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Freedom-Respecting/Open Hardware: SiFive's PC Project and Blob-free WiFi & Bluetooth Stack

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Hardware
  • SiFive Is Launching The Most Compelling RISC-V Development Board Yet - Phoronix

    If you've been waiting to port your software to RISC-V until having a decent RISC-V system where you can develop on-host, wanting to experiment with the libre processor architecture or even use it as a daily desktop system, or just wanting a Linux system that's not x86_64 / ARM / POWER, SiFive today is announcing a new board today that is the most promising yet. The SiFive HiFive Unmatched is the best RISC-V development board we've seen to date and the closest to being the first "RISC-V PC" for Linux use.

  • SiFive unveils plan for Linux PCs with RISC-V processors | VentureBeat

    SiFive today announced it is creating a platform for Linux-based personal computers based on RISC-V processors.

    [...]

    SiFive raised $61 million in August from investors that included chip superpowers Intel and Qualcomm. The startup has raised $190 million to date, and former Qualcomm executive Patrick Little recently joined SiFive as CEO. His task will be to establish the company’s RISC-V processors as an alternative to Arm. This move comes in the wake of Nvidia’s $40 billion acquisition of the world’s leading processor architecture.

    If Little is also looking to challenge Intel and AMD in PCs, he’ll have his work cut out for him. For starters, SiFive is currently focused on Linux-based PCs, not Microsoft Windows PCs. Secondly, SiFive wouldn’t build these processors or computers on its own. Its customers — anyone brave enough to take on the PC giants — would have to do that.

  • SiFive's RISC-V PC coming soon for $665 - Liliputing

    As promised, SiFive has unveiled a new computer featuring the company’s SiFive FU740 processor based on RISC-V architecture.

    The company, which has been making RISC-V chips for several years, is positioning its new SiFive HiFive Unmatched computer as a professional development board for those interested in working with RISC-V. But unlike the company’s other HiFive boards, the new Unmatched model is designed so that it can be easily integrated into a standard PC.

  • The quest for a blob-free WiFi & Bluetooth stack for BL602 WiSoC

    I thought I was done writing about Bouffalo Lab BL602 WiFI & Bluetooth RISC-V SoC for a while after first covering the chip itself, and then an inexpensive BL602 development board this weekend. But the BL602 SDK has shown up in various Github repositories, including Bouffalo Lab’s own bl_iot_sdk repository, and as more people are looking into it, there’s now an effort to develop a fully open-source blob-free WiFi & Bluetooth stack for BL602, and other Bouffalo Lab WiFi and/or Bluetooth wireless chips.

SiFive launches HiFive Unmatched mini-ITX motherboard for RISC-V

  • SiFive launches HiFive Unmatched mini-ITX motherboard for RISC-V PC’s

    After an increased demand for AI-focused RISC-V microarchitecture, targeting all applications from artificial intelligence, the internet of things, high-performance computing, and now even desktop PCs. SiFive Freedom U740 powered HiFive Unmatched mini-ITX motherboard comes with a complete development environment which allows developers to create RISC-V based applications from bare-metal to Linux-based systems.

PolarBerry is a Compact, Linux-capable RISC-V FPGA SBC

  • PolarBerry is a Compact, Linux-capable RISC-V FPGA SBC and module (Crowdfunding)

    SiFive may just have announced a mini-ITX motherboard for RISC-V PCs, but if you’d like a RISC-V Linux platform in a more compact form factor, Sundance PolarBerry may better fit your requirements, albeit the board will target different use cases.

    Powered by Microchip PolarFire RISC-V SoC FPGA, PolarBerry is both a single board computer with Gigabit Ethernet and 40-pin GPIO header, as well as a system-on-module thanks to three Samtec board-to-board connectors.

SiFive readies the HiFive Unmatched, world's first RISC-V...

  • SiFive readies the HiFive Unmatched, world's first RISC-V-based desktop PC platform

    SiFive's HiFive Unmatched mini-ITX platform is designed for DiY developers. It comes with a 5-core RISC-V processor complemented by 8 GB of onboard DDR4 RAM. Users can add an NVMe SSD, a wireless card and a dGPU or any other PCIe Gen 3 X8 expansion card. The platform is compatible with many popular Linux distributions and will soon be up for pre-orders at US$665.

    [...]

    This new platform is based around the SiFive FU740 64-bit processor that integrates 4x U74 cores plus an S7 core, and is marketed as a professional development solution. SiFive is making things easier for DIY developers, as the platform motherboard comes in a mini-ITX form-factor with ATX 24-pin PSU connector. The small motherboard also features 8 GB of onboard DDR4 RAM + 32 MB QSPI flash memory, and also comes with a microsSD card reader. Users can add a PCIe Gen 3 X4 NVMe SSD in the included M.2 2280 slot, and there is also a PCIe Gen 3 X8 slot for dGPUs or other expansion cards. Port selection includes 4x USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 + microUSB connectors, along with a GbE jack. Additionally, the included M.2 Key E slot offers support for a wireless NIC.

Engage in Unmatched RISC-V Business With SiFive

  • Engage in Unmatched RISC-V Business With SiFive

    Two years ago HiFive released their Unleashed RISC-V, a fully functional PC based on the open sourced architecture and it was snapped up by fans almost as fast as an Ampere GPU. The original was based on a 1.5 GHz five-core FU540 SoC. and had fairly limited usage unless you added a $2000 expansion board from Microchip to give you HDMI, PCIe and other interfaces. These features are predicted to be included with the Unmatched at launch.

    HiFive is being a bit cagey about the full details of the Unmatched, but The Register did manage to accumulate a fair number of facts about the system. This version will use a FU740 SoC fabbed on TSMC’s 28nm node which contains four RV64GC U74 CPU cores of an undisclosed frequency, and one RV64IMAC S7 core that will handle basic system tasks. You will find 8GB of DDR4, 32GB of local SPI flash storage

    It will offer two M.2 port, one for an SSD and one for WiFi or Bluetooth, a single PCIe 3.0 8x slot for an add-in card, four USB 3.2 ports, a microUSB, a console port, GPIO, UART, and PWMs. There is also a microSD slot and a single gigabit LAN port to complete the feature set. Debian or Fedora GNU/Linux are fully vetted to run but enterprising minds will likely expand that list rather quickly. If you are interested in playing with a RISC-V system, it will only cost you $665 a little later in the year to pick up.

SiFive shows there is life in RISC-V

  • SiFive shows there is life in RISC-V

    SiFive has unveiled a new computer featuring the company's SiFive FU740 processor based on RISC-V architecture.

    According to Liliputing, the outfit, which has been making RISC-V chips for several years, is positioning its new SiFive HiFive Unmatched computer as a professional development board for those interested in working with RISC-V.

    However what makes the new Unmatched model different is that is designed so that it can be easily integrated into a standard PC. SiFive says the system can support GNU/Linux distributions including Yocto, Debian, and Fedora.

    SiFive is releasing the HiFive Unleashed in an effort to afford developers the ability to build RISC-V based systems, using readily available, off the shelf parts,SiFive says it built the board to address the market need for easily accessible RISC-V hardware to further advance development of new platforms, products, and software using the royalty-free ISA.

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