5 ms·

The first RISC-V laptop announced with quad-core CPU, 16GB RAM, Linux support

64 points by marcodiego 4y ago

throwaway4good 4y ago
SOM - System on a module - is that a standard of some kind? Would you be able to swap in another module with say an Arm cpu? Mentioned in this other article covering the same machine: https://liliputing.com/2022/07/the-first-laptop-with-a-risc-v-processor-is-coming-to-china.html https://liliputing.com/2022/07/the-first-laptop-with-a-risc-...
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
phoronixrly 4y ago
Disappointed by the lack of detail in this article.
- classichasclass 4y ago
  In fairness the actual PR it's based on is worse.
gundamdoubleO 4y ago
> The ROMA press release today goes on to note, "A Web3-friendly platform with NFT creation and publication plus integrated MetaMask-style wallet, ROMA will create an even more integrated experience with future AR glasses and AI speakers operating entirely on RISC-V software and powered by RISC-V hardware." I could feel my face contorting the further I got through that statement.
- throwaway4good 4y ago
  It is just bad copy. Who cares? RISC-V for personal computing is exciting.
  - colinsane 4y ago
    > Who cares? is the company trying to make a quick buck from speculation before moving on to the next cash grab? or are they trying to make profit by producing an innovative laptop? if i were looking to buy this as a daily driver i would absolutely care, because it has obvious implications for how well-supported the product will be post-launch.
    - jrockway 4y ago
      The importance of the RISC-V is probably in the ecosystem rather than an individual piece of hardware (which is a very rare case in today's industry). If they just want to make a quick buck from speculators, those speculators will still send open source projects patches to make the software work on RISC-V (or, who am I kidding, whine about issues until the developers rage-fix-them), and then when the next company comes along to make a RISC-V laptop will have an ever better starting point. The pressure will keep Intel/AMD and ARM on their toes, too. (I watched this happen with Apple and ARM. AWS has had ARM CPUs forever. I never cared. But then suddenly 90% of your users have an ARM chip, and you have to do something to support them. I even bought an M1 to test stuff on ARM, as someone totally happy with linux/amd64 for my development and production needs. The ecosystem / network effect is strong! Would love to see this happen with RISC-V.) So basically, if this is a cash grab, you shouldn't buy one, but you should definitely tell other people to buy them. It's probably good for the field of computing as a whole.
      - Hamcha 4y ago
        That last statement is so evil, If I wasn't ready to buy something for myself why would I ever tell someone else to do it instead? I don't agree with any of your points. Speculators have never contributed to tech, has crypto/NFT become a better place because of speculators? If anything they have made cryptocurrency into a stigma that gets you weird looks. This laptop looks like a toy: - They somehow attached their own blockchain into it (quote: “With built-in PoS, NFT, and MetaMask-style wallet, ROMA is born for the Metaverse,”) - There's no performance numbers, just marketing buzzword bingo. - "Get an NFT when you buy one" - Not mentioning a specific distro makes me wonder what's the driver situation - ROMA packaging converts to a laptop stand. Designed by Pedro André®.[1] I honestly don't see how giving money to this project will advance the field of computing. You're not championing RISC-V as a technology, you are championing RISC-V as a marketing buzzword. [1]: …so they stole the picture from this 10 year old Behance gallery: https://www.behance.net/gallery/2574687/CARDBOARD-LAPTOP-STAND https://www.behance.net/gallery/2574687/CARDBOARD-LAPTOP-STA... and just put it on the website with no indicaton of how it's actually gonna fold that way??
- colinsane 4y ago
  i can’t actually find the original ROMA/xcalibyte source for this quote? not that i doubt it — the poster listed on their preorder page [1] mentions NFTs — more i’m curious if they rescinded this specific part because of how cringey it was, or something. ^1: https://xcalibyte.com.cn/en/roma-preorder/ https://xcalibyte.com.cn/en/roma-preorder/
einpoklum 4y ago
The only thing that really matters about a laptop is whether it has a decent keyboard, like the Lenovo X220's and earlier. So, what will the keyboard be like?

