RISC-V 2023 Update: From Embedded Computing to Data Center & Desktop

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  • Опубліковано 31 тра 2024
  • RISC-V annual update. Includes developments from NASA, Google, MIT, RISC-V International, Renesas, Espressif, Ventanna, Tenstorrent, Alibaba / T-Head, Ubuntu, StarFive, SiFive, Pine64, Sipeed and Intel.
    If you enjoy this video, you may also like my 2022 episode “Explaining RISC-V”:
    • Explaining RISC-V: An ...
    And also my RISC-V SBC reviews, including my 2023 video on StarFive’s VisionFive 2:
    • VisionFive 2: RISC-V Q...
    Links to the websites shown in the video (in appearance order) are as follows:
    NASA selects RISC-V for HPSC:
    www.sifive.com/press/nasa-sel...
    Google wants RISC-V to be a “Tier-1” Android Architecture:
    arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/...
    MIT Technology Review names RISC-V as a top-10 breakthrough technology of 2023:
    www.technologyreview.com/2023...
    First RISC-V manual:
    www2.eecs.berkeley.edu/Pubs/T...
    RISC-V International website:
    riscv.org/
    RISC-V International UA-cam channel:
    / @riscvinternational
    Renesas RZ/Five MPU:
    www.renesas.com/us/en/product...
    Espressif ESP32-C3 RISC-V MCU
    www.espressif.com/en/products...
    Qualcomm December 2022 keynote (650 million RISC-V cores now shipped):
    • Keynote: Accelerating ...
    RISC-V International News (July 2022): 10 billion cores now shipped:
    riscv.org/news/2022/07/europe...
    Ventanna Vyron RISC-V processor family press release:
    www.ventanamicro.com/ventana-...
    All About Circuits article about Vyron RISC-V processors:
    www.allaboutcircuits.com/news...
    The Next Platform “The First RISC-V Shot Across The Datacenter Bow”:
    www.nextplatform.com/2023/02/...
    Tenstorrent Ascalon RISC-V Processor:
    tenstorrent.com/research/high...
    Tenstorrent RISC-V:
    tenstorrent.com/risc-v/
    Android demonstrated on RISC-V by T-Head:
    technode.com/2022/12/15/aliba...
    Ubuntu RISC-V downloads:
    ubuntu.com/download/risc-v
    StarFive VisionFive SBCs:
    www.starfivetech.com/en/site/...
    VisionFive 2 on AllNet (as of March 10 2023 - link may change):
    shop.allnetchina.cn/collectio...
    Pine64 Star64:
    wiki.pine64.org/wiki/STAR64
    Sipeed Lichee Pi 4A:
    sipeed.com/licheepi4a/
    T-head C910 RISC-V CPU:
    www.t-head.cn/product/C910
    ROMA Laptop on Alibaba:
    www.alibaba.com/product-detai...
    SiFive HiFive Pro P550 development system:
    www.sifive.com/boards/hifive-...
    Wiki Chip report on RISC-V Horse Creek Development board from Intel & SiFive:
    fuse.wikichip.org/news/7277/i...
    China pushing RISC-V in face of US Sanctions:
    www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/ar...
    EU investing 270 million Euros in RISC-V:
    riscv.org/news/2022/12/europe...
    For additional ExplainingComputers videos and other content, you can become a channel member here:
    / @explainingcomputers
    More videos on computing and related topics can be found at:
    / @explainingcomputers
    You may also like my ExplainingTheFuture channel at: / @explainingthefuture
    Chapters:
    00:00 Introduction
    01:49 Origins & Governance
    03:08 The Open ISA
    05:02 Embedded RISC-V
    07:12 Enterprise RISC-V
    08:41 End-user RISC-V
    12:09 RISC-V Disruption
    #RISC-V #explainingcomputers
  • Наука та технологія

КОМЕНТАРІ • 699

  • @jaffarbh
    @jaffarbh Рік тому +30

    Many of us are old enough to remember “closed” network protocols, such as NetBEUI (Microsoft), Token Ring (IBM) and AppleTalk (Apple, obviously). All have disappear and TCP/IP, the open protocol is now dominant everywhere. There is no reason why an open ISA won’t dominate in the future.

  • @ArniesTech
    @ArniesTech Рік тому +241

    As an advocate for FOSS Software, I cant tell you how excited I am for RiscV 😍

    • @heckyes
      @heckyes Рік тому +6

      Same!

    • @SeanBZA
      @SeanBZA Рік тому +4

      Yes and remember as well WD also uses another older technology on the silicon as well, in there being an embedded 6502 processor, with 64k of ROM and RAM, which is used to bootstrap the main processor, feeding in the configuration file and doing housekeeping, as the core is now royalty free to use, and there is a lot of tools to develop for it, and it is both also RISC, and also incredibly small as well, fitting well in the RISC architecture. So small you can fit it into a ultra cheap processor sold as a toy.

    • @tonysheerness2427
      @tonysheerness2427 Рік тому +7

      The only thing that could be the fly in the ointment is that 486 and ARM have a standard that is controlled and understood. Risc-V is already split into two closed and open. Who will control compatibility?

    • @seguramlk
      @seguramlk Рік тому +1

      All of us my friend 🎉

    • @dieSpinnt
      @dieSpinnt Рік тому +1

      @@tonysheerness2427 RISC-V Foundation will do that ... btw, that (standardization, research, promotion, providing resources and training) is their purpose and right to exist:)
      Don't forget that RISC-V itself IS the base layer providing compatibility. Anything else YOU invent and introduce to the platform (and that freely, which isn't a thing with X86 & ARM) is surplus, a gift or a relief. How could you possibly see that as something bad (like you asking in that direction)? With more, free and open diversity there will come opportunities! No offense or accusation: It is only ones OWN confusion and fears (based on unfamiliarity with the topic?) that gives this unfounded feeling of negative consequences. (This problem exists not only with processor-ISAs ... sadly).

