3 ms·

I want to ask this ignorant question Other than being OS, cheaper... For the consumer do they need to know that it's risc v? Would a laptop instead of saying "

by ge96 3y ago

I want to ask this ignorant question Other than being OS, cheaper... For the consumer do they need to know that it's risc v? Would a laptop instead of saying "Intel" or "ryzen" it would say risc v on the sticker... Otherwise it's still windows or ChromeOS?

maven29 3y ago
Intel put in a lot of legwork into ensuring that x86 is a first-class citizen on android, and this has far-reaching effects. Beyond just building against the android runtime, it is now trivial to support additional architectures at every stage of the pipeline, even for native code. Although x86 has the advantage that all dev workstations use it for VMs, at one point Google even had a MIPS version of the playstore, not to mention how different V7 and V8a are within ARM architectures.
- solarkraft 3y ago
  > Although x86 has the advantage that all dev workstations use it for VMs Mine is based on ARM
  - smoldesu 3y ago
    Even post-2020, I've seen vanishingly few production stacks that "just work" using ARM virtualization.
silisili 3y ago
Comparing apples and oranges. Ryzen is a product name, Intel a brand name. It would be similar to Snapdragon and Qualcomm, respectively. You wouldn't see riscv on the sticker the same way you don't see x86-64 or arm64 on the sticker.
rwmj 3y ago
The most likely way you'd get this is by buying some cheap smartwatch. All of those are currently powered by Arm chips and it's unlikely that the general consumer knows anything about that. Your laptop or desktop might well have RISC-V cores in it already. They are present in at least WD drives and some nVidia GPUs. But any time you need a cheap embedded core and don't want to pay licensing fees or deal with contracts is a case where you might choose RISC-V.
surajrmal 3y ago
At the moment, there are only downsides to riscv as a consumer. It is largely used in areas which are otherwise invisible to the average consumer. Lower performance, less software availability, less reliable companies producing chips, etc. Eventually it may improve the diversity of the hardware ecosystem which will in term mean more competition and related benefits for consumers. Either way, software compatibility is the biggest reason a consumer may care directly.

by ge96 3y ago

maven29 3y ago

Intel put in a lot of legwork into ensuring that x86 is a first-class citizen on android, and this has far-reaching effects. Beyond just building against the android runtime, it is now trivial to support additional architectures at every stage of the pipeline, even for native code. Although x86 has the advantage that all dev workstations use it for VMs, at one point Google even had a MIPS version of the playstore, not to mention how different V7 and V8a are within ARM architectures.

solarkraft 3y ago
> Although x86 has the advantage that all dev workstations use it for VMs Mine is based on ARM
- smoldesu 3y ago
  Even post-2020, I've seen vanishingly few production stacks that "just work" using ARM virtualization.

silisili 3y ago

Comparing apples and oranges. Ryzen is a product name, Intel a brand name. It would be similar to Snapdragon and Qualcomm, respectively. You wouldn't see riscv on the sticker the same way you don't see x86-64 or arm64 on the sticker.

rwmj 3y ago

The most likely way you'd get this is by buying some cheap smartwatch. All of those are currently powered by Arm chips and it's unlikely that the general consumer knows anything about that. Your laptop or desktop might well have RISC-V cores in it already. They are present in at least WD drives and some nVidia GPUs. But any time you need a cheap embedded core and don't want to pay licensing fees or deal with contracts is a case where you might choose RISC-V.

surajrmal 3y ago

At the moment, there are only downsides to riscv as a consumer. It is largely used in areas which are otherwise invisible to the average consumer. Lower performance, less software availability, less reliable companies producing chips, etc. Eventually it may improve the diversity of the hardware ecosystem which will in term mean more competition and related benefits for consumers. Either way, software compatibility is the biggest reason a consumer may care directly.