A RISC-V REVOLUTION: The Rise of Free and Open Source Silicon for Makers
Creators are well used to the benefits of free and open source hardware, from the ability to study and iterate on other people's designs, to the promise that if a design goes out of production, you can still make replacements yourself.< /p>
Open source silicon, however, is not so well understood, but thanks to the success of the RISC-V ("risk five") project, that is changing.
The idea of an open processor, designed around the concept of reduced instruction set computing (RISC), that others could learn from is not new: the Berkeley RISC project, started in 1981, released her research papers for all to read, directly inspiring Sophie Wilson and Steve Furber to create the Arm architecture that so many chipmakers are paying to license today.
ALTERNATIVE TO THE ARMThe Berkeley RISC project has inspired many processor projects, some open and some closed, but it was the launch of the RISC-V project in 2010 that really ignited a spark.
Born at the same university as the original, RISC-V is Berkeley's fifth-generation RISC architecture, and by far its most successful. Originally pitched by Krste Asanović as a "short three-month project" for graduate students before attracting Berkeley RISC alumnus David Patterson, RISC-V has risen above its ancestors to become the free and open architecture most successful source in history. FREEDOM IN SILICO
There is an important distinction to note: "free" and "open source". Sun's microSPARC processor was open source, but not free: anyone wishing to make changes needed a commercial license. RISC-V, on the other hand, is free speech: anyone can implement RISC-V as written or with as many tweaks, changes, and extensions as they want - and never have to pay a penny in royalties or license fees.
What started as a 3 month university project now ships millions of cores a year: RISC-V implementations are found in commercial products including smartwatches, fitness bands, storage products and graphics cards, where the lure of true freedom - plus a bundle saving on licensing fees - outweighed the desire to retain proprietary IP vendors.
Unsurprisingly, RISC-V has also made inroads into the maker space - slowly at first, but gaining momentum year after year. Low-power microcontroller parts came first, followed shortly by application processors. Server-grade hardware, including 128-bit chips designed to accompany existing 32- and 64-bit components, is upon us.
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Nov 6, 2022
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Creators are well used to the benefits of free and open source hardware, from the ability to study and iterate on other people's designs, to the promise that if a design goes out of production, you can still make replacements yourself.< /p>
Open source silicon, however, is not so well understood, but thanks to the success of the RISC-V ("risk five") project, that is changing.
The idea of an open processor, designed around the concept of reduced instruction set computing (RISC), that others could learn from is not new: the Berkeley RISC project, started in 1981, released her research papers for all to read, directly inspiring Sophie Wilson and Steve Furber to create the Arm architecture that so many chipmakers are paying to license today.
ALTERNATIVE TO THE ARMThe Berkeley RISC project has inspired many processor projects, some open and some closed, but it was the launch of the RISC-V project in 2010 that really ignited a spark.
Born at the same university as the original, RISC-V is Berkeley's fifth-generation RISC architecture, and by far its most successful. Originally pitched by Krste Asanović as a "short three-month project" for graduate students before attracting Berkeley RISC alumnus David Patterson, RISC-V has risen above its ancestors to become the free and open architecture most successful source in history. FREEDOM IN SILICO
There is an important distinction to note: "free" and "open source". Sun's microSPARC processor was open source, but not free: anyone wishing to make changes needed a commercial license. RISC-V, on the other hand, is free speech: anyone can implement RISC-V as written or with as many tweaks, changes, and extensions as they want - and never have to pay a penny in royalties or license fees.
What started as a 3 month university project now ships millions of cores a year: RISC-V implementations are found in commercial products including smartwatches, fitness bands, storage products and graphics cards, where the lure of true freedom - plus a bundle saving on licensing fees - outweighed the desire to retain proprietary IP vendors.
Unsurprisingly, RISC-V has also made inroads into the maker space - slowly at first, but gaining momentum year after year. Low-power microcontroller parts came first, followed shortly by application processors. Server-grade hardware, including 128-bit chips designed to accompany existing 32- and 64-bit components, is upon us.
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