  • @bertblankenstein3738
    @bertblankenstein3738 Рік тому +166

    I am looking forward to more variety in the processor market. It was an interesting time in the early 90s with Sun Sparc, Intel, MIPS, Motorola 680x0, PowerPC and Dec Alpha. It also seems we have much more flexibility today with Linux in that it is easily ported.

    • @willb1242
      @willb1242 Рік тому +4

      Great point!

    • @cdl0
      @cdl0 Рік тому +7

      Yes, this! BTW, you forgot HP PA-RISC and Itainium. Except for "Itanic", I have used all of them.

    • @TheRus13
      @TheRus13 Рік тому +2

      @@cdl0 Elbrus CPU...

    • @LackofFaithify
      @LackofFaithify Рік тому

      You say that, but, just look at the Snap vs flatpak vs etc... situation. The open source community is already at a pretty maxed capacity just doing things for different linux flavors on the SAME architecture. How will adding 10-15 more CPUs with different and non-standardized instruction sets benefit anyone outside of those with the money to pay people to make software for their specific platform? And yes, risc-v has stuff in theory to make things have basic minimums to prevent fragmentation but those have not produced the desired results, its uniform only on the most idealistically written marketing webpage.

    • @cdl0
      @cdl0 Рік тому

      @@TheRus13 Oh yes, a super-rare one, even more exotic than the Itanium! I never got my hands on one of these, as well. Another legend lost in the mists of time was the Transputer. I have seen these demonstrated, but never used one.

  • @kamolhengkiatisak1527
    @kamolhengkiatisak1527 Рік тому +100

    This explains RISC V in simple terms, very easy to understand as always the case for this channel. Thanks.

    • @ExplainingComputers
      @ExplainingComputers  Рік тому +11

      You're very welcome!

    • @jimatperfromix2759
      @jimatperfromix2759 Рік тому

      Yes, Kamol, I agree that this was an excellently done video, and I appreciate it very much. I especially like that it's being put out relatively toward the beginning of 2023, so that we have some kind of high-level overview of what RISC-V developments we might anticipate this year. I agree with others sentiments that this sort-of feels like another "birth era" in the computer industry (or perhaps "rebirth" would be a better adjective). It kind-of has the warm-fuzzy feelings somewhat similar to the historical mid-70s feel of the hobbyist S-100 bus market in which literally thousands of hobbyists participated in some small way or another in the road along which the MITS Altair 8800 and IMSAI 8080 (and some 6502 and Motorola 680x0 architectures) gradually morphed into the goal that some of us had at the time, namely a "personal computer" in every home. We weren't so prescient as to anticipate a "personal computer" in every pocket and in every car dashboard. The winners of that first round of personal-computer development were arguably those companies whose business-management acuity was greatest (and some would argue those who were just the darn best at turning the business idea of the personal computer into a profit-producing monopoly) such as the Bill Gates and Steve Jobs visionaries of the world.
      A side effect of the topsy-turvy growth of the industry is that the instruction set architecture for Intel/AMD x86-64, although powerful, is just a horrible messy nightmare, such that we should probably have special custom shrinks to provide psychiatrist help to those poor slobs who are still stuck writing x86 code at the assembler level. ARM came along later, so was a bit less terrible than x86. We see the current benefits in Apple M2 chips being able to accomplish the same amount of work at power levels much lower than equivalent x86-64 CPUs (although the $ cost might still be more expensive due to Apple's pricing philosophy). But time and time again it has been proven that for doing equivalent tasks using much less power, RISC beats CISC (unless you can design a custome CISC chip for your particular mix of instructions - which nobody ever does). There's really only about half-a-dozen major categories of instructions (and cross that orthogonally with various data types and sizes-in-bits-or-bytes) in a standard CPU core, and now that we've kinda-sorta figured out multithreading more-or-less sufficiently, it's almost always more efficient chip-die-real-estate-wise to have a simpler, more-orthogonal instruction set (that is, more toward the RISC end of the spectrum) than to waste a lot of die space on interpretting and executing huge instructions that are rarely used in practice. A better approach these days to rare instructions is to have a very-fast function call mechanism to something that, by default, is implemented in software, but if needed is special cases can be implemented as add-ons to the core RISC ISA so as to run really fast in hardware This approach would also probably be best for GPU architectures. We went all the way around the horn and made tens of billions for Nvidia (and mere billions for AMD and Intel) in making discrete GPUs, only to find out that this sort of thing would be best incorporated as optional parts of a CPU chip that shares the same memory space as the rest of the CPU (such as in the AI engines now incorporated in Apple chips and some specific 7040-series AMD chips). I can see the industry possibly marching even more in this direction under the umbrella of RISC-V.

  • @PS_Tube
    @PS_Tube Рік тому +31

    Updates in RISC - V field are surely needed.
    As an open source enthusiast, RISC V getting better with time always feels enticing.

  • @perrymcclusky4695
    @perrymcclusky4695 Рік тому +16

    RISC-V is fascinating. I hope these kind of update videos continue to do well on your channel because I always appreciate and look forward to them. For example, I always look forward to your quantum computing updates. Looking forward to your next video!

    • @ExplainingComputers
      @ExplainingComputers  Рік тому +5

      Thanks Perry. Views "permitting", I hope to now post a RISC-V annual update each March, just as I have done a quantum computing update in August for many years now.

