On Mar 16, 2020, tom wrote: > On Mon, 16 Mar 2020 08:38:04 -0400 > Dan Purgert <d...@djph.net> wrote: > > > On Mar 15, 2020, tom wrote: > > > [...] The biggest technical problem is the > > > lack of ASIC northbridge, or rather something to interface the CPU > > > to an PCIE bus. Currently the best thing available you can get is > > > an FPGA and it is a severe bandwidth bottleneck. It's also super > > > expensive getting an FPGA that beefy enough. I don't see RISCV > > > going anywhere until this is solved except microcontroller > > > applications. > > > > > > The second problem is patents that prevent RISCV developers from > > > implementing a lot of popular specs and standards. Just as an > > > example look at the licensing cost of implementing HDMI vs > > > DisplayPort. > > > > On the one hand, I understand why a "large market audience" device > > would need HDMI or DisplayPort or the newest whizbang 256K DNA > > ("Direct Neural Attachment") adapter is ... but why does that need to > > be on a small-market / hobby computer? > > > > I can only speak for myself, but a reasonably open PC at the $400 mark > > would certainly be competitive to dell or hp; even if it were > > "limited" in the peripheral interconnect area (assuming, of course, > > the motherboard's peripheral layout were well documented and people > > were encouraged to make stuff -- see arduino or rpi expansion boards ) > > > > generally you want to be able to attach a video card or high > performance disk controller to a PCIE slot. you /can/ do these things > with an FPGA but I wouldn't call it very reliable. You do too many > things or send too much data over the bus it exceeds the bandwidth and > the system locks up needing a reset.
I think I wasn't clear enough then. For the sake of discussion, let's say PCIe is off the table. What, then, is so bad about PCI? Or hell, even ISA? Sure, it's super-limiting in terms of what you can buy off the shelf -- but then again, so was the "compatible with Arduino(tm)" market 5-10 years ago (and now look at that mess!) I guess what I'm trying to ask is what would be so bad about a "RISC-V Hobby Linux Machine(tm)" only offering these "older" peripheral connectivity interfaces in interests of being inexpensive and also preserving end-user freedom? Or ... maybe I'm just a bit crazier than I thought. -- |_|O|_| |_|_|O| Github: https://github.com/dpurgert |O|O|O| PGP: 05CA 9A50 3F2E 1335 4DC5 4AEE 8E11 DDF3 1279 A281
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