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This is high time for a group of individuals to bring a RISC-V SBC with a tweaked Linux distribution along with it to fill the gap and... later get to IPO.

by wg0 2y ago

gjsman-1000 2y ago
RISC-V is still way too slow, and even then, there’s this stupid misunderstanding about RISC-V and open source. RISC-V means only that the instruction set is open source. It does NOT mean: - There are open source drivers - The chip design is open source - The chip design is not patented - The software is not patented - The chip has no proprietary additional instructions The NVIDIA firmware blob and drivers could run on RISC-V right now with no practical benefit to you. The ISA being open source does mean that open source CPU cores can exist, but no chip is required to use them.
- freedomben 2y ago
  Being an open ISA is still hugely important though, and a big improvement over the status quo. Don't let perfect be the enemy of good. The ISA is arguably the most important thing to have open, and the hardest to get open since it is the thing that requires the most coordination between so many disparate and disinterested entities. Today we celebrate an open ISA, tomorrow, being enabled by the open ISA, we'll be able to celebrate the next iteration of open, until at some point we get fully open.
- jovial_cavalier 2y ago
  The Raspberry Pi used a broadcomm CPU... are you telling me that's open hardware? Is there any SOC chip that is totally open with no proprietary features??
- wg0 2y ago
  Yeah, that's the whole point. Have your own CPU cores. As for slow, Rasberry Pi class of machines are not meant to compete with Intel/AMD server grade. That's for enthusiasts (with even if 40nm process) and has to be cheap. All drivers are not needed, nobody is expecting to do triple 5k displays at 120FPS. Basic WLAN, Ethernet, Bluetooth and basic display capabilities around HD even at 30FPS are good enough for that market. As for open source, you as a computer architect, can't even make your own SoC that is on x86 or ARM without paying royalties and spending lots of money upfront. Not so with RISC-V so I guess you'll see lot more RISC-V in future. This time - 20204 is the 1999 of RISC-V if you want to borrow a precedent from Linux's rise as defacto OS on server side.
- minetest2048 2y ago
  > The NVIDIA firmware blob and drivers could run on RISC-V right now They actually do... Nvidia GSP runs RISC-V: https://www.techpowerup.com/291088/nvidia-unlocks-gpu-system-processor-gsp-for-improved-system-performance https://www.techpowerup.com/291088/nvidia-unlocks-gpu-system... which furthers prove your point
qzx_pierri 2y ago
I'll make the logo

This is high time for a group of individuals to bring a RISC-V SBC with a tweaked Linux distribution along with it to fill the gap and... later get to IPO.

by wg0 2y ago

This is high time for a group of individuals to bring a RISC-V SBC with a tweaked Linux distribution along with it to fill the gap and... later get to IPO.

gjsman-1000 2y ago

RISC-V is still way too slow, and even then, there’s this stupid misunderstanding about RISC-V and open source. RISC-V means only that the instruction set is open source. It does NOT mean: - There are open source drivers - The chip design is open source - The chip design is not patented - The software is not patented - The chip has no proprietary additional instructions The NVIDIA firmware blob and drivers could run on RISC-V right now with no practical benefit to you. The ISA being open source does mean that open source CPU cores can exist, but no chip is required to use them.

freedomben 2y ago
Being an open ISA is still hugely important though, and a big improvement over the status quo. Don't let perfect be the enemy of good. The ISA is arguably the most important thing to have open, and the hardest to get open since it is the thing that requires the most coordination between so many disparate and disinterested entities. Today we celebrate an open ISA, tomorrow, being enabled by the open ISA, we'll be able to celebrate the next iteration of open, until at some point we get fully open.
jovial_cavalier 2y ago
The Raspberry Pi used a broadcomm CPU... are you telling me that's open hardware? Is there any SOC chip that is totally open with no proprietary features??
wg0 2y ago
Yeah, that's the whole point. Have your own CPU cores. As for slow, Rasberry Pi class of machines are not meant to compete with Intel/AMD server grade. That's for enthusiasts (with even if 40nm process) and has to be cheap. All drivers are not needed, nobody is expecting to do triple 5k displays at 120FPS. Basic WLAN, Ethernet, Bluetooth and basic display capabilities around HD even at 30FPS are good enough for that market. As for open source, you as a computer architect, can't even make your own SoC that is on x86 or ARM without paying royalties and spending lots of money upfront. Not so with RISC-V so I guess you'll see lot more RISC-V in future. This time - 20204 is the 1999 of RISC-V if you want to borrow a precedent from Linux's rise as defacto OS on server side.
minetest2048 2y ago
> The NVIDIA firmware blob and drivers could run on RISC-V right now They actually do... Nvidia GSP runs RISC-V: https://www.techpowerup.com/291088/nvidia-unlocks-gpu-system-processor-gsp-for-improved-system-performance https://www.techpowerup.com/291088/nvidia-unlocks-gpu-system... which furthers prove your point

qzx_pierri 2y ago

I'll make the logo