Will Nvidia Spark a New Generation of Linux PCs?
“I know, I know: ‘Year of the Linux desktop … yadda, yadda’,” writes Steven Vaughan-Nichols, a ZDNet senior contributing editor. “You’ve heard it all before. But now there’s a Linux-powered PC that many people will want…”
He’s talking about Nvidia’s newly-announced Project Digits, describing it as “a desktop with AI supercomputer power that runs DGX OS, a customized Ubuntu Linux 22.04 distro.”
Powered by MediaTek and Nvidia’s Grace Blackwell Superchip, Project DIGITS is a $3,000 personal AI that combines Nvidia’s Blackwell GPU with a 20-core Grace CPU built on the Arm architecture… At CES, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang confirmed plans to make this technology available to everyone, not just AI developers. “We’re going to make this a mainstream product,” Huang said. His statement suggests that Nvidia and MediaTek are positioning themselves to challenge established players — including Intel and AMD — in the desktop CPU market. This move to the desktop and perhaps even laptops has been coming for a while. As early as 2023, Nvidia was hinting that a consumer desktop chip would be in its future… [W]hy not use native Linux as the primary operating system on this new chip family?
Linux, after all, already runs on the Grace Blackwell Superchip. Windows doesn’t. It’s that simple. Nowadays, Linux runs well with Nvidia chips. Recent benchmarks show that open-source Linux graphic drivers work with Nvidia GPUs as well as its proprietary drivers. Even Linus Torvalds thinks Nvidia has gotten its open-source and Linux act together. In August 2023, Torvalds said, “Nvidia got much more involved in the kernel. Nvidia went from being on my list of companies who are not good to my list of companies who are doing really good work.” Canonical, Ubuntu Linux’s parent company, has long worked closely with Nvidia. Ubuntu already provides Blackwell drivers.
The article strays into speculation, when it adds “maybe you wouldn’t pay three grand for a Project DIGITS PC. But what about a $1,000 Blackwell PC from Acer, Asus, or Lenovo? All three of these companies are already selling MediaTek-powered Chromebooks….”
“The first consumer products featuring this technology are expected to hit the market later this year. I’m looking forward to running Linux on it. Come on in! The operating system’s fine.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
“I know, I know: ‘Year of the Linux desktop … yadda, yadda’,” writes Steven Vaughan-Nichols, a ZDNet senior contributing editor. “You’ve heard it all before. But now there’s a Linux-powered PC that many people will want…”
He’s talking about Nvidia’s newly-announced Project Digits, describing it as “a desktop with AI supercomputer power that runs DGX OS, a customized Ubuntu Linux 22.04 distro.”
Powered by MediaTek and Nvidia’s Grace Blackwell Superchip, Project DIGITS is a $3,000 personal AI that combines Nvidia’s Blackwell GPU with a 20-core Grace CPU built on the Arm architecture… At CES, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang confirmed plans to make this technology available to everyone, not just AI developers. “We’re going to make this a mainstream product,” Huang said. His statement suggests that Nvidia and MediaTek are positioning themselves to challenge established players — including Intel and AMD — in the desktop CPU market. This move to the desktop and perhaps even laptops has been coming for a while. As early as 2023, Nvidia was hinting that a consumer desktop chip would be in its future… [W]hy not use native Linux as the primary operating system on this new chip family?
Linux, after all, already runs on the Grace Blackwell Superchip. Windows doesn’t. It’s that simple. Nowadays, Linux runs well with Nvidia chips. Recent benchmarks show that open-source Linux graphic drivers work with Nvidia GPUs as well as its proprietary drivers. Even Linus Torvalds thinks Nvidia has gotten its open-source and Linux act together. In August 2023, Torvalds said, “Nvidia got much more involved in the kernel. Nvidia went from being on my list of companies who are not good to my list of companies who are doing really good work.” Canonical, Ubuntu Linux’s parent company, has long worked closely with Nvidia. Ubuntu already provides Blackwell drivers.
The article strays into speculation, when it adds “maybe you wouldn’t pay three grand for a Project DIGITS PC. But what about a $1,000 Blackwell PC from Acer, Asus, or Lenovo? All three of these companies are already selling MediaTek-powered Chromebooks….”
“The first consumer products featuring this technology are expected to hit the market later this year. I’m looking forward to running Linux on it. Come on in! The operating system’s fine.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.