3 ms·

I worry that when the time comes - RISC-V will not see high acceptence because it is too expensive for the performance it provides. I hope that I am wrong becau

by Esau 10y ago

I worry that when the time comes - RISC-V will not see high acceptence because it is too expensive for the performance it provides. I hope that I am wrong because I would love to own a truly open computer.

ktta 10y ago
I'm actually a bit more confident. The only thing stopping manufacturers in china from selling good CPUs (anything above tiny microcontrollers) is because their investment won't pay off in case they get sued. But with this open hardware, they can sell without any worries, anywhere (apart from the problem with following standards). I actually think that this might bring more investment and interest from them. Of course the high end CPUs won't have so much diversification due to the complexity and it's impossible for normal people to stay on par with the complex manufacturing process of <22nm, but baby steps I guess.
- ant6n 10y ago
  I'd be more worried about hardware backdoors.
  - ktta 10y ago
    Well, I'm worried about hardware backdoors even now too. Although there is always the 'know your hardware' tag advertised with RISC-V, that's not going to change until we have complete control(or trust) of the fabs. It's a bit like people being worried about malware/adware/spyware on their phones/personal computers. Are you sure that right now, you have no spyware? How can you be sure if you're not compiled the code your self? If you did compile the code and read all the lines of the code you compiled -- great achievement!. So now, if your phone has been connected to the internet, how do you know there wasn't a vuln that wasn't exploited, and a root kit installed with the last app you thought was great and had to have it? Or even just the last JS block wasn't malicious? Sorry for the rant. I just wanted to convey complete security is an illusion we know and make ourselves believe is the real thing. I'm a lot more interested in the cost economics with RISC-V, and I don't really have to worry security right now in the MCU, embedded space, where it is manageable (atleast right now).

by Esau 10y ago

ktta 10y ago

I'm actually a bit more confident. The only thing stopping manufacturers in china from selling good CPUs (anything above tiny microcontrollers) is because their investment won't pay off in case they get sued. But with this open hardware, they can sell without any worries, anywhere (apart from the problem with following standards). I actually think that this might bring more investment and interest from them. Of course the high end CPUs won't have so much diversification due to the complexity and it's impossible for normal people to stay on par with the complex manufacturing process of <22nm, but baby steps I guess.

ant6n 10y ago
I'd be more worried about hardware backdoors.
- ktta 10y ago
  Well, I'm worried about hardware backdoors even now too. Although there is always the 'know your hardware' tag advertised with RISC-V, that's not going to change until we have complete control(or trust) of the fabs. It's a bit like people being worried about malware/adware/spyware on their phones/personal computers. Are you sure that right now, you have no spyware? How can you be sure if you're not compiled the code your self? If you did compile the code and read all the lines of the code you compiled -- great achievement!. So now, if your phone has been connected to the internet, how do you know there wasn't a vuln that wasn't exploited, and a root kit installed with the last app you thought was great and had to have it? Or even just the last JS block wasn't malicious? Sorry for the rant. I just wanted to convey complete security is an illusion we know and make ourselves believe is the real thing. I'm a lot more interested in the cost economics with RISC-V, and I don't really have to worry security right now in the MCU, embedded space, where it is manageable (atleast right now).