    • @perrymcclusky4695
      @perrymcclusky4695 Рік тому +3

      @@ExplainingComputers Yes, definitely views permitting. Also, permit me to say, I liked the visuals of you talking to the audience with computer and video tech stuff on both sides of you on the table. Impressive young Jedi!

  • @idowebwork
    @idowebwork Рік тому +151

    RISC V seems rather promising and I love general openness of the architecture.

    • @thesenamesaretaken
      @thesenamesaretaken Рік тому +14

      @@new-lviv the most dystopian OS is Windows 11

    • @Zeitgeistpionier
      @Zeitgeistpionier Рік тому +4

      Every kind of knowledge should be open and free for everybody! It's a shame that one has to pay for example for ISO- oder DIN-Definition-Documents or for learning materials that could be hosted and downloaded practically for free.

    • @klaxoncow
      @klaxoncow Рік тому +2

      @@new-lviv Yes. This is a phenomenon also known as "freedom".
      Freedom is always a bit messy, offering too many choices. Leading to inevitable fragmentation.
      But, like, some might challenge that, well, that's kind of the point. That's what freedom is.
      That this is the definition of freedom. To make your own choices. And for that choice to be a real choice, it needs to be a free and open choice - which necessitates a wide array of possibilities. And, with everyone making their own varying choices, this inevitably leads to fragmentation.
      The underlying argument being that this is not a bug. It's a feature.
      It's supposed to look like this.

    • @jimtekkit
      @jimtekkit Рік тому +3

      @@thesenamesaretaken Everyone always says that about the current Windows OS. The entire community was in an uproar when Windows 10 came out, totally different to the positive sentiment today.

    • @thesenamesaretaken
      @thesenamesaretaken Рік тому +4

      @@jimtekkit I can't speak for 10 because I never used it. What I can say is, having moved straight from 7 to 11, that there is a lot about it that makes me cringe, as if they deliberately looked for bad parts of the smartphone ecosystem and brought those to the desktop. If it weren't for work and education I would abandon windows entirely at this point.

  • @SchoolforHackers
    @SchoolforHackers Рік тому +157

    Hey people, Chris is closing in on a million subs. Let’s push this spectacular channel through that number and way, way past it!

    • @ExplainingComputers
      @ExplainingComputers  Рік тому +24

      Thanks, appreciated. :)

    • @NisseOhlsen
      @NisseOhlsen Рік тому +9

      done

    • @MichelMorinMontreal
      @MichelMorinMontreal Рік тому +6

      This recognition would be greatly deserved!

    • @Remigrator
      @Remigrator Рік тому +6

      Only 1 million? That is an outrage! This channel should have at least 1 BILLION viewers!!

    • @soulextracter
      @soulextracter Рік тому +1

      ​@@Remigrator A channel generally have more viewers than subscribers. Remember that most popular channels tend to ask their viewers to subscribe because as they say: "60% of our viewers aren't subscribed". Most people just watch a new video when it gets recommended and don't subscribe at all.

  • @el-domo
    @el-domo Рік тому +16

    FPGA as RISC-V is possible as well guys. the cores are on opencores. If you already work with FPGA's, this could be interesting for you

    • @patrikgubeljak9416
      @patrikgubeljak9416 Рік тому +3

      Yeah, at my job we make makes SoCs for industrial controllers and sensors. We're looking to make our own eFPGAs for the signal processing, ideally on the same chip as the sensor.

    • @jnelson4765
      @jnelson4765 Рік тому +2

      There's $15 FPGA dev boards that can run a RISC-V soft core at 100 MHz - granted it's the stripped down embedded processor, but more than enough to replace most microcontrollers.

    • @el-domo
      @el-domo Рік тому +1

      Guys .. look what we saw found out today, a mobile RISC-V platform based on FPGA. look for Mr Iot tech

  • @robbhalverson7725
    @robbhalverson7725 Рік тому +18

    I agree.....the world is changing faster than ever after COVID. More of us are looking at availability of our future supply chains for equipment and software and FINALLY!!! We are starting to plan ahead. I think RISK-V is going to play a big part in the computing world.

  • @d.barnette2687
    @d.barnette2687 Рік тому +3

    Greetings from across the pond near Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA. As we say in Texas (my home state), "DANG, Prof. Barnatt -- that was a fantastic update on RISC-V. Somebody throw me a towel!" It's like eating three big steaks at once, and now I need time to digest it all. Don't know about others, but I'm slowly getting more and more excited about RISC-V, especially since quite a few government agencies and corporations are getting on board. I really want to get a RISC-V SBC, but my instincts tell me to wait a bit longer for a much better payoff, so I'll wait -- but not much longer!

    • @ExplainingComputers
      @ExplainingComputers  Рік тому +1

      Many thanks for this support -- most appreciated. :) As you say, RISC-V SBCs will go on improving, and rapidly. The barrier to their use right now is already software, not hardware . . . but it will get there, as there is a lot of community support and interest.

  • @ygstuff4898
    @ygstuff4898 Рік тому +30

    Great summary and insights.
    This is another aspect of how "computing" has become a commodity, and requires global equalisation (so not owned, directed, or defined by any one entity or country).

    • @kyleolson8977
      @kyleolson8977 Рік тому +1

      Historically there hasn't been a problem with ARM. It's been very, very cheap to license and has not been limited.. For the most part if you're making chips the cost of ARM should be largely meaningless. Open source not necessary for anyone in the business and RISC-V would have died off.
      But China is trying to get around trade sanctions. RISC-V is pretty much entirely about the very unequal entity of China. That's what this is about, not any high-mindedness.

    • @l0g1cseer47
      @l0g1cseer47 Рік тому

      Global trade balance is the way.

