this post was submitted on 11 Aug 2023
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Debian Linux is Joining The RISC-V Bandwagon (www.howtogeek.com)
submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 18 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Can somebody ELI5 this to a normal tech person who is aware of the RISC5, but has no idea why everyone is so excited about this?

  • Why is this exciting?
  • Is there a future where this replaces x86 CPUs in the desktop / laptop?
  • Will emulation or translation layers allow x86 applications to run on RISC CPUs?
[–] [email protected] 16 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I'm also just a normal tech person, so my answers may be inaccurate.

My understanding is:

  1. ARM seems superior in the mobile computing domain where efficiency matters more than raw power. I wonder if that's related to the RISC vs CISC instructions... if that's the case, having an open architecture alternative to ARM would allow any manufacturer to create their CPU designs without having to pay a hefty fee to ARM. Should bring more competition and won't keep manufacturers hostage of ARM. If ARMs raises their royalties 1000x, Apple, Qualcomm etc just have to comply for lack of alternatives, and consumers end up paying the price. This won't be possible with RISC-V
  2. I can definitely see this happening, or at least having the option. OSs and apps will have to build for that new architecture of course, which takes time and money. I'm personally particularly excited about laptops
  3. I guess. I don't think it's ever impossible to do this, it's always a matter of how much of an impact it has on performances

If I said something stupid, please let me know, I'd like to learn about this!

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Just to clarify a few points in #1: CISC has gone largely (entirely?) extinct, so it doesn't play into this. Arm processors are more efficient than x86, but Risc-v is even more efficient than Arm, giving them an edge in cheap, low power computing. However, some companies have started experimenting with Risc-v for HPC applications, so it's turning out more versatile than expected. Just this week there was also news of a bunch of companies banding together to develop Risc-v chips for automobile and Telecom, so don't be surprised if we get Risc-v smartphones and tablets in the near future.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

#1: CISC has gone largely (entirely?) extinct

Citation needed? Isn't x86 considered a CISC?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Yes and no. AFAIK when coding assembler for these chips you use CISC-instructions but they get translated into RISC-instructions by a hardcoded mikroprocessing-unit (not sure about the real term). So the processor itself gets RISC-instructions.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

In reality it seems to be more complicated: https://fanael.github.io/is-x86-risc-internally.html

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I just hope at least on PC/Laptop there are this kind of chips that's so powerful that we can have 1 weeks full of battery...

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

It would more likely be that the battery lasts 10-20% longer than ARM. You won't triple or quadruple efficiency with just an architecture change unless it is world-changing new tech

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

The problem is ARM laptop isn't even available in 3rd world country like mine. I still waiting tho, even if it's exists, it's expensive as expensive buying a high end motorcycle... worth of 3x yearly salary