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+
+# Big Picture
+
+*(circa Q1 2012)*
+
+The generic term "System on a Chip" refers to the fact that the CPU and many
+"peripherals" (USB, ethernet, memory controller, GPU) are integraded into a
+single package instead of being distributed across a motherboard via a
+northbridge and southbridge. There still needs to be external analog and
+digital circuitry for most "connectivity" interfaces like USB or ethernet to
+provide level conversion, isolation, etc. Notably, RAM is not usually
+integraded into the chip, and the large parallel bus to the RAM chips must be
+routed very carefully. Some newer chips (popular circa 2010?) include "package
+on package" technology where the RAM chip is right on top of the SoC to make
+routing easier (eg, iPhones, RaspberryPI).
+
+The establishment players for mobile ARM SoCs are TI (OMAP), Qualcomm
+([Snapdragon](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snapdragon_(System_on_Chip))), not
+regular ARM), Samsung ([Exynos](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exynos))), Broadcom (Armada, Armada XP, )
+
+The establishment players for MIPS SoCs are Broadcom and Marvell (Kirkwood).
+
+# ARM
+
+### TI OMAP
+
+[OMAP5 overview](http://www.linuxfordevices.com/c/a/News/TI-OMAP5430-and-OMAP5432-CES-demos/)
+
+### Marvell Armada XP
+
+[Marvell MV78200](http://www.marvell.com/embedded-processors/discovery-innovation/applications.jsp)
+
+ - 4 GigE ports
+ - 2x 1GHz armv5 chips
+ - 2x SATA
+ - 2x PCIe x4
+ - $60 or less?
+
+Samples available from 
+[nu horizons](http://www.nuhorizons.com/featuredproducts/portal/samples/January_2012.asp)
+
+Apple experimenting with these chip? [arstechnica article](http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2011/09/support-for-quad-core-arm-cpu-shows-up-in-apples-xcode-but-why.ars)
+
+### Calxeda "EnergyCore"
+
+Going for massively parallelized market, with hundreds of cors in a rack. 
+
+ECX-1000 is 4 Cortex-A9 at 1.1-1.4ghz, 5watts with 4gb DDR3 RAM. SATA and PCIe,
+72bitwidth DDR3 controller (32bit addressing), up to 5 10GigE ports with
+"routing fabric". Hard FPU.
+
+
+### Freescale i.MX6
+
+<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I.MX#i.MX6x_series>
+
+40nm process. 1.2GHz Cortex A9, up to 4 cores, includes vidoe processing
+"stuff". Single PCIe, GigE, SATA, 64bit RAM bus, **$10-20** price range,
+available summer 2012? Sabre Lite DevKits available to some?  
+
+[linaro link with specs](https://wiki.linaro.org/Boards/MX6QSabreLite)
+
+### Allwinner A10
+
+A Chinese-made fast cheap (**"$5 in volume"**) tablet-oriented processor
+
+ - <http://elinux.org/Hack_A10_devices>
+ - <http://rhombus-tech.net/allwinner_a10/>
+ - <http://www.wits-tech.com/pages/board.jsp>
+ - SDK and tools docs <http://www.cnx-software.com/2011/12/28/allwinner-a10a1x-processor-resources-development-board-and-sdk/>
+
+# x86
+
+### Intel Atom
+
+Line of devices with low-gate-count integrated Altera FPGAs. Great
+connectivity, but higher price (**~$60?**), proprietary toolchain, higher power
+consumption. 
+
+# MIPS
+
+Ingenic jz4760B
+
+# PowerPC
+
+AppliedMicro APM86290
+
+# Other
+
+Marvell Avanta ethernet switch SoCs: http://www.marvell.com/broadband/
+
+Marvell Prestera EX/MX enterprise packet processors
+
+Freescale QorIQ DPAA
+