    • @yumri4
      @yumri4 Рік тому

      Well if you like at the internet public statistics 1/2 of all users are on phones. So when they get a new phone and it has RISC-V as long as everything they use works as normal barely anyone will care. The problem will be when you get to the server market as almost everything is made for x86. To my knowledge they will not change from what they use unless there is a good reason to change. Then you have the desktop market. As almost everything is made for x86 or x86_64 moving to RISC-V or even Microsoft trying to move to ARM is a problem as almost everything designed for desktop is made for x86.

    • @awuma
      @awuma Рік тому

      @@kyleolson8977 So is RISC-V a threat to the US and NATO? As a Pole, Canadian and Brit, that would concern me very much. Could it lead to defeating the power of Western sanctions on bad actors?

  • @BruceHoult
    @BruceHoult Рік тому +22

    Note that May 2011 "RISC-V" is very different from and incompatible with 2015's RISC-V 2.0. What was published in 2015 (RV{32,64}IMAFDC) is still compatible with RISC-V today and forever into the future -- just more features are being added on with time, but the core things will never change.

  • @AMDRADEONRUBY
    @AMDRADEONRUBY Рік тому +6

    Nice it's Sunday finally Love watching your stuff because you work hard

  • @ElmerFuddGun
    @ElmerFuddGun Рік тому +13

    I'm mostly interested the lowish power (W) embedded platform SBCs where size, low power, price, and support are more important than raw speed. The RPi filled that while they were available... so sad what has happened.

    • @ExplainingComputers
      @ExplainingComputers  Рік тому +13

      I think your interest matches that of most makers. I'm now planning a video that will try to bring together what has happened in the maker SBC space, why, and where we may go next. Stay tuned! :)

    • @builder396
      @builder396 Рік тому

      Wait, something happened to those little things?

    • @davidpodeszwa7010
      @davidpodeszwa7010 Рік тому

      @@builder396 well, kinda, the company raspberry pi foundation saw an opportunity to make loads of money and instead of selling to makers, learners and enthusiasts they have now prioritized selling them to big companies for automation (as its a perfect product for automation etc.)

  • @RetroJack
    @RetroJack Рік тому +7

    Chris, I've been following your channel for years and your clear, concise manner has never failed to impress me. Thank you.

  • @MaxGoof
    @MaxGoof Рік тому +7

    Another fantastic video! No one else explains computers like ExplainingComputers!

  • @RoboNuggie
    @RoboNuggie Рік тому +50

    An excellent update and some great insight Chris. Thank you! Also, nothing lasts forever, as there are always new entrants into the IT space, Remember when Commodore, Atari, Sinclair et al seemed untouchable?,

    • @ExplainingComputers
      @ExplainingComputers  Рік тому +16

      Thanks for support. And yes, I remember the Commodore/Atari/Sinclair days very well. Things do always move on.

    • @annebokma4637
      @annebokma4637 Рік тому +1

      ​@@ExplainingComputers looking back always makes me regret I am not a hoarder 😢😂

  • @WobblycogsUk
    @WobblycogsUk Рік тому +7

    I think you're spot on with your closing statement. It feels to me like RISC-V has hit critical mass now so it'll be big, the question is how big. My guess is that it'll eat into Arm more than x86 at first, that just feels like a natural target for it.

  • @m8hackr60
    @m8hackr60 Рік тому +7

    Risk V seems to be moving extremely fast compared to how other ISA's did (and are).
    I'm excited for the day we can launch an application and simply snap cores and accelerators together for a small batch of CPU's and/or MCU's, like we can today with multi-layer PCB's.
    Thanks for your thoroughness and another well presented and detailed video, Chris!

  • @Clark-Mills
    @Clark-Mills Рік тому +16

    Appreciate the update on RISC-V. It seems to be evolving rapidly and feels a little like the early days of Linux adoption. Have a coffee on me! ;)

  • @ElmerFuddGun
    @ElmerFuddGun Рік тому +3

    Anyone else think that the "cluster" platform at 10:30 seems pretty bloated like me? I like SBC clusters that maintain a compact size and don't cost a fortune just for the backplane PCB. And the horizontal RPi compute modules just create huge layouts.

  • @nERVEcenter117
    @nERVEcenter117 Рік тому +37

    On the desktop side of things, the rise of mini-PCs says everything. The modular tower is on the way out, as you've already discussed. I also hope RISC-V leads to a significant de-bloating of operating systems and software. Using web browsers everywhere for everything has led to a significant degredation of our standards for software, and a phenomenal waste of processor cycles (and thus, energy and time).

    • @ExplainingComputers
      @ExplainingComputers  Рік тому +14

      Agreed.

    • @K9TheFirst1
      @K9TheFirst1 Рік тому +4

      I just worry about what this means for the more enthusiast and pro-sumer markets, where being able to build a machine that is exactly what you want in terms of specs and hardware is dominant. I just recently built my first server, and I don't think I would be able to do that if everything is SOCs and MiniPCs.

    • @Demopans5990
      @Demopans5990 Рік тому +2

      @@K9TheFirst1
      Socketed SOCs with support for PCIE expansion is technically possible. Run the power efficient graphics on the soc, and when the extra omph is needed, the external GPU spins up. RAM might still be as it is, with SOC ram acting closer to cache than RAM.