64 points by marcodiego 4y ago

SOM - System on a module - is that a standard of some kind? Would you be able to swap in another module with say an Arm cpu? Mentioned in this other article covering the same machine: https://liliputing.com/2022/07/the-first-laptop-with-a-risc-v-processor-is-coming-to-china.html https://liliputing.com/2022/07/the-first-laptop-with-a-risc-...

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

phoronixrly 4y ago

Disappointed by the lack of detail in this article.

classichasclass 4y ago
In fairness the actual PR it's based on is worse.

gundamdoubleO 4y ago

> The ROMA press release today goes on to note, "A Web3-friendly platform with NFT creation and publication plus integrated MetaMask-style wallet, ROMA will create an even more integrated experience with future AR glasses and AI speakers operating entirely on RISC-V software and powered by RISC-V hardware." I could feel my face contorting the further I got through that statement.

throwaway4good 4y ago
It is just bad copy. Who cares? RISC-V for personal computing is exciting.
- colinsane 4y ago
  > Who cares? is the company trying to make a quick buck from speculation before moving on to the next cash grab? or are they trying to make profit by producing an innovative laptop? if i were looking to buy this as a daily driver i would absolutely care, because it has obvious implications for how well-supported the product will be post-launch.
  - jrockway 4y ago
    The importance of the RISC-V is probably in the ecosystem rather than an individual piece of hardware (which is a very rare case in today's industry). If they just want to make a quick buck from speculators, those speculators will still send open source projects patches to make the software work on RISC-V (or, who am I kidding, whine about issues until the developers rage-fix-them), and then when the next company comes along to make a RISC-V laptop will have an ever better starting point. The pressure will keep Intel/AMD and ARM on their toes, too. (I watched this happen with Apple and ARM. AWS has had ARM CPUs forever. I never cared. But then suddenly 90% of your users have an ARM chip, and you have to do something to support them. I even bought an M1 to test stuff on ARM, as someone totally happy with linux/amd64 for my development and production needs. The ecosystem / network effect is strong! Would love to see this happen with RISC-V.) So basically, if this is a cash grab, you shouldn't buy one, but you should definitely tell other people to buy them. It's probably good for the field of computing as a whole.
    - Hamcha 4y ago
      That last statement is so evil, If I wasn't ready to buy something for myself why would I ever tell someone else to do it instead? I don't agree with any of your points. Speculators have never contributed to tech, has crypto/NFT become a better place because of speculators? If anything they have made cryptocurrency into a stigma that gets you weird looks. This laptop looks like a toy: - They somehow attached their own blockchain into it (quote: “With built-in PoS, NFT, and MetaMask-style wallet, ROMA is born for the Metaverse,”) - There's no performance numbers, just marketing buzzword bingo. - "Get an NFT when you buy one" - Not mentioning a specific distro makes me wonder what's the driver situation - ROMA packaging converts to a laptop stand. Designed by Pedro André®.[1] I honestly don't see how giving money to this project will advance the field of computing. You're not championing RISC-V as a technology, you are championing RISC-V as a marketing buzzword. [1]: …so they stole the picture from this 10 year old Behance gallery: https://www.behance.net/gallery/2574687/CARDBOARD-LAPTOP-STAND https://www.behance.net/gallery/2574687/CARDBOARD-LAPTOP-STA... and just put it on the website with no indicaton of how it's actually gonna fold that way??
colinsane 4y ago
i can’t actually find the original ROMA/xcalibyte source for this quote? not that i doubt it — the poster listed on their preorder page [1] mentions NFTs — more i’m curious if they rescinded this specific part because of how cringey it was, or something. ^1: https://xcalibyte.com.cn/en/roma-preorder/ https://xcalibyte.com.cn/en/roma-preorder/

einpoklum 4y ago

The only thing that really matters about a laptop is whether it has a decent keyboard, like the Lenovo X220's and earlier. So, what will the keyboard be like?