50 LXF249 May 2019 http://www.linuxformat.com
CREDIT:www.giantpockets.com CREDIT:ownyourbits.comhealluringpromiseofquantum
computingisonethat’sbeen
danglingtantalisinglycloselyforthe
lastdecade,andisfuelforconspiracy
theoriesabout‘dark’NSAcomputingunits
andprojectssettocrackyourencryption.
Intheabsenceofactualrealqubit-packingeoplealwayswantwhattheycan’t
have– orcanthey?A newproject
calledBox86isattemptingtorun
desktopx86programs(andgames)onARM
devices,viathetalentsofQemutocreatea
sortofWine-liteforARMsystems.It’searly
daysfortheprojectbutiswellwortha lookat
http://bit.ly/lxf249box86.odgypowersupplieshavedoggedPi
usersforyears,andina blogpost
thatdiscusesa fewissueswiththe
RaspberryPi,theissueofpoweringmore
recentPimodelsisnicelyaddressed,
explaininghowcheapsupplieswillendin CPU
throttlingandsystemperformanceissues.
Seehttp://bit.ly/lxf249powerformore.Quantum computing
on the Raspberry Pi?
X86 on ARM Pi semipowered
Thepowerofthetinyqubitcomestothetiniestof
computerplatforms,sortof,kindof...
Box86bringstheopcodes. Dodgysuppliesrevealed.
D
Pi4 LIFE
In 2012I firsthelda RaspberryPi,
little knowinghowmuchit would
changemylife.Overtheseseven
years, theRaspberryPihas
disruptedthemarket,brought
the costofa singleboard
computerdownto£35andkept
it there forallthattime.
But thisiswherethestoryof
this generationofRaspberryPis
will end.Withthereleaseofthe
ComputeModule3+wereach
the endofwhatcanbeachieved
with thecurrentplatform,which
relies on40nmCPUsthatcan
only workwitha maximumof
1GB RAM.FortheRaspberryPi 4
there willbea newerARMCPU,
possibly28nmorlessinsize.
With thisnewCPUtherewillbe
of course be more RAM, but what
else could there be?
A wish list for me is USB-C
power, as we are reaching the
limit of what Micro-USB can
provide. I’d also like USB 3
compatible ports and true gigabit
Ethernet. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
can remain as is. HDMI with 4K
output would be great – I just
need a 4K TV...
But my biggest wish for the
next Raspberry Pi is that we
retain the same 40-pin GPIO with
the same connections as the
previous generation of Pis. This
is vitally important to the Pi
ecosystem, with companies
basing their products on that
form factor and many projects
also relying on this configuration.
The Raspberry Pi 4 may not be
with us for a while yet, but once it
does arrive it will quickly be
adopted by the many fans of this
cost-effective board that
disrupted the market and keeps
doing so to this day. Personally,
I can’t wait.
LesPounder
workswithgroups
suchasthe
RaspberryPi
Foundationtohelp
boostpeople’s
makerskills.hardware, IBM created a cloud-based
quantum computer simulation (http://bit.
ly/lxf249ibm), which at least enables
budding developers to test out quantum-
based code. In LXF237 we even looked at how
desktop Linux users can get involved.
But what if you want a quantum emulator
to call your own? Enter Qrasp, a Pi Sense
HAT-based qubit simulator for us all. It was
developed by IBM Q Ambassador Hassi
Norlen, whose take on the project was: “This
will not be easy. IBM Q System One is, after
all, a cloud-based quantum computing
offering, with the main hardware, cryostats,
quantum chips and all locked away in the IBM
labs.” He had a crack anyway. Go and find out
how to build your own from his blog post at
http://bit.ly/lxf249qrasp.Pi USER
No Raspberry Pi here, just
pure IBM Q System One.Here comes the x86! Check your power to ensure smooth runnings.CREDIT: IBMT
P