Linux for Linux of Microprocessors

RISC-V is an interesting open hardware CPU. My Can RISC-V – Linux of Microprocessors – Start an Open Hardware Renaissance? post from few years back told that RISC-V is the most promising open CPU design, but asked can it succeed in competitive CPU market? In a quite short history a lot has happened.

Not it seems that RISC-V is even more promising as many big names are now in game. There’s an understandably high level of interest in RISC-V processors among our community, but while we’ve devoured the various microcontroller offerings containing the open-source core it’s fair to say we’re still waiting on the promise of more capable hardware for anything like an affordable price. This could however change soon.

Canonical Launches Its First Official Ubuntu RISC-V and SiFive aims to make Ubuntu the “reference OS for early adopters” of Linux on desktop-class RISC-V. Canonical has confirmed official RISC-V support for its popular Ubuntu Linux distribution, initially through a partnership with SiFive to release operating system images for its HiFive Unleashed and Unmatched high-performance single-board computers (SBCs).

Will We Soon Be Running Linux On SiFive Cores Made By Intel? Intel Licenses SiFive’s Portfolio for Intel Foundry Services on 7nm. This includes their latest and fastest P550 64-bit core, bringing forward the prospect of readily available high-power RISC-V computing.

SiFive RISC-V Proven in 5nm Silicon by TSMC. OpenFive, a SiFive business unit that is the leading provider of customizable, silicon-focused solutions with differentiated IP, is continuing to make progress with AI design solutions with the creation of a reference design chiplet architecture using OpenFive Die-to-Die interface, OpenFive HBM3 IP subsystem, and SiFive 7-Series processor IP, for 2.5D-based SoCs.

China’s ISCAS to build 2,000 RISC-V laptops by the end of 2022 as nation seeks to cut reliance on Arm, Intel chips. Software porting efforts aim to make sure Android, Linux, Firefox, and Chrome work well.