4 ms·

> I toy with microcontrollers. For hobbyists like me, ARM processors are still the most sensible choice. I'm not expecting any shift from that for at least five

by remcob 5y ago

> I toy with microcontrollers. For hobbyists like me, ARM processors are still the most sensible choice. I'm not expecting any shift from that for at least five years. I started using ESP32C3s in my projects. They are cheap powerful RISC-V micros supported by Arduino SDK. IMHO it's already better than the ARM offerings, but I'm still waiting for good Rust support.

mkj 5y ago
The ESP32C3 seem to have the same friction - closed wifi blobs? They might get supplanted by something with a more malleable software stack.
- galangalalgol 5y ago
  someone told me the wifi blobs exist because of regulations prohibiting wifi chipsets from being easily modified to use illegal frequencies, but they still want to do much of the functionality in firmware so they can have more flexible asic designs that can keep up with standard changes. If that is all true, wifi blobs are unlikely to change.
  - RF_Savage 5y ago
    Regulatory issues are one reason. The second is that the wifi side of things might be some 3rd party IP they bought and the licencing terms prevent open sourcing it. Wifi stacks are complex and filled with edgecases. And every release just makes that moat bigger.
    - sirmx100 5y ago
      ... . -. -.. / -- . / .- -. / . -- .- .. .-.. break .. / .... .- ...- . / .-.. --- --- -.- . -.. / ..-. --- .-. / -.-- --- ..- break 6c6f6d65696e30313031676d61696c636f6d
josephg 5y ago
Are there any bigger RISC-V boards around yet? I'd love to goof around making a toy RISC-V operating system, but those ESP32C3s look a bit gutless (400kb of RAM? Oof.). Ideally I'd like something specced closer to a raspberry pi.
- elcritch 5y ago
  What 400kb of RAM on an MCU?! That's a huge amount for an MCU. Arduino's started out with 2kB of SRAM. Linux also requires a MMU to run, which most's MCU's don't have.
  - josephg 5y ago
    Thanks; but I don’t want an MCU. I don’t even know what an MCU is. Arduino style devices aren’t interesting to me. I want something I can run Linux, like a raspberry pi but RISC-V. I know there were some bigger development boards out there for $600+ a few years back. Is there anything in the pipes which is smaller, for hobbyist messing around?
    - goosedragons 5y ago
      There is at least one now called the Sipeed Nezha, costs about $115 on Aliexpress with 1GB RAM. Seems like it's similar to an older RPi.
      - josephg 5y ago
        Oh thanks for pointing me in the right direction. It looks like they're now shipping $20 development boards with their new chips in the Sipeed LicheeRV. 512MB of ram and linux support: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003594875290.html https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003594875290.html
- colejohnson66 5y ago
  The HiFive Unmatched[0] from SiFive is a beast of a dev board, but with a price to match ($665 from Mouser). For a smaller Arduino-style board, the HiFive1 Rev B[1] exists as well, but it's more an MCU than CPU. [0]: https://www.sifive.com/boards/hifive-unmatched https://www.sifive.com/boards/hifive-unmatched [1]: https://www.sifive.com/boards/hifive1-rev-b https://www.sifive.com/boards/hifive1-rev-b

by remcob 5y ago

mkj 5y ago

The ESP32C3 seem to have the same friction - closed wifi blobs? They might get supplanted by something with a more malleable software stack.

galangalalgol 5y ago
someone told me the wifi blobs exist because of regulations prohibiting wifi chipsets from being easily modified to use illegal frequencies, but they still want to do much of the functionality in firmware so they can have more flexible asic designs that can keep up with standard changes. If that is all true, wifi blobs are unlikely to change.
- RF_Savage 5y ago
  Regulatory issues are one reason. The second is that the wifi side of things might be some 3rd party IP they bought and the licencing terms prevent open sourcing it. Wifi stacks are complex and filled with edgecases. And every release just makes that moat bigger.
  - sirmx100 5y ago
    ... . -. -.. / -- . / .- -. / . -- .- .. .-.. break .. / .... .- ...- . / .-.. --- --- -.- . -.. / ..-. --- .-. / -.-- --- ..- break 6c6f6d65696e30313031676d61696c636f6d

josephg 5y ago

Are there any bigger RISC-V boards around yet? I'd love to goof around making a toy RISC-V operating system, but those ESP32C3s look a bit gutless (400kb of RAM? Oof.). Ideally I'd like something specced closer to a raspberry pi.

elcritch 5y ago
What 400kb of RAM on an MCU?! That's a huge amount for an MCU. Arduino's started out with 2kB of SRAM. Linux also requires a MMU to run, which most's MCU's don't have.
- josephg 5y ago
  Thanks; but I don’t want an MCU. I don’t even know what an MCU is. Arduino style devices aren’t interesting to me. I want something I can run Linux, like a raspberry pi but RISC-V. I know there were some bigger development boards out there for $600+ a few years back. Is there anything in the pipes which is smaller, for hobbyist messing around?
  - goosedragons 5y ago
    There is at least one now called the Sipeed Nezha, costs about $115 on Aliexpress with 1GB RAM. Seems like it's similar to an older RPi.
    - josephg 5y ago
      Oh thanks for pointing me in the right direction. It looks like they're now shipping $20 development boards with their new chips in the Sipeed LicheeRV. 512MB of ram and linux support: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003594875290.html https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003594875290.html
colejohnson66 5y ago
The HiFive Unmatched[0] from SiFive is a beast of a dev board, but with a price to match ($665 from Mouser). For a smaller Arduino-style board, the HiFive1 Rev B[1] exists as well, but it's more an MCU than CPU. [0]: https://www.sifive.com/boards/hifive-unmatched https://www.sifive.com/boards/hifive-unmatched [1]: https://www.sifive.com/boards/hifive1-rev-b https://www.sifive.com/boards/hifive1-rev-b