5 ms·
Don't forget x86_64 like ARM is IP-locked, RISC-V is not.
by sylware 8mo ago
Don't forget x86_64 like ARM is IP-locked, RISC-V is not.
- dlcarrier 8mo agoFun fact: the AMD64 patents have expired, with AMD-V patents expiring this year, so there really isn't a need for an x86 license to do anything useful. All that's still protected is various AVX instruction sets, but those are generally used in heavily optimized software, like emulators and video encoders, that tend to be compiled to the specific processor instruction set anyway.
- sylware 8mo agoAs far as I can remember, it is not only a "patent" issue. It seems there are other legal mechanisms. That said, I would not use a x86_64 CPU without AVX nowadays.
- dlcarrier 8mo agoAs far as intellectual property protections go, You wouldn't be able to copy the layout of an old AMD or Intel processor copyright infringement, not that anyone would want to, because it wouldn't be cost effective to use the exact same process decades later. There's no trademark protection, as AMD was unable to register the x86-64 trademark (https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=76032083 https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=76032083) Other than protections against industrial espionage, that exhausts all forms of intellectual property rights in the US.
- kens 8mo agoThe microcode is protected by copyright; see NEC Corporation v. Intel Corporation.
- dlcarrier 8mo agoMicrocode is specific to a given implementation, so if you make your own x86 implementation, it's not going to run AMD's or Intel's microcode unless you go out of your way to make it do so. NEC didn't infringe Intel's copyright, because their processor ran different microcode than Intel's, and NEC won that lawsuit.
- sylware 8mo agoAllright, the ISA itself is probably protected under some copyrights(+patents), which in the US last for ~one century (cf Disney). In the end, nobody sane would try its luck, better go for something non "IP-locked". Aka RISC-V, not to mention that for a modern implementation RISC-V is more friendly.
- ksec 8mo agoI would love to see an Open Source, free to use x86 CPU design.
- dlcarrier 8mo agoThere's an open-source 80486 project, called ao486, but I don't know of anything now modern.
- saagarjha 8mo agoHow could we given you keep bringing it up whether it’s relevant or not?