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Aiming to get a RISE out of processor architecture as tech giants commit engineering talent:
Linux Foundation Europe and a number of big names in tech have banded together to drive development of a comprehensive software ecosystem that supports the open standard RISC-V processor architecture.
Dubbed RISE, which is intended to be an acronym for RISC-V Software Ecosystem, the project brings together vendors that agreed to make more software available for RISC-V hardware across a range of industry sectors – including mobile, datacenter and automotive.
Developing a software ecosystem with all the necessary tools and libraries, as well as applications and operating systems, may prove to be a bigger task than anticipated. It took Arm a decade or more to build up enough support around its architecture to make it a datacenter challenger for x86 systems, for example.
Arm itself dismissed RISC-V last year, with a spokesperson saying the company didn't see it as a significant competitor in the datacenter space, and better suited to "niche or specialized applications."
But the attraction of RISC-V is that it is not only royalty-free, but also under the governance of its member organizations rather than a single proprietor. RISC-V International says on its website that it "does not take a political position on behalf of any geography," and that it welcomes organizations from around the world.
This has made it popular in areas such as China, which has been looking for ways around the US crackdown on supplying advanced technologies to the country. RISC-V provides a solution without Chinese companies having to go to the lengths of developing their own architecture, as The Register reported last year.
Qualcomm, already a member of RISC-V International, has also hinted that it sees this as an alternative to the Arm architecture for future products. This may have something to do with the legal action Arm has filed against Qualcomm over its Arm-based Nuvia CPU cores.
"RISC-V's flexible, scalable, and open architecture enables benefits across the entire value chain – from silicon vendors to OEM manufacturers to end consumers," said Qualcomm senior director of Technical Standards Larry Wikelius.
The broad number of companies that have some kind of interest in RISC-V can be seen from the RISE Project Governing Board, which from the off includes Google, Intel, Imagination Technologies, MediaTek, Nvidia, Qualcomm, Red Hat, Samsung, SiFive, and Ventana Micro Systems.
According to the RISE Project, member organizations will contribute to the initiative financially as well as providing the workforce (or "engineering talent") to develop software to fit requirements identified by the RISE Technical Steering Committee (TSC).
The intention is that Project members will work with existing open source communities on a "robust software ecosystem" to include development tools, virtualization support, language runtimes, Linux distribution integration, and system firmware.
RISE Project chair Amber Huffman said interest in the open standard has been increasing. A growing number of chips based on the instruction set have also started to market over the past several years, including some focused on the datacenter, such as those announced by Ventana at the end of last year.
However, this momentum must be supported by adequate software, providing end users with applications that are reliable and commercial-ready, Huffman said.
"The RISE Project brings together leaders with a shared sense of urgency to accelerate the RISC-V software ecosystem readiness in collaboration with RISC-V International," she added.
Calista Redmond, CEO of RISC-V International, the non-profit organization that oversees the instruction set standards, pointed to the "tremendous progress" already made in RISC-V adoption and praised the organizations now coming together under the auspices of RISE to invest in software support for the platform.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by TheReaperD on Friday June 02 2023, @04:12PM (7 children)
Though I like the idea of open standards and systems, but the whole "does not take a political position on behalf of any geography" is worrisome. Because as great as it is to be agnostic politically for a lot of reasons, having no problems with an authoritarian regime that routinely uses technology against its own people and has openly stated that they intend to take their nearest neighbor, Taiwan, by "any means necessary, including force" is a problem. One of the main reasons for the embargoes against China are to keep high-tech components out of their weapon systems. Yet, this organization seems to see no problem with their products being used for military purposes, by anybody. I know there are plenty of technologists who just want to play with their toys and let the world salve its own problems, but when their toys kill people, the blood is on their hands as well.
Ad eundum quo nemo ante iit
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 02 2023, @04:14PM (2 children)
I really needed to proof that better. Oh well...
(Score: 3, Interesting) by janrinok on Friday June 02 2023, @04:53PM (1 child)
I feel for you - I think many of us have had the same problem. I certainly have. The errors are only ever visible once it is too late to correct them. Put a delay and an edit button in there - you still won't see it until the delay has run out. That should be somebody's Law...
If nobody else has claimed it, it will be TheReaperD's Law.
