of four Epiphany-III based boards. (International order should add $20 to the pledge amount).

    Estimated delivery: May 2013
  • Pledge $499 or more

    55 backers Limited (4041 of 4096 left)

    DEVELOPER: You get everything in the SUPPORTER reward and and a limited early version Epiphany-III based Parallella board. As an early tester you will be able to influence the direction of the parallella software platform. Your board will be marked with a unique number based on the order in which it was manufactured (numbers start at #64). In addition, you will get early access to the Parallella SDK and documentation as soon as the project kicks off at the end of the kickstarter campaign.(International order should add $20 to the pledge amount).

    Estimated delivery: Feb 2013
  • Pledge $750 or more

    28 backers Limited (996 of 1024 left)

    64CORE-MAY: You get everything in the SUPPORTER reward and a 64-core Epiphany-IV based Parallella board (2 ARM cores and 64 Epiphany cores). You also get early access to the SDK. (International order should add $20 to the pledge amount).

    Estimated delivery: May 2013
  • Pledge $975 or more

    49 backers Limited (975 of 1024 left)

    CLUSTER: This package arrives as a ready to use cluster and includes eight Epiphany-III based parallella boards (a total of 144 CPUs), a gigabit switch, cat cables, and the power supply adapters. If we reach our $3M stretch goal, then it will be possible to choose four 64-core Epiphany-IV based boards instead of eight Epiphany-III based boards. (International order should add $40 to the pledge amount).

    Estimated delivery: May 2013
  • Pledge $1,249 or more

    11 backers Limited (1013 of 1024 left)

    64-CORE-PLUS: You receive everything in the DEVELOPER reward and the 64-CORE-MAY reward, allowing you to start running your software on hardware in February to be ready for the 64-core board in May (International order should add $40 to the pledge amount, two separate shipments)

    Estimated delivery: May 2013
  • Pledge $1,500 or more

    7 backers Limited (1017 of 1024 left)

    64-CORE-X2: You get everything in the SUPPORTER reward and a pair 64-core Epiphany-IV based Parallella board (2 ARM cores and 64 Epiphany cores). You also get early access to the SDK. (International order should add $20 to the pledge amount).

    Estimated delivery: May 2013
  • Pledge $1,999 or more

    2 backers Limited (6 of 8 left)

    ROLF: You receive everything in the DEVELOPER reward and the 64-CORE-X2 reward, allowing you to start running your software on hardware in February to be ready for the 64-core boards in May (International order should add $40 to the pledge amount, two separate shipments)

    Estimated delivery: May 2013
  • Pledge $2,500 or more

    8 backers Limited (56 of 64 left)

    EARLY-ACCESS: You will receive a special beta version of the Parallella platform 3 months before the general DEVELOPER board release and immediate access to the platform SDK. You also get direct access to the Adapteva support team. You will also receive one of the first 64 Epiphany-III based Parallella boards once finalized.

    Estimated delivery: Dec 2012
  • Pledge $10,000 or more

    7 backers Limited (9 of 16 left)

    64-NOW: You will receive a "super special" (EMEK4) eval-kit with a 64-core Epiphany-IV processor AND immediate access to the platform SDK AND the CLUSTER reward AND the EARLY-ACCESS reward AND 8 bare Epiphany-III chips. Estimated shipping times are: December for the EMEK4, the Parallella beta board, and the chips;May for the Cluster reward. The entry point for one massively parallel multicore evaluation kit loaded with proprietary software can run $10-50K, so this reward offers a ridiculous amount of computing hardware for a pretty modest amount of money. Let's go!

    Estimated delivery: May 2013