    • @OpenGL4ever
      @OpenGL4ever Рік тому +3

      I have to strongly disagree. The modular Midi Tower has two main advantages over SOCs and MiniPCs.
      1. It can be used to cool off enormous amounts of energy without the computer becoming too loud. This cannot be done with an SOC and an SOC would always be significantly slower than such a cooled high-end computer in a midi tower.
      2. You can upgrade the Midi Tower super cheap. I only have to replace the motherboard, the CPU and the RAM, I can mostly continue to use the rest. I've been doing it this way for many years now and it's the most cost-effective solution to have a lot of power and a sufficiently up-to-date computer at the same time.
      The SoC serves niches. As a secondary computer e.g. It's okay to watch Netflix, but a SoC will never displace my main computer in the Midi Tower. This is not possible just because of point 1.

  • @spacedock873
    @spacedock873 Рік тому +10

    Absolutely spot on Chris. RISC-V is the most exciting thing to happen in computing for decades. As someone who started getting interested in computers in the 70's and grew up during the personal computer boom of the 80's I have often felt that the field has become stale, samey and uninteresting. Personal computing has become obsessed with how many FPS can be reached in the latest games (and how much the GPU's cost to do it ! 😲) while supercomputing has become obsessed with how many x86 cores can be squeezed into a 19" rack. RISC-V has the very real potential to be a total game-changer. People who focus on the current state of RISC-V development are myopic and don't understand how Intel grew from a small company producing the 4004 into the behemoth it is is today. Sure, RISC-V isn't ready for prime time yet but it is advancing rapidly and this will only be accelerated by a geopolitical environment where people don't want to be at the mercy of American IP or Chinese fabrication plants, including the danger of China taking control of the Taiwanese fabs. The other major, and equally important factor is cost - companies pay huge sums to Intel/AMD and ARM to use their designs and it is a commercial no-brainer if you can avoid those fees by using an open source ISA even if you have to invest money up front for development. Finally, we are back in exciting times in the world of computing the like of which we haven't seen since the early 90's. 👍😁

    • @ExplainingComputers
      @ExplainingComputers  Рік тому +2

      I think we are kindred spirits here. Great post! Thanks for sharing. :)

  • @gaius_enceladus
    @gaius_enceladus 11 місяців тому +1

    I'm sold on RISC-V!
    Not only is it open but the instruction set has a simple and elegant look to it.
    It definitely lends itself to parallel processing.

  • @rv6amark
    @rv6amark Рік тому +5

    Really good video, Christopher. Easy to understand explanations, well documented with links (we used to say "footnoted"). Ever since the early 1970's when I started building early computers using available microprocessors (Z80, 8008, M6800, CDP1802, etc.), I was told that RISC was "right around the corner". Well, here we are, and it appears we have finally found the corner...I think. Thank you for researching and documenting RISC progress. I am not sure I completely understand the advantages of RISC (other than the licensing issues), but I am confident you will teach me as we head down RISC highway. 😁

    • @schrodingerscat1863
      @schrodingerscat1863 Рік тому +5

      RISC has been a major technology for quite some time now, there are more ARM cores out in the wild than all other processors combines. RiscV is just a processor instruction set standard based on RISC that is open source meaning no licensing costs to those who wish to implement it in silicon. The disadvantage is that ARM provides core designs that can easily be integrated into SoC designs. With RiscV you are on your own.

    • @klaxoncow
      @klaxoncow Рік тому +1

      The "R" in ARM stands for "RISC", by the way.
      Originally, the "Acorn RISC Machine", as it was created by Acorn in the UK.
      But then - in a joint venture with Apple (who'd used the ARM chip in their Newton product) and VLSI - they founded a new company for its further development, and as Apple and VLSI were also involved there, then the Acorn in the ARM name was substituted and, for the company, ARM stood for "Advanced RISC Machine".
      These days, the acronym officially stands for nothing. It's just a name and is no longer considered to be an acronym for anything.
      But, yeah, the ARM was born in the '80s in the Acorn Archimedes. I used one at school, when I was a kid.
      (And, truth is, though modern x86 chips still present a CISC instruction set for compatibility's sake, it's really a RISC chip, running microcode, under the hood and has been for a long time now. It just presents a CISC instruction set to the outside world, for "backwards compatibility", but its internals are actually RISC.)

  • @jeraldgooch6438
    @jeraldgooch6438 Рік тому +1

    Thanks Chris!
    The view through your crystal ball is always entertaining (as well as thought provoking and insightful).

  • @wolfcrossing5992
    @wolfcrossing5992 Рік тому +6

    Thanks for giving us a broader view of the path/s of development that RISC 5 is moving towards. You’re certainly correct in your assertion that chips will dominate national security priorities/concerns for all the technically advanced nations; in their forthcoming struggles for self-security and supremacy of market/s control.
    Always prescient in your observations, much appreciated.

  • @ConfuSomu
    @ConfuSomu Рік тому +1

    Excellent updates on the RISC-V world! Thanks for all of your research for the update and overview of the architecture's history. I love how clearly you always present information and make it accessible to wide audiences (including the geekier types :P). Thank you.

  • @MikeBob2023
    @MikeBob2023 Рік тому +6

    Thank you for your thoughtful and informative dissertation re the state of RISC-V technology in 2023. 👍
    It's a refreshing change from the (mere) regurgitation of numbers and/or static comparisons between existing pieces of hardware that one might find elsewhere.

  • @oubrioko
    @oubrioko Рік тому +1

    Very thorough analysis and forecast of open source ISA through RISC-V
    nice work 👍🏿

  • @shenidan2023
    @shenidan2023 Рік тому +1

    Quite an eye opener. I remember eeading about RISC in byte magazine during 90s
    Very happy to see these recent developments all explained in such a clear way. Thx for posting.

