Windows 10 on ARM.

[Silent_Buddha]

https://www.anandtech.com/show/12119/microsoft-launches-windows-10-on-arm-always-connected-pcs

I'm going to assume this is still considered a "PC" due to the OS and not a mobile device due to the SOC.

Hopefully, AnandTech will get a device in soon so they can test it, especially the x86 translation layer. The Asus device is limited to 32-bit x86 translation, however. But that's a limitation I can live with if the performance is at least better than Intel's Atom CPUs.

If it works well, tablet based Windows 10 ARM devices will be interesting. Either go light or go for those ridiculously long battery times.

Regards,
SB

 

[Grall]

32-bit only? Wtfbbq, *insert lolwut pear here* in this day and age? Why does MS have to compulsively keep fucking up over and over and over? Are they gluttons for punishment?

Don't they WANT to succeed or what the eff is wrong with them?!

 

[Laurent06]

32-bit only? Wtfbbq, *insert lolwut pear here* in this day and age? Why does MS have to compulsively keep fucking up over and over and over? Are they gluttons for punishment?

Don't they WANT to succeed or what the eff is wrong with them?!

Are many applications using 64-bit? I guess that those that are 64-bit likely need a lot of performance and hence would behave badly under emulation.

 

[tuna]

Are many applications using 64-bit? I guess that those that are 64-bit likely need a lot of performance and hence would behave badly under emulation.

The company I work for will not make any more 32 bit windows applications after April 2018.

 

[Laurent06]

The company I work for will not make any more 32 bit windows applications after April 2018.

Interesting. Do your apps need a lot of CPU power?

 

[Rikimaru]

Also 32bit apps on Windows can only use 2Gb of RAM.

 

[tuna]

Interesting. Do your apps need a lot of CPU power?

Depends. I would say that memory speeds would have more impact on the perceived performance.

 

[DmitryKo]

Also 32bit apps on Windows can only use 2Gb of RAM.

32-bit apps can use up to 4 GB of RAM on a 64-bit OS (i.e. Windows for ARM64) if they are packaged as large address aware - basically all apps upgraded for the 64-bit platform can be made this way.

https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20050601-24/?p=35483/
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/bb613473
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/bb427430

 

[Deleted member 13524]

32bit limitation is probably going to make Windows 10 on ARM KDOA, IMO.



(Edit: not killed on arrival, dead on arrival, duh)

 

[DmitryKo]

I don't think any official announcement has been made about emulation being for 32-bit 'x86' executables only - 'x86' could denote 80x86 architecture in general. Since the code is converted to the native ARM64 (AArch64) 64-bit code, transcoding from 64-bit 'x64' executables should be possible as well.

Either way, running high-perfomance memory-demanding apps on an ultrathin laptop engineered for extended battery life is probably not a good idea.

 

[Deleted member 13524]

Either way, running high-perfomance memory-demanding apps on an ultrathin laptop engineered for extended battery life is probably not a good idea.

64bit isn't just for memory-demanding apps AFAIK.

 

[DmitryKo]

Basically it is for applications that require large virtual address space and/or physical memory.

 

[Laurent06]

32bit limitation is probably going to make Windows 10 on ARM KDOA, IMO.

What 64-bit application do you use daily? Honest question, I have not used Windows for months and have no clue what apps are 64-bit. Last time I checked only my World of Warcraft client was 64-bit and even then I could have used the 32-bit variant.

 

[Malo]

There are very few applications that even have 64-bit clients, let alone require the extra memory space. Those that do wouldn't be run on these kind of devices anyway so I'm not sure why lack of 64-bit application support would impact the usefulness of the OS for the intended use.

 

[Deleted member 13524]

What 64-bit application do you use daily?

Solidworks and Firefox.

 

[Laurent06]

Solidworks and Firefox.

Firefox AArch64 exists and I guess someone will port it to Windows. And I don't think Solidworks is a target app for such a device.

 

[DmitryKo]

There is no need to backport arcane unsupported *nix ports. Firefox for the x64 Windows platform is built with Visual C++ 2017, which supports ARM64 since VS2017 version 15.4, and SSE2 to NEON intrinsic conversion headers are also available.

 

[tuna]

There is no need to backport arcane unsupported *nix ports. Firefox for the x64 Windows platform is built with Visual C++ 2017, which supports ARM64 since VS2017 version 15.4, and SSE2 to NEON intrinsic conversion headers are also available.

What are the Rust parts in Firefox built with?

 

[DmitryKo]

Visual C++ 2017 or MinGW.

 

[tuna]

Visual C++ 2017 or MinGW.

You need a Rust compiler to build a Rust program. Does VC++ 17 include one?