I’m not sure what you’d like to read about, but risc-v is basically an open source CPU design. It’s not compatible with anything else, so developers will need to build software specifically for it, just like how x86 and ARM are completely different.
The nice thing about it being open source is that any company can tweak the design and send it off to a fab to get chips made, so you’re not really at the mercy of the big chip companies like AMD, Intel, or Qualcomm. So if someone like Samsung wants a super low-power device (e.g. for a watch), they can remove unnecessary stuff from the chip design and fab their own. Or they can go full-fat for a desktop chip. Or if they need a special instruction for their particular workload, they can implement it themselves and fab it.
At its current state, Linux largely works on it and there are hobby boards available and some other small devices, but it’s nowhere near ARM in performance or efficiency (hopefully getting there).
RISC-V is where ARM was a few years ago. It’ll be a ship shaker, too, if it keeps developing at this rate. But, for now at least, we have ARM and clunky old (solid) x86 as the major players.
Agreed. I’d really like RISC-V to be where ARM is, but having some competition is a good thing since it keeps that door open.
Do you have good resources to read on risc-v. I hear about it a lot, but haven’t found meaningful resources (to me) on it.
Thanks
I’m not sure what you’d like to read about, but risc-v is basically an open source CPU design. It’s not compatible with anything else, so developers will need to build software specifically for it, just like how x86 and ARM are completely different.
The nice thing about it being open source is that any company can tweak the design and send it off to a fab to get chips made, so you’re not really at the mercy of the big chip companies like AMD, Intel, or Qualcomm. So if someone like Samsung wants a super low-power device (e.g. for a watch), they can remove unnecessary stuff from the chip design and fab their own. Or they can go full-fat for a desktop chip. Or if they need a special instruction for their particular workload, they can implement it themselves and fab it.
At its current state, Linux largely works on it and there are hobby boards available and some other small devices, but it’s nowhere near ARM in performance or efficiency (hopefully getting there).
RISC-V is where ARM was a few years ago. It’ll be a ship shaker, too, if it keeps developing at this rate. But, for now at least, we have ARM and clunky old (solid) x86 as the major players.