- Modular laptop computer vendor Framework mentioned it should launch a RISC-V product in 2025
- RISC-V is the equal of Linux for {hardware}, open supply and free
- Extra tech corporations are adopting but it surely has but to hit mainstream in a significant approach
RISC-V, an open source ISA developed on the College of California, Berkeley in 2010, has steadily been gaining consideration as a customizable different to proprietary ISAs like x86 and Arm.
Its license-free strategy permits producers to create and modify processors with out restrictions, resulting in adoption in numerous specialised functions, and this yr might mark a key step towards broader shopper adoption of the structure.
For RISC-V to actually attain the mainstream, it nonetheless wants to achieve traction within the laptop computer market. Hong Kong–based mostly DeepComputing launched the primary RISC-V pocket book, the Roma, in 2023, adopted by the DC-Roma II in 2024, which shipped with Ubuntu Linux pre-installed. Whereas praised for its open-source flexibility, the laptop computer’s efficiency lagged behind x86 and Arm options – however chatting with IEEE Spectrum, DeepComputing CEO Yuning Liang mentioned the corporate’s upcoming DC-Roma III will shut that hole with efficiency akin to the Arm Cortex-A76.
Enter Framework
Maybe much more excitingly, DeepComputing is collaborating with Framework, an organization recognized for its modular, repairable laptops, to create a RISC-V motherboard for the Framework Laptop computer 13. Nirav Patel, CEO of Framework, mentioned, “If we have a look at a few generations down the [software] stack, we’re beginning to see a line of sight to consumer-ready RISC-V in one thing like a laptop computer, or perhaps a telephone.”
In accordance with IEEE Spectrum, “Although nonetheless meant for early adopters and builders, it is going to be essentially the most accessible and polished RISC-V laptop computer but, and it’ll ship to customers with the identical feel and appear because the Framework laptops that use x86 chips.”
Following the initial announcement in June 2024, Framework launched a product page for the RISC-V motherboard, but it surely stays a placeholder.
DeepComputing’s site nevertheless, reveals extra particulars, together with photos of the DC-Roma RISC-V Mainboard for the Framework 13 Laptop computer, considered one of which you’ll see on the prime of the web page. The board is powered by the RISC-V 64-bit quad-core CPU JH7110, and helps each Ubuntu Desktop 24.04 and Fedora 41.
RISC-V has already been embraced by quite a lot of tech corporations. Western Digital makes use of it for storage controllers, British startup Blueshift Memory‘s BlueFive processor is constructed on an open-source RISC-V core, the Chinese XiangShan project has developed two RISC-V designs, and Ubitium has a common RISC-V processor that consolidates all computing workloads onto a single, reasonably priced chip.
We are going to seemingly see extra particulars about Framework’s RISC-V Laptop computer 13 within the coming months, however given the present give attention to builders and early adopters, together with efficiency limitations in comparison with established architectures like x86 and Arm, it appears truthful to say that whereas that is unquestionably an enormous step ahead for the structure, RISC-V isn’t prepared for mainstream shopper adoption fairly but.
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