[rbanffy]

From what I understood, a lot of the software stack would require rewriting. As it is, it doesn't look like it would be friendly to a Linux environment running natively on it, but could be more amenable to a coprocessor-like environment where the host would load programs and the Neo would run them.

Did I get it right?

[trsohmers]

In the near term, yes, though that is primarily a business reason for us. Supporting Linux is technically possible (old projects such as uCLinux were built around running on MMU-less systems like ours; Mainline Linux 4.2 started to have limited support for a couple of MMU-less systems), though our target areas (HPC and DSP-like tasks) don't necessarily need anything more than a microkernel/RTOS. A full OS like Linux kind of gets in the way if you get the basic stuff like memory allocation, garbage collection, and job scheduling handled separately (by our software tools). Since we are a small startup and focusing on a small area, we want to take off a part of the problem we can easily chew, rather than trying to immediately jump at Linux, so we chose our target applications/market accordingly.

[rbanffy]

I am perfectly fine with the idea to have a supercomputer running a specialized OS and a front-end machine running the sysadmin-friendly OS. It feels like a Connection Machine with fewer blinking lights.