Waiting for the BeagleV

Communities RISC-V
1

Linux has been open source but the hardware it has run on has been proprietary until recently. RISC-V changes that with open source hardware that allows open source to grow. ARM on computers has been a disappointment because it never went much beyond the Raspberry Pi. I had the original Pinebook from China for about a year until it quit working. Also trying to order anything from China has not gone well. I now have a Chinese Pinebook Pro on loan to me from A+ Computers in Olympia but it mostly only runs Manjaro and is a disappointment as well. Now I’m waiting for the BeagleV which is made in the USA and will be ready to ship around September 2021. I think this combination of open source hardware plus open source Ubuntu XFCE will take us into a new age of computers.

1 Like
2

Cool. What are you hoping to use such hardware for?

Looks like they extended early access and you may be able to get one now.

3

Until now Linux has been open source but the hardware is not. RISC-V is open source hardware which completes the revolution. I plan to wait until around Sep 2021 to make a final decision on which RISC-V board to buy and expect RISC-V computers to be standard soon. Joel

4

Because of changes we may not have Ubuntu running on a risc-v development board until late 2021 or early 2022. Also I have had no luck in getting risc-v Ubuntu to run on Qemu. However when we get it running it will have a huge impact on the computer industry, see https://www.zdnet.com/article/risc-v-ceo-the-biggest-opportunity-to-change-computing-since-the-1980s . Joel

5

@Joel I have a co-worker who is heavily involved with QEMU, and is a maintainer of some alternative architectures for Debian. I’ll get you two connected up.

6

Newegg has a $33.96 sale on the SparkFun RED-V Redboard through Oct 31, 2021 at [SparkFun RED-V RedBoard - SiFive SoC Development Board - Newegg.com . I would really like to get Xubuntu or Linux Mint running on it but apparently they are still in the Hello World stage. Anyone interested in taking this on? Thanks, Joel

1 Like
7

I saw a new Risc-V board pop up: https://www.clockworkpi.com/product-page/devterm-kit-r01

I have the original Clockwork GameShell, and enjoy it a lot.

8
  1. When will we have a RISC-V Board that is past the Hello World stage and can run Ubuntu or better yet Linux Mint? 2. Will we have a RISC-V Board or motherboard that runs RISC-V Vroom? 3. When will we have a RISC-V computer motherboard that can run in a standard desktop computer case?

Thanks, Joel

9

Hi: I’m still waiting for an affordable RISC-V board that I can buy in the US and runs a decent, user friendly Linux Mint XFCE or Xubuntu. I would really like to show it off at a live LFNW!

2 Likes