One things I'd like to see come out of RISC-V is a kind of microcontroller/microprocessor hybrid. Hobbyists are doing amazing things with the RP2040 PIO system

One things I'd like to see come out of RISC-V is a kind of microcontroller/microprocessor hybrid. Hobbyists are doing amazing things with the RP2040 PIO system (I haven't been able to wrap my head around it personally), including HDMI/VGA output and ethernet control. All out of a tiny microcontroller, and by (above-) average Joes in the street. What this proves is that you don't need expensive secret IP to get the job done. You may not do it spectacularly, but you can can do it. Now imagine a gussy-upped system like this; a system that approaches being a microprocessor, probably not as powerful, that has something like PIO where some of them are dedicated to specific hardware. You could maybe store the drivers in a ROM, if you like. So you'd have some kind of BIOS system. Want to produce a tone? Just push a value into a register. Write directly to the display buffer. No OS required, although a DOS equivalent would be nice. Not necessarily Linux, though. Voila, you'd have some kind of real-time system that needs no OS unless you wanted it. The system would be very easy to understand, and a great educational tool. It would also be a Maker's dream. An 80's system bought into the 21st century. No binary blobs or any of that nonsense. You'll know you've done it right when Doom has been ported to it (no joke intended). I don't care if it doesn't run Firefox or if the graphics system seems a bit dated. Don't try to out-compete Intel, see what you can do to carve out a niche. Just my 2c.