  • @SergiuszRoszczyk
    @SergiuszRoszczyk Рік тому +8

    Good review, I don't think I can pack my thoughts in a single comment but I'll try 😊
    1. ISA itself is open, but as you mentioned it all boils down to IP related to manufacturing of the cores. For non-US countries it gives some freedom out of embargo etc, as long as they can create and manufacture effective core
    2. Even with free ISA I'm sure there are lot of patents that can create a mess during manufacturing of the CPU
    3. With AMD, NVidia and other fabless companies they still risk a lot being tied to TSMC
    4. I think that success in server computing will depend if AWS, Azure or Alibaba will be able to deliver a cost effective solution, with the last one having most incentive in being US independent
    5. Desktop computer is another beast. On one hand we only need web browser today, on the other Windows is still strong especially in corporate computing and as long as MS will not cut ties with Qualcomm we are not going to get anywhere
    6. EU has its own issue. Having only STM and being "green" by manufacturing CPUs in Asia now we need to acknowledge that is not as green and still start doing it within EU borders. A pill quite hard to swallow

    • @ExplainingComputers
      @ExplainingComputers  Рік тому +6

      Great post. An agreed! In particular, a very good point on the server space / cloud providers. And on the EU . . .

    • @johndododoe1411
      @johndododoe1411 Рік тому

      Server != cloud != big 5 cloud providers. Adding another architecture will be easy for the big 5 than for pourer players.
      Europe also has NXP. Fabless production is the great enabler for new designs, TSMC monopoly is a problem compared to back when chips like 6502 could use an ecosystem of competing fabs that didn't own particular gate and transistor designs elements .

  • @sean_vikoren
    @sean_vikoren Рік тому +1

    I enjoyed your expansion of view!
    Great vid as always.

  • @KennethScharf
    @KennethScharf Рік тому +9

    The most important difference between RISC and CISC is that RISC can be implemented using mostly hard wired instruction decode and execution rather than make use of a micro code processor. This allows a higher throughput per clock cycle than a microcoded processor. Many CISC processors do make use of a fair amount of hard wired instruction decode and execution thanks to increased transistor counts. Still, the RISC style of hardware is easier to implement on a low power processor than CISC.

    • @cdl0
      @cdl0 Рік тому +1

      Well done for pointing this out. Thank you for saving me the trouble of making the same comment.

    • @johnhunt1725
      @johnhunt1725 Рік тому +5

      CISC only made sense in the early days of computing, when memory and storage where very expensive and highly limited in capacity, and power consumption was basically inconsequential. The emphasis was on making your compiled executables as small as possible. In today's computing world, those things are reversed.

    • @KennethScharf
      @KennethScharf Рік тому +4

      @@johnhunt1725 CISC also makes sense if you are going to write your code in Assembler. Many CISC instruction sets are really like high level languages. As compilers evolved, it became easier to 'translate' high level language code into RISC instruction sets. I'd wager that very little ARM code is actually written in assembler (except for low level initialization routines), and that most ARM software is actually written in C, Ada, Python, or other high level languages.

    • @cdl0
      @cdl0 Рік тому +2

      @@johnhunt1725 Yes, this was the working hypothesis. When real RISC processors were released in the wild, it was found that real code density was very much better than feared, and barely worse than CISC. The reason is that RISC ISA's necessarily provide efficient, orthogonal machine codes for compilers.

    • @johnhunt1725
      @johnhunt1725 Рік тому

      @@KennethScharf 🤔Does anyone write anything for any platform in assembler anymore? I wouldn't be surprised if it's no longer a BS in CS degree requirement these days.

  • @andrewmcfarland57
    @andrewmcfarland57 Рік тому +1

    Excellent update. I look forward to following what happens to RISC-V.

  • @kencreten7308
    @kencreten7308 Рік тому +1

    So exciting! Thank you for keeping us informed. I've very much enjoyed your Risc-V update.

  • @121Pal
    @121Pal Рік тому +1

    ...superb video again, chris...the technical in addition to the appraisal needs to consider!...

  • @dang48
    @dang48 Рік тому +2

    As always, plenty to think about. And it should be interesting to see what you'll be talking about this time in 2024.

  • @mikefinn2101
    @mikefinn2101 Рік тому +1

    Peter another great evening spent watch new and exciting video again love you approach to explaining computer easy to understand thanks Mike

  • @srtcsb
    @srtcsb Рік тому +7

    RISC V looks very promising indeed. Thanks for another great video Chris.

  • @ronaldmarshall5845
    @ronaldmarshall5845 Рік тому +1

    Great Video! Very informative and intersting!! Great job Chris!

  • @IngwiePhoenix
    @IngwiePhoenix Рік тому +1

    Wait, mATX?! Ohhh, I am very intrigued! There are some console-looking mATX cases and older HTCP ones that would be an amazing enclosure for those. Absolutely intrigued in this!

  • @MichelMorinMontreal
    @MichelMorinMontreal Рік тому +2

    A new master class on the future of RISC V architecture. Thank you very much!

    • @protocetid
      @protocetid Рік тому +1

      have a like from me for your avatar

  • @Kirmo13
    @Kirmo13 Рік тому +2

    The fact that it's under open source licenses is a great plus for me. I'll keep my eye on this project, I hope it goes far

  • @WildkatPhoto
    @WildkatPhoto Рік тому +1

    Sunday (late evening) Morning RISCy EC!

  • @RhoTrepaan
    @RhoTrepaan Рік тому +1

    Awesome accompanying thoughts about the technical jump from Vision5 1 to the Vision5 2 👍

  • @davepickering997
    @davepickering997 Рік тому +1

    Thank you Chris, very well explained

  • @KitHoongTan
    @KitHoongTan Рік тому +1

    Another fascinating video! Thanks!

  • @Aruneh
    @Aruneh Рік тому +2

    Nice to see RISC-V gaining steam. Thanks for the video!

