Ask Slashdot: What's the Best All-Purpose RISC-V System on a Chip Family?
- Reference: 0180997794
- News link: https://ask.slashdot.org/story/26/03/15/2124224/ask-slashdot-whats-the-best-all-purpose-risc-v-system-on-a-chip-family
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And "the family needs to scale — cheap and small at the low end, capable of running Linux on the bigger variants!"
Their requirements?
WiFi + BLE required
LoRaWAN a nice-to-have.
Low power modes that actually work in the field, not just on the datasheet.
Full peripheral set — SPI, I2C, UART, ADC, timers, CAN.
A toolchain and runtime support, support multi threads...
Slashdot reader [2]Gravis Zero is [3]skeptical all the requirements can be met. "If you want embedded, you get embedded. If you want to run a big OS, you get one that will run a big OS."
But Slashdot reader [4]SysEngineer believes "The obvious architecture candidates are ARM, STM, and RISC-V" — and specifically they want to hear your experiences with the RISC-V choices. "What would you standardize on today if you were starting fresh? And how does real-world toolchain and community support hold up compared to the marketing?"
Share your own thoughts and experiences in the comments.
What's the best all-purpose RISC-V system on a chip family?
[1] https://www.slashdot.org/~SysEngineer
[2] https://www.slashdot.org/~Gravis+Zero
[3] https://slashdot.org/comments.pl?cid=66042984&sid=23940912&tid=384
[4] https://www.slashdot.org/~SysEngineer
ESP32 (Score:3)
One of the Risc-V based ESP32 devices would probably fit your needs.
Re: (Score:2)
Toss in a RP2040, it does all of the CAN, SPI, etc... stuff. I found it a bit "touchy" as far as electrical noise. The "PI" series of boards seems the way to go to me, from UI's, to down and dirty stuff.
Re: (Score:2)
If we're talking Pi Pico devices, I'd pick the RP2350. At runtime, you get your choice between dual ARM or dual RISC-V cores running at 150 MHz. The downside of these parts (RP2040/RP2350) vs. ESP is that you'll need to add an external Flash memory, external PSRAM, and external WiFi/BLE radio.
Espressif ESP32-C6 (Score:2)
The ESP32-C6 may be the SoC you are looking for. RISC-V. Mature WiFi and BLE. Thread and Zigbee support. Low power down into the uA range. More peripherals than you can shake a stick at. Excellent toolchain, all open source. CircuitPython supported. Lots of devboards available starting at about $12.
While you're looking at the C6, check out the other offerings from Espressif.
Speed (Score:1)
RISC-V is taking over the low end but the higher end devices are still slower than ARM. Compilers will of course get better. CH32V chips will be in everything because they're only a few cents a piece in small quantities.