Focus Topics (continued from Jan 5 meeting):
Reflections on 2022
What did we do well?
Sharing of Ecosystem information and topics, e.g. Labs, What’s Cool, Dev boards
Rework of the work-flow, community (Google Groups), and website
Flexibility of program, specifically which boards/projects
What could we improve?
Continued focus/support of Linux distros e.g. Debian
Expand our participation from other OSs or OS environments
Finding a better way to promote “successes” with DevBoards
Finding a better way to promote ourselves
Increase the scope of our participant backgrounds/expertise – for example other distributions, board vendors, etc.
Outreach activities like SCC (Student Cluster Competition) at ISC/SC – participate in activities where RISC-V can be used, DevBoards can be promoted, and everyone wins!!!
Work more closely with Academic & Training Initiatives (Megan’s program; https://lists.riscv.org/g/sig-academia-training )
Measure our success (program metrics)
Add geographic-specific outreach program
What would we like to accomplish in 2023?
What new boards should we expect?
Laptop(s)
Unmatched replacement from SiFive (Horse Creek SOC)
Ventana board? (Veyron V1 SoC)
The Lichee Pi 4A has been announced with a "TH1520, 12nm, RISC-V 1.8G C910 x4+C906+E902" CPU. cf. https://sipeed.com/licheepi4a
Alibaba board? (C908 SOC)
Esperanto SOC?
Multi-SoC manycore platforms, clusters
Shakti SOC? (no SBC board yet)
What characteristics do we need/want in a board and for what use
Code builder (Server)
>= 16 GiB memory
4+ cores, virtualization support, bitmanip, 57-bit addressing, vector, crypto scalar
M2/SATA Ports for storage
PCI-e
BMC
rack mountable
Good support with Linux Kernel (Mainline!) and Distros,
limited/NDA’d documentation due to IP issues, thus less suitable for OS development
Basic general developer board (Raspberry Pi)
Core with M/S/U Mode and MMU support, L1/L2 Cache, 64-bit desired
2+ SMP Cores
2 GiB RAM minimum
Network Socket (native NIC, not via USB bridge, PoE support)
USB 3.0 Ports
HDMI
M2 Port for SSD storage desired
Executable Flash for custom Bootloader (avoid requiring an SD Card)
JTAG Pins exposed
Comprehensive documentation
General IoT development board
small, cheap, available in multiples,
Core with M/U Mode, RealTime capable, 32-bit is enough
WiFi, Bluetooth
JTAG Pins exposed
lots of I/O PINs,
comprehensive documentation about Core and Peripherals
Special Use Cases
Accelerator development board (Crypto, AI), FPGA
Automotive DevKit: CAN bus
Mobile phone DevKit: 64-bit SOC, …
“Bucket (suitcase-full) of SWAG boards”: low-cost, already purchased, at events
What new programs, activities, might we engage in:
Student Cluster Competition (SCC) at ISC
Google Summer of Code
openSUSE HackWeek (Monday 30 January - Friday 03 February 2023)
others?
Board Updates:
StarFive
Working with the Debian community on a rackable solution of VisionFive V2 boards for build servers
VisionFive V2 boards now available through commercial channels
Program Updates:
None today
What’s cool?:
https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/01/09/1064876/riscv-computer-chips-10-breakthough-technologies-2023/ - RISC-V is one of top 10 Breakthrough technologies according to MIT
https://wccftech.com/russian-baikal-s-16nm-48-core-cpu-powers-first-motherboard-designed-for-storage-systems/ - Russian native motherboard