  • @eugenezenzen
    @eugenezenzen Рік тому +1

    Thanks so much for the excellent video and extra thanks for the LINKS! ❤

  • @migol_net
    @migol_net Рік тому +1

    There is also one thing that happened that shows a lot good for RISC-V - MVidia failing to acquire ARM. This shown that private closed IP is inherent danger that your competitor will try to just buy it for themselves. No such risk with RISC-V.

  • @FrancoGrimoldi
    @FrancoGrimoldi Рік тому +1

    Outstanding analysis, Chris, much appreciated, thanks!!

  • @sulfur32066
    @sulfur32066 Рік тому +1

    Thanks for keeping me posted)

  • @Manian488
    @Manian488 Рік тому +1

    great video as always !

  • @aquinamedia4508
    @aquinamedia4508 Рік тому +1

    NIce insights and updates Chris, thanks for your awesome sunday programming! :)

  • @briccimn
    @briccimn Рік тому +1

    Very interesting review, as always!

  • @qzorn4440
    @qzorn4440 Рік тому +1

    Mark Twain said: “Whiskey is for drinking; water is for fighting over.” Today chips are who rules the world? 😎 Thanks another great video.

  • @MrRobindog
    @MrRobindog Рік тому +1

    Thank you Chris for explaining RISC V so well.

  • @jimtekkit
    @jimtekkit Рік тому +1

    The adoption of RISC-V reminds me a lot of how the PIC microcontrollers basically wiped out the traditional CPU/RAM/EEPROM computer configurations in low cost applications. The ability for manufacturers to consolidate all those components (and PCB real estate) and save big money with a single-low cost chip is what completely changed that market. I don't think the question is whether RISC-V will change things, it's a question of what it will replace.

  • @leskaighin8903
    @leskaighin8903 Рік тому +1

    Another top grade report. Thank you.

  • @johncundiff7075
    @johncundiff7075 Рік тому +1

    Brilliant work as always Sir!!

  • @avejst
    @avejst Рік тому +1

    Great video as always
    Thanks for this overview and look into the future
    Thanks for sharing 🙂

  • @alanthornton3530
    @alanthornton3530 Рік тому +9

    Thank you Chris for an interesting Sunday video, it's exciting & good to have healthy competition against X-86 & ARM (give them a bit of a kick). Risc-V will no doubt mature in a few years time & with some of the big tech companies behind it, it will spillover into end user devices whatever they may be!!

  • @anurasenarathna1703
    @anurasenarathna1703 Рік тому +26

    Interesting video. Hope RISC-V will follow the same success story like Linux. It is always better to have more choices. One day it may become another interesting SBC like Raspberry Pi.

    • @jimmihenry
      @jimmihenry Рік тому +1

      What success? 0.001% of the desktop market 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣!

    • @rgbii2
      @rgbii2 Рік тому +2

      @@jimmihenry While it is a small percentage, it is growing. It's about 2.94%, slightly higher than Chrome OS. Up from 2.19% a year ago. Windows dropped about 4% during that same period.

    • @jimmihenry
      @jimmihenry Рік тому +2

      @@rgbii2 I tired Linux.Linux Puppy for a older laptop, oh boy what a journey! Had to scratch the boot loader from another revision, i accidentally downloaded a Japanese version to get the grub, well it was 3 am spend hours on that build... Because i am stubborn i made it. I also installed Arch it was way smoother, but only on a virtual machine. Linux is not a suitable daily rig OS sadly. Not even Ubuntu that spy's on you like Billy G. (G like gangster 🤣)

    • @awuma
      @awuma Рік тому

      @@jimmihenry Depends a bit on hardware and distribution. Some 22 years ago I had no problems at all installing Redhat to dual boot on an IBM T20, and it has gotten to be much simpler since then e.g. with Ubuntu. It's essentially automatic now, and much the same goes for PC's. One slightly nasty thing to note is that current installers on big distributions such as Ubuntu won't work on very old x86 CPU's; you need to find a distribution which supports old hardware.
      As for daily use, the Linux ecosystem supports just about everything you are lilkely to do, and there are several ways to run Windows things if need be. Note that Linux will mount Windows filesystems, and packages such as Libre Office have good format conversion utilities. I have used Linux for 99% of everything I do since 1995. Distributions have included Slackware, Redhat, Distro Astro, Ubuntu and Ubuntu MATE (not forgetting Raspbian on the Pi), the choice is vast. In nearly thirty years I can remember paying for only one application, an Excel-like spreadsheet called Xess, and after 25 years the binary can still run on current Ubuntu (with a little hacking of the install script).

    • @sethbrown1763
      @sethbrown1763 Рік тому +5

      @@jimmihenry Hmm, I've been using Linux since around 1995.
      Nowadays, I have it running on most of my machines and on my wife's laptop. My children also use Linux both at home and at work. I have supported Linux both on servers and desktops from over a decade, in addition to Linux-based PBX systems.
      YMMV, as the Yanks say, but if you measure the success of Android which runs on top of a Linux kernel, you can hardly say that Linux has been a failure.
      I would gently suggest that your own personal experience does not define the success of Linux.

  • @knofi7052
    @knofi7052 Рік тому +1

    A good development! I remember all the historic architectures like MOS Technology MC6502/6510 and the PDP-11 by DEC but what I really loved was the MC68000 of Motorola in my Amiga computer. It was amazing and I was really able to write everything in assembler what I could imagine. Just time was the limit.😊

  • @cesarposadasatamusic
    @cesarposadasatamusic Рік тому

    thank you for the excellent explanations and updates on embedded stuff

  • @audiodiwhy2195
    @audiodiwhy2195 Рік тому

    Excellent summary. As usual thoughtful and clearly presented.

