Thanks to Nvidia, there's a new generation of PCs coming, and they'll be running Linux

I know, I know: “Year of the Linux desktop … yadda, yadda.” You’ve heard it all before. But now there’s a Linux-powered PC that many people will want: Nvidia’s Project Digits, 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. It’s one impressive chip. It can deliver up to 1 petaflop of AI performance at FP4 precision and support 200-billion-parameter large language models.

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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. 

In an investor presentation, Huang said that while AI developers were Nvidia’s target audience for Project Digits, the company also plans to market its desktop CPU to mainstream users. Nvidia believes, he added, that it can bridge the gap between the Linux operating system that most AI developers use and Microsoft by using the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL).

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But why do that? True, with WSL 2.0, you can run Linux graphic desktops and programs. WSL’s performance is also, on x86 hardware, close to native Ubuntu Linux’s speeds on the same platform. But, on ARM, it would be a different story. 

Yes, Microsoft now offers Windows on ARM (WoA). However, WoA is not a first-class citizen in the Windows world. Many Windows programs won’t run natively on WoA and require Microsoft’s Prism emulator. Even Windows programs with WoA versions tend to be slow and have problems. In particular, Windows games run poorly on ARM. 

Besides, why 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. 

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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.”

Who’d have thought it?

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Canonical, Ubuntu Linux’s parent company, has long worked closely with Nvidia. Ubuntu already provides Blackwell drivers. Canonical claims, with reason, to offer the best-in-class integrations with Nvidia hardware. These next-generation PCs will be built for Linux. 

MediaTek, known for its leadership in smartphone chips, is poised to play a crucial role in this new venture. The collaboration will allow MediaTek to sell the desktop CPU PC vendors. Rick Tsai, MediaTek’s vice chairman and CEO, expressed enthusiasm about the partnership: “Our collaboration with Nvidia on the GB10 Superchip aligns with MediaTek’s vision of helping make great technology accessible to anyone.”

Even at a price point of $3,000, I can see many more people than data scientists and AI developers wanting Project DIGITS PCs on their desktops. I know I do. 

OK, 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. 

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It sure looks to me that this partnership will lead to a new generation of AI-powered PCs with significantly enhanced capabilities. Integrating Nvidia’s GPU expertise with MediaTek’s proficiency in Arm-based architectures promises highly efficient and powerful processors optimized not just for AI workloads but for anyone who wants the fastest PCs on the planet. 

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.