Jan 15, 2021 06:00:00

Affordable computer board 'Beagle V' equipped with RISC-V CPU in the 10,000 yen range and compatible with Linux operation

With most modern computers

adopting closed architectures such as x86 and ARM , the open source instruction set RISC-V is attracting attention as the key to innovating the processor industry. A $ 119 (about 12,400 yen) computer board 'BeagleV' equipped with such RISC-V and compatible with Linux operation was announced.

BeagleV
https://beagleboard.org/static/beagleV/beagleV.html

Although x86 and ARM have won a large share as a processor architecture, it is necessary to pay a high license fee to use it, and it is regarded as a problem that it will be a barrier to entry of new businesses to the processor market. I've been. Since the open source RISC-V can be used free of charge by anyone, it is expected that if it becomes widespread, it will lower the barriers to processor development by other industries and research institutes and lead to the supply of inexpensive processors.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of the open source CPU 'RISC-V' that has the potential to become the champion of the new era? --GIGAZINE

'Beagle V' is a computer board that is equipped with a CPU that uses such RISC-V and is compatible with Linux operations. BeagleV is open source not only for instruction sets but also for hardware design and software, making it the world's first RISC-V computer running Linux to be 'a machine that individuals can buy at a reasonable price'.

The Beagle V SoC, named 'StarFive JH7100,' is equipped with a dual-core RISC-V processor '

SiFive U74 ' with a 2MB L2 cache at a clock frequency of 1.5GHz. The StarFive JH7100 is also equipped with the image recognition engine ' Tensilica Vision P6 DSP ' used in Toshiba's next-generation in-vehicle SoC , NVIDIA's deep learning engine ' NVDLA ', and neural network engine, and is equipped with machine learning. It is an SoC suitable for.

BeagleV has a wide range of peripherals, including a USB 3.0 port, a Gigabit Ethernet port, an IEEE 802.11b / g / n compatible Wi-Fi antenna, Bluetooth 4.2, an HDMI port, and a microSD card slot. The USB Type-C port is used for power supply. In addition, there are 4GB model and 8GB model with RAM capacity, the price is divided into 119 dollars (about 12,400 yen) for the 4GB model and 149 dollars (about 15,500 yen) for the 8GB model.

In addition to

FreeRTOS for embedded systems, typical Linux distributions such as Fedora and Debian are listed as operating systems.

As for future releases, the new product will be introduced on March 5, 2021, and the hardware test and system integration test will be completed by the end of March. The pilot version will be available to the community in April and will be available to the public in September.

You can apply for purchase of BeagleV on the following page, but since the supply amount is limited at the time of release, you need to enter the usage of the board.

BeagleV ™ Application Form
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSff2hpW19aiB7SyzA4NK8zhDGgDje26C_z4lpwzJ-Hmk8aJiQ/viewform