  • @gushock5487
    @gushock5487 9 місяців тому

    This video answered many questions I had, thanks.

  • @coffeecuparcade
    @coffeecuparcade Рік тому +1

    I always feel slightly smarter after watching your videos Chris. Cheers

  • @reggiep75
    @reggiep75 Рік тому +2

    If there's one thing that a tech company loves and it's licence free intellectual property that ensures that they make more profit. I think RISC-V will do well once it gets up to speed and gets more adopters.

  • @grumpyoleman2152
    @grumpyoleman2152 Рік тому +1

    Well thought out, professionally presented and extremely interesting.

  • @Razor_Burn
    @Razor_Burn Рік тому +1

    Excellent video Chris as you've been an early advocate of Risc-V so its exciting to see the adoption expand into SBCs as the MCUs are great! 👍

  • @alejandrobellomejias642
    @alejandrobellomejias642 Рік тому +1

    Very well done video, thank you very much

  • @pg5142
    @pg5142 Рік тому +1

    Thanks Chris. Another great video, on a topic that I believe will be getting more and more exposure, probably from you too.

  • @Colin_Ames
    @Colin_Ames Рік тому +1

    An excellent overview of the RISC-V landscape.

  • @boboften9952
    @boboften9952 Рік тому

    Thank you Chris
    Excellent information , well presented Sir

  • @colepdx187
    @colepdx187 Рік тому +1

    Great video. Thanks!

  • @dezmondwhitney1208
    @dezmondwhitney1208 Рік тому +5

    Well summarised. I have recently built a Ryzen 5 5600g based matx desktop PC. I fervently hope that Open Source, RISC-V succeeds. Then, if I ever build another PC, it will likely be based on RISC-V which looks to have great potential. Thank You.

    • @LackofFaithify
      @LackofFaithify Рік тому +2

      Odds are good you won't be able to build a computer in the sense you are thinking of with risc-v anymore than you can just go out and buy an ARM cpu and then go buy a motherboard you like with it currently. It will be like the M1/M2/etc.. Macs. You will just be buying the system, not the parts and all the pros and cons that brings.

  • @northsouthy74
    @northsouthy74 Рік тому +1

    This all sounds pretty exiting to me, you go you good thing :)

  • @jansirkia3809
    @jansirkia3809 Рік тому +1

    Great survey of the tech frontier! Thanks for your views!

  • @HilaryCheng
    @HilaryCheng Рік тому +1

    RISC-V is really impressive. Especially, it is less complicated family like ARM series or PIC series. I just select the correct support instruction set features and I can compile the software into RISC-V core.

  • @CenturionKZ
    @CenturionKZ Рік тому +1

    Thank you sir! As always you deliver highest quality content

  • @lionelreesable
    @lionelreesable Рік тому +1

    Thank you for the update. RISC-V is a game changer. Best wishes.

  • @extremelydave
    @extremelydave Рік тому +1

    Tons of great info Chris!!

  • @martinwilkinson2344
    @martinwilkinson2344 Рік тому +1

    Hadn't got a clue what RISC-V is so that's filled in few gaps 👍

  • @mountiedm
    @mountiedm Рік тому +1

    I love the emotional investment point

  • @SomeTechGuy666
    @SomeTechGuy666 Рік тому +5

    There is a huge hole in the market between the best desktop processors (M2 Ultra, i13900, 7950X) and servers. AMD used to fill it with ultra expensive Threadrippers. Intel used to sell the desktop Xeons, but both of those are gone now. I'd love to see RISCV fill that gap. 32 ultra fast cores with 4 or 8 DDR5 memory channels.

    • @paradoxmo
      @paradoxmo Рік тому +1

      It will be a long time before that may happen. RISC-V is likely to be used in the embedded market, then probably servers. These are applications that generally use new code or code that can be recompiled. Mobile and desktop are more dependent on pre-installed software, so these are more difficult to transition.

  • @soulextracter
    @soulextracter Рік тому +2

    I'm always apprehensive when big tech embrace free and open source anything. You just know they are up to something.

    • @ExplainingComputers
      @ExplainingComputers  Рік тому +2

      RISC-V is an open (ie free-to-license) ISA. It is not open source (as in open source software).

  • @IonMudreac
    @IonMudreac Рік тому +1

    Thank you for your effort keeping tap on RISK-V tech

  • @l0g1cseer47
    @l0g1cseer47 Рік тому +1

    Awesome stuff!

  • @rs.matr1x
    @rs.matr1x Рік тому +1

    RISC-V is going to change everything

  • @LawrenceBrennan
    @LawrenceBrennan Рік тому +1

    Great video!

  • @chriholt
    @chriholt Рік тому +1

    Thanks for another update Chris - RISC-V seems to be forging ahead at a very quick pace!

  • @MorgothCreator
    @MorgothCreator Рік тому +1

    Very good review, it's make clear about the state of Risc-V in current date 👍

  • @notlessgrossman163
    @notlessgrossman163 Рік тому +2

    Exciting times indeed for RISC V, it's ties to academic research cannot be ignored and the advent of Ai opens the door to novel experimentation

  • @OrDuckVet
    @OrDuckVet Рік тому

    I really hope you make 1m subs by end of this year!

  • @illsmackudown
    @illsmackudown 7 місяців тому +1

    To me, RISC-V feels like the main menu music of GTA 2: Short Change by EZ-Rollers.

  • @superangrybrit
    @superangrybrit Рік тому +1

    Exciting times! 👍

  • @sgkonfetti
    @sgkonfetti Рік тому +1

    You have made a very good overview and prediction.