Development using RISC-V, an open-source instruction set for computer processors, is growing in popularity as an alternative to ARM and other manufacturers. It’s still early days, though, and your choices for development boards are limited.
That all looks like it is about to change, as a deal between chipmakers Allmaker Technology and T-Head will be bringing Linux-based RISC-V chips to a variety of form factors.
A New Range of RISC-V Powered Processors
The first board based on the new technology will be a single-board computer (SBC) using the XuanTie C906 (RV64GCV) core.
While many details remain to be confirmed, it appears the new development boards will start at around $12.50 and feature a system-on-module (SoM) connected to a baseboard via an edge connector.
The new development boards were announced via Chinese electronics company Sipeed on Twitter, along with a diagram of features the new architecture will bring.
Good News:
We get first chip which based on XuanTie C906 (RV64GCV),
it have abundant interface (HDMI/RGB/DVP/MIPI/GMAC/…),
and will be able to run Debian system.
Last and most important, the basic dev board price is start at 12.5$ (1% of HiFive Unleashed)。 pic.twitter.com/EJbXTJ5eMb— Sipeed (@SipeedIO) November 6, 2020
It seems that the boards will run a Debian Linux system, and feature the same interfaces as other development boards aimed at the smart home, industrial control, and consumer electronics market.
While there is no list of confirmed specifications, Sipeed’s tweet mentions HDMI, RGB, DVP, MIPI, and GMAC. A later reply on Twitter also confirmed H.264/H.265 hardware video encoding and SD card booting.
USB host and On-The-Go (OTG) will also come as standard, though it’s unclear whether that will be USB 2 or 3 based.
Finally, the as-yet-unnamed Allwinner chip will be single-core and capable of sustaining 1600 or 3200 MHz DDR3 RAM. As to how much RAM, it’s not entirely clear yet but looking at Sipeed’s replies to queries, it will fall between 256MB and 1GB. This may seem a little low to some, but in the world of embedded Linux devices, it is fairly normal.
The first development board featuring the new chipsets will reportedly cost around $12.50 and be available in 1-2 months from now.
The Rise of Affordable RISC-V Development Boards?
It’s early days, but it looks like there will be a range of Allwinner SoC RISC-V equipped development boards available with different specifications that will scale with the price. RISC-V has been around for some time, but it’s still far from being a standard in consumer goods.
The same is true for almost all hobby developers too. Unless you are specifically looking to work with RISC-V, you’d be far better getting a Raspberry Pi or cheap development board like the recently released $16 Banana Pi with AI accelerator.
RISC-V is moving quickly, and it’s likely these aren’t the only affordable SBCs we’ll see announced in the coming months. The RV64GCV core at the heart of the newly announced development boards is designed for low-cost high-quantity production.
While it’s too early to tell if the new Allwinner chips will have the capability to replace Arm-based chips, it’s a step in the right direction for those supporting open-source computing.