(Score: 2) by TheReaperD on Sunday June 04 2023, @08:05PM
Sweet! Another quote I might get hanged for! I once made a quote "logic and legislation do not often meet" that ended up in an official report with my name on it while I worked at a school district. I was told a few months later that President Obama got a good laugh out of it. Talk about wanting to crawl in a hole an never come out! I needed a pick-me-up today and you granted it, so thank you so much!
Ad eundum quo nemo ante iit
(Score: 2) by RamiK on Friday June 02 2023, @10:09PM (3 children)
RISC-V isn't a high-tech component but an instruction set architecture. It's availability as open-source only reduces costs involved with writing compilers and porting software by no greater extent than having anything else commercially available. Like, the various international standards for paper sizes, power plugs, steel alloys and tire sizes do more to reduce the Chinese military expenditure than having an open source ISA could ever do.
compiling...
(Score: 2) by Dr Spin on Saturday June 03 2023, @11:36AM (2 children)
RISC-V isn't a high-tech component but an instruction set architecture. It's availability as open-source only reduces costs involved with writing compilers and porting software by no greater extent than having anything else commercially available. Like, the various international standards for paper sizes, power plugs, steel alloys and tire sizes do more to reduce the Chinese military expenditure than having an open source ISA could ever do.
Are you implying that we should take military action to prevent the Chinese from supporting A4 paper on their printers and scanners?
Hell, if only the Muricans would use their nukes to prevent anyone even mentioning "US Letter" paper on equipment outside the US borders, I for one would be thrilled, and might even be prepared to post said thrills on Only Fans!
Manwhile, I would be quite happy to use Risc-V for my servers and workstation provided:
If you wish to ban kitchen knives because they could be used to murder teens, rest assured, you will never get to eat dinner in my house - nor get my vote for anything. If you want my vote, then you need to support actions against knife crime that are scientifically proven to work AND not support ones that are proven NOT TO WORK (Google might be your friend, perhaps).
Warning: Opening your mouth may invalidate your brain!
(Score: 2) by TheReaperD on Sunday June 04 2023, @08:15PM (1 child)
High-end semiconductors are used for smart weapons, most modern missile systems, and China, in particular, uses them in surveillance equipment that they use their own people (not that other counties don't). It doesn't require a scientific study to associate that China having fewer and lower-power semiconductors will reduce their capabilities against their own people and abroad. Rubbing two brain cells together should be enough to reach this conclusion. But, I know that's too much to ask of some people. And note, this if before we get into what China will be able to do against their own citizens once AI systems truly become reliable. So, the longer we can slow that down, the better.
Ad eundum quo nemo ante iit
(Score: 2) by Dr Spin on Monday June 12 2023, @04:22PM
My point was that while the approach you propose might be morally justifiable, the Chinese are perfectly capable of illegal activities whether we like it or not.
If technology is open source, then you can spread it on your burgers just like BBQ source.
If you want to obstruct morally bankrupt behaviour by the Chinese - a strategy I fully support - then attempting to restrict Open Source activities is not going to achieve this. You need a better plan.
In reality a brief look at history will tell you that copying other people held the Russian computer industry to the extent that it withered on the vine. China is full of clever people with the relevant knowledge, and they could and probably already have, created their own processor technology anyway.
If you follow activities in Ukraine, you will observe that countries controlled by Bond villains end up like Bond movies. Democracy is being proven a better method to manage a country before our eyes. However, if you try to force regime change, you are no better than a Bond villain. (CF Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc).
Warning: Opening your mouth may invalidate your brain!
(Score: 2) by VLM on Friday June 02 2023, @09:56PM (1 child)
Not to hijack a story, but since we've already decided to have a "one china policy" debate, this can't make it any worse.
Anyway I wonder if any soylentils have used a ESP32-C3 (which is a RISC-V cpu/board). I'm toying with the idea of messing around with the adafruit and numerous clones thereof from aliexpress. I've done stuff with older ESP32 (non RISC-V chips).
Not asking for much just first impression one liners from anyone who's F-d around and found out with those chips/boards.
(Score: 2) by TheReaperD on Sunday June 04 2023, @08:19PM
Sorry, when I read the wording on the article, I knew they were talking about the China bans and their flippant attitude towards it made my hairs stand on end. I wasn't meaning to stifle any technical discussion.
Ad eundum quo nemo ante iit