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Hardware Linux

First RISC-V Laptop Announced (phoronix.com) 28

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Phoronix, written by Michael Larabel: RISC-V International has relayed word to us that in China the DeepComputing and Xcalibyte organizations have announced pre-orders on the first RISC-V laptop intended for developers. The "ROMA" development platform features a quad-core RISC-V processor, up to 16GB of RAM, up to 256GB of storage, and should work with most RISC-V Linux distributions. [...] DeepComputing and Xcalibyte say this laptop uses an "unannounced" quad-core RISC-V processor so is very light on the details. But frankly if it wasn't a RISC-V International PR contact relaying this to me, it sounds more like a satire announcement. The ROMA press release today goes on to note, "A Web3-friendly platform with NFT creation and publication plus integrated MetaMask-style wallet, ROMA will create an even more integrated experience with future AR glasses and AI speakers operating entirely on RISC-V software and powered by RISC-V hardware."

Quantities are also said to be limited for this ROMA laptop, which likely will put a pricing premium on it. Their cringe-worthy press release filled with buzzwords and scant technical details goes on to note, "The first 100 customers to pre-order ROMA will receive a unique NFT to mark the birth of the world's first native RISC-V development platform laptop. And you can have your ROMA personally engraved with your name or company name." [...] So right now this announcement just raises a lot more questions than answers, but we are certainly looking forward to hearing more about RISC-V laptops...
Further reading: Pine64 Is Working On a RISC-V Single-Board Computer
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First RISC-V Laptop Announced

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  • > A Web3-friendly platform with NFT creation and publication plus integrated MetaMask-style wallet, ROMA will create an even more integrated experience with future AR glasses and AI speakers operating entirely on RISC-V software and powered by RISC-V hardware.

    Ok, right, you can keep that crap. Buzzword salad is meaningless.

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • Ah, but the question is, will it be fraud from stem to stern, or is there a product worth owning in there somewhere unrelated to the NFT bullshit?

        • If there was, wouldn't it be to their advantage to advertise it?

          • Probably. But they could be in negotiations on parts of it which require non-disclosure.

            More likely it's just all bullshit. Any more I don't give a shit until there is a product I can purchase. I'm still waiting for my udoo, and two guys spaceadventure. I'm absolutely not backing anything else or whatever

        • Comment removed based on user account deletion
          • Let me ask you this: if someone's a fraudster, admits upfront they're a fraudster, and tries to push a fraudulent thing on you, are you really going to buy a toaster from them on the grounds that the toaster might not be a fraud?

            No. I'm going to try to find out who actually manufactured it, since it probably wasn't them.

  • Besides RISC-V what have you got? 16GB and esp. 256GB and bump those up in the hopes of drawing some attention, no? +32GB and a usefully sized drive and that might attract some attention from folks doing more than just building websites and office apps ie. folks working with data or games+data. Otherwise, who cares?

    • You really don't understand hardware. You want a gaming laptop then go buy one. Do you want a laptop with published schematics and open source CPU? Then buy RISC-V. Use the right tool for the right job.

    • by Junta ( 36770 )

      Well, others have pointed out this may be more scam than product, but if it were true, it could be China trying to bolster a platform that they could more freely use.

      Currently there's large critical chunks of China market that are not allowed to buy from the more capable companies based on x86. On x86, they are basically stuck with modest tweaks to 20 year old VIA designs, which perform hilariously poorly. Then on ARM, well, that's a whole mess of tug of war between ARM and the local ARM china, so it's cle

      • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        There are some Chinese versions of AMD Ryzen parts built under licence. They don't perform as well as the AMD ones, they use an older process, lower clock frequencies and have some features removed. They also replaced AMD's crypto stuff with their own, and they are mostly sold to the Chinese government.

        Some Chinese companies also produce MIPS CPUs under licence, but they don't get much use in computers because they don't get enough development to remain competitive.

        RISC-V holds a lot of promise, but it real

      • by kriston ( 7886 )

        which perform hilariously poorly

        Didn't think the Centaur Technologies VIA Esther and Isaiah chips were all that bad. What about the licensed Isaiah core used by Zhaoxin?

  • by fuzzyfuzzyfungus ( 1223518 ) on Saturday July 02, 2022 @09:52AM (#62668010) Journal
    Aside from the obvious massive vapor clouds; does anyone else find it curious that the system is apparently built on two entirely different processes despite using a chip sufficiently new or obscure that it hasn't been announced yet? The puff piece says "First 12nm(Pro)/28nm (Standard) in SoM package).

    Obviously silicon vendors, fabbed and fabless, move processes over time; and its not terribly uncommon for CPUs to get a die shrink while remaining socket or pin compatible; but that normally happens to product lines that already have products; and were that the case here the 28nm part would presumably exist and have at least cursory details available; even if the 12nm part is still a roadmap item rather than on sale.

    For politeness sake, we'll ignore the oddity of a company whose only product is some obscure static analysis tool deciding to get into 'tuning' laptops; along with the NFT garbage.
    • It's most likely an investment scam. RISC-V boards are slowly trickling out from other no name vendors though. I just bought one of these for an upcoming project. The dock board is required and the tiny display is a nice option to have. The tablet in my bedroom that plays white noise at night unexpectedly died so I plan to build this board into a small speaker that will play an audio sample on a loop for 8 hours or so when a button is pressed. The dock board has a built in 3 watt amplifier so this is perfec

      • by pjt33 ( 739471 )

        A CPU to play an audio sample seems overkill for white noise. Why not just a Zener diode?

        • Isn't that pink noise?
          • by pjt33 ( 739471 )

            My understanding is that a Zener diode produces white noise. In response to your query I've looked around, and the second search result [mpdigest.com] says that Zener diodes produce white shot noise but that for sleep background noise people prefer pink noise. So it seems that you're right to question my suggestion, but for exactly the wrong reason. I'm not now going to try to calculate how good a pink noise generator you can get by filtering white noise...

        • A fan?
  • From the country of dubious ethics and quality and billions of fake knockoffs, a product come screaming of scam (NFT). With numerous scam buzzword attached and screaming loudly with Hollywood level of marketing, it is scamception the laptop.
    • said the guy typing on his computer full of Chinese electronics in his house full of chinese goods.

      yeah ethics and any country, you're funny.

      • China really only assembles stuff. And poorly at that.
        • False, the components are mostly made in China. Whether we're talking about light bulbs or PC. Look it up. 90 percent of motherboards, over 90 percent the chips, power supplies, etc.

          You are posting on a chinese made computer. Heck *assembly* might be done in USA because that's all we're good for now.

  • Based on chinese sbc's you'll get some help while it's new, then nothing once the next gen is out.

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