Today, System76, a Linux hardware manufacturer based in the US, announced the release of the Thelio Astra desktop computer, marking their first venture into ARM-powered machines in partnership with Ampere Computing.
The System76 Thelio Astra is crafted as an ARM64 system aimed at developers engaged in autonomous vehicle (AV) initiatives, automotive safety systems (ADAS), and software-defined vehicle (SDV) projects. This machine allows for native testing and simulation utilizing the same architecture as ARM-based automotive Electronic Control Units (ECUs).
At its core, the Thelio Astra is equipped with a formidable 128-core Ampere Altra AArch64 (ARM64) processor, operating at a clock speed of 3.0 GHz, alongside a strong NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada graphics card. The system can also be enhanced with up to 512GB of 8-channel DDR4 3200 MHz ECC memory and 8TB of PCIe 4.0 M.2 NVMe storage.
“System76 is revolutionizing modern computing first with their Thelio Mega AI/ML power desktop, and now with Thelio Astra, an arm developer desktop engineered to meet the demands of autonomous vehicle development,” stated Tony Rosella, Product Manager of System76. “We’ve created this optimized workstation built around the powerful Ampere processors, designed specifically for the unique challenges faced by automotive developers.”
The Thelio Astra aims to eliminate the necessity for ARM emulation by incorporating an ARM64 CPU alongside an NVIDIA GPU straight out of the box. Its carefully designed cooling system ensures that thermal throttling is kept at bay, providing dependable and sustained performance even under the heaviest workloads. It is not only more powerful but also more economical than traditional bare metal cloud GPU instances. Additionally, it comes with lifetime in-house support from System76.
“End-to-end native parity is essential for the automotive industry to produce better-quality software at a quicker pace. This 128-core desktop can manage numerous virtual ECUs while executing thousands of unit tests,” states Joe Speed, Head of Edge at Ampere. He further adds, “System76 is making autonomous vehicle and software-defined vehicle development accessible by delivering this capability directly to developers’ desks.”
Developers in the realms of autonomous driving and software-defined vehicles can pre-order the Thelio Astra desktop computer through System76’s online store. The Thelio Astra is available with either Ubuntu 22.04 LTS or Ubuntu 24.04 LTS already pre-installed.
Image credits: System76 (edited by Marius Nestor)
Last updated 1 hour ago