4 ms·
There are a handful of micros. The lowfive and a few coming from China Here is an AI chip: https://hackaday.com/2018/10/08/new-part-day-the-risc-v-chip-with-b
by geokon 8y ago
There are a handful of micros. The lowfive and a few coming from China
Here is an AI chip:
https://hackaday.com/2018/10/08/new-part-day-the-risc-v-chip-with-built-in-neural-networks/ https://hackaday.com/2018/10/08/new-part-day-the-risc-v-chip...
It's an interesting proposition b/c they using RISC for the core, but the APUs are custom - so they can create some lock-in there for themselves (without lock in it'll just be a race to the bottom with razor thin margins)
And here is RISC-on-an-FPGA in a nice package. It's very Chinese hobbyist oriented
https://www.cnx-software.com/2018/09/04/licheetang-anlogic-eg4s20-fpga-board-targets-risc-v-development/ https://www.cnx-software.com/2018/09/04/licheetang-anlogic-e...
Both those projects are by Zepan. That guy is a machine
But I'm not quite sure what's holding up general purpose CPUs (even just something crappy/good-enough)..
The way I understand it CPUs aren't just beefy microcontrollers and they require some extra onchip hardware, but no one has done that yet for some reason.. Maybe someone knows better :)
- nickik 8y agolowRisc and SiFive, there is no lowfive
- als0 8y ago> CPUs aren't just beefy microcontrollers and they require some extra onchip hardware, but no one has done that yet for some reason For example, Graphics, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, modem, are all heavily encumbered with patents. Very complex subsystems. Even components that have expired patents or no patents, such as an MMU, are non-trivial to create and take time. I suspect it'll take time before FOSS implementations appear.
- wbl 8y agoGraphics can sit on a PCI bus. Same with Wi-Fi. The MMU is probably a blocker.
- _chris_ 8y ago> But I'm not quite sure what's holding up general purpose CPUs (even just something crappy/good-enough).. The way I understand it CPUs aren't just beefy microcontrollers and they require some extra onchip hardware, but no one has done that yet for some reason.. Maybe someone knows better :) There's general-purpose RISC-V CPU RTL lying around, and it's not too difficult to license the necessary peripherals, but it costs money to put together a board and fabricate at volume if you want to hit a Raspberry Pi/hobbyist price point. Unfortunately, it takes time and you need a market to justify the effort. But eventually it'll happen.