AI/GPT on Tachyon?

Tachyon
1

Hi there,

I'm playing around with my Tachyon and looking into running AI models on it.

I read the docs on Using the AI Accelerator on Tachyon | Particle Developer about using the AI Accelerator.

My trouble with this, it's based on the Qualcomm QPM software and I'm not successful in downloading it. Somehow I simply cannot find the software on Qualcomm's website. I have a personal developer account.

So therefore I downloaded Ollama instead. However, when running AI models with Ollama, is Tachyon's AI Accelerator used by default? Or should I do something specific for that?

2

yes I had the same problem. That article references something in the SDK that I don't think is available anymore. Not sure what that means.

3

Qualcomm Package Manager (QPM) download instructions:

  • Create a Qualcomm account, if not already done so.

  • Login to my account.qualcomm.com and select “Qualcomm Developer Network” from your Qualcomm applications

  • Select “Tools”, and search for “Qualcomm Package Manager”

  • Select OS Type and version, and click Download to get the QPM

  • QPM is only available for Linux and Windows, despite indicating MacOS as one of the options

  • Available for Linux x86, and Windows ARM64 & x86

    Screenshot 2026-01-12 at 12.46.08 PM
    Screenshot 2026-01-12 at 12.46.08 PM1260×253 8.78 KB

Accept Qualcomm AI Engine license agreement before downloading any Qualcomm SDKs

  • Login to account.qualcomm.com
  • Select Qualcomm Developer Network > Developer > Software, and search for ‘qualcomm-ai-engine-direct-sdk-license’
  • Below the “Qualcomm AI Engine Direct SDK” listed item, click on the “Accept Licence” and agree terms.
  • “Accept Licence” will then change to “Get Software”
  • Proceed to fetch the SDK as per
    Using the AI Accelerator on Tachyon | Particle Developer
  • Note: You only need to accept the Qualcomm SDK license once per developer account.

Screenshot 2026-01-12 at 1.32.15 PM
Screenshot 2026-01-12 at 1.32.15 PM1477×432 45.3 KB

4

Thank you.

It appears that I need to agree with some licenses. I couldn't find the QPM but I tried to install the Qualcomm software Center.

"User did not accept Qualcomm® Software Center's License Agreement. Exiting installation."

image
image2492×180 18 KB

5

I have a similar issue as @Xdeedee2025. I’ve posted over on the Qualcomm forums, it seems like they’ve moved some things around on their website.

6

In addition, to the Qualcomm Package Manager 3 download, I was also able to download the Qualcomm Software Center.

As per Eric’s update below, QPM 3 has been deprecated by Qualcomm in preference to ‘Qualcomm Software Center’.

7

Here is the response from Qualcomm. It seems Qualcomm Package Manager 3 is deprecated in favor of Qualcomm Software Center.

Summary Step-by-Step:

Install Qualcomm Software Center (QSC).

Search for "AI Engine Direct" inside QSC.

If it still says "Restricted," you must request access permissions (QGroup membership) from your project lead or the partner support channel for Particle Tachyon.

8

@ericpietrowicz Thanks.

After installing ‘Qualcomm Software Center’ on arm64 host, and then searching for ‘AI Engine Direct” inside QSC, I was able to activate the license but get “No releases found”.

From the CLI, ‘qpm-cli –extract Qualcomm_ai_engine_direct’ fails with error “Download failed as releases are not available for the input product: qualcomm_ai_engine_direct.

The following commands worked fine:
qpm-cli --login
qpm-cli --license-activate qualcomm_ai_engine_direct

The Web version of QSC, lists downloads only for Linux x86 and Windows x86/arm64.

Do we need to use the Windows ARM64 to get the runtime libraries? Thanks.

Update: ‘Qualcomm AI Runtime SDK’ has the required ‘AI Engine Direct’ runtime libraries but no indication if it is for arm64 or x86.

9

I'll give it a go hopefully this weekend or so.
Thank you for the follow ups @ericpietrowicz @zpm1066

10

Here is the link to Software Center download. I did not need to log in to get it.