[9fans] RISC-V SoC available in Europe?

[9fans] RISC-V SoC available in Europe?

[tlaronde]

I'd like to start playing with the combination RISC-V and Plan9.
There are some (including not in stock yet) SoC from Microchip for
example, but I seem unable to purchase them from some french
seller---and I had enough bad experience about buying in U.S, with
VAT handled by FedEx, UPS or whatever adding delirious extra costs,
that I'm now reluctant to buy from "abroad".

Do anybody know of some E.U. online merchant proposing such boards?
And even some product that is working already with Plan9 or that would
be interesting to get working with Plan9? The purpose being to learn,
it's not a problem if there will be work to do.
-- 
        Thierry Laronde <tlaronde +AT+ kergis +dot+ com>
                     http://www.kergis.com/
                    http://kertex.kergis.com/
                     http://nunc-et-hic.fr/
Key fingerprint = 0FF7 E906 FBAF FE95 FD89  250D 52B1 AE95 6006 F40C

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Re: [9fans] RISC-V SoC available in Europe?

[Shawn Rutledge]

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> On May 15, 2024, at 11:27 PM, <tlaronde@kergis.com> <tlaronde@kergis.com> wrote:
> 
> I'd like to start playing with the combination RISC-V and Plan9.

I would too.  I have a VisionFive 2 (I highly recommend the metal case from here, if you get one):

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004799577384.html

And a Mango Pi D1:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005298027581.html

I just didn’t figure out how to get started with building and testing 9 on either of those.

Neither of them has really competitive performance on Linux: no advantage over a raspberry pi, except to be able to try out this architecture at all.  For a short time, the VisionFive might have been the fastest risc-V chip available, but not anymore.


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Re: [9fans] RISC-V SoC available in Europe?

[Andrew Back]

On 16/05/2024 07:27, tlaronde@kergis.com wrote:
> I'd like to start playing with the combination RISC-V and Plan9.
> There are some (including not in stock yet) SoC from Microchip for
> example, but I seem unable to purchase them from some french
> seller---and I had enough bad experience about buying in U.S, with
> VAT handled by FedEx, UPS or whatever adding delirious extra costs,
> that I'm now reluctant to buy from "abroad".
> 
> Do anybody know of some E.U. online merchant proposing such boards?

RS have:

- BeagleV Ahead with Alibaba T-Head TH1520 quad-core RISC-V Xuantie C910.

https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/single-board-computers/2686957

- BeagleV Fire with Microchip PolarFire MPFS025T FCVG484E.

https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/single-board-computers/2730243

The former featuring a more powerful RISC-V CPU, while the latter has 
the added benefit of a SoC with a 23K LE FPGA.

Andrew

-- 
Andrew Back
https://abopen.com

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Re: [9fans] RISC-V SoC available in Europe?

[tlaronde]

On Thu, May 16, 2024 at 09:31:47AM +0100, Andrew Back wrote:
> On 16/05/2024 07:27, tlaronde@kergis.com wrote:
> > I'd like to start playing with the combination RISC-V and Plan9.
> > There are some (including not in stock yet) SoC from Microchip for
> > example, but I seem unable to purchase them from some french
> > seller---and I had enough bad experience about buying in U.S, with
> > VAT handled by FedEx, UPS or whatever adding delirious extra costs,
> > that I'm now reluctant to buy from "abroad".
> > 
> > Do anybody know of some E.U. online merchant proposing such boards?
> 
> RS have:
> 
> - BeagleV Ahead with Alibaba T-Head TH1520 quad-core RISC-V Xuantie C910.
> 
> https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/single-board-computers/2686957
> 
> - BeagleV Fire with Microchip PolarFire MPFS025T FCVG484E.
> 
> https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/single-board-computers/2730243
> 
> The former featuring a more powerful RISC-V CPU, while the latter has the
> added benefit of a SoC with a 23K LE FPGA.

Thanks for the links. These seem interesting.

I have noted too what Shawn Rutledge has given---thank you too.

I add these that I finally found (not easily) in France. From
Microchip, the expensive:

https://www.mouser.fr/ProductDetail/494-MPFSICICLE-KITES

and this:

https://www.mouser.fr/ProductDetail/Microchip-Technology/MPFS-DISCO-KIT?qs=mELouGlnn3f1eYzoy8b3wQ%3D%3D

If someone has a technical advice (in the hardware area, I'm a
beginner) about whether the expensive one is justified because it will
allow far more information for debugging, testing etc. I will gladly
listen.
-- 
        Thierry Laronde <tlaronde +AT+ kergis +dot+ com>
                     http://www.kergis.com/
                    http://kertex.kergis.com/
                     http://nunc-et-hic.fr/
Key fingerprint = 0FF7 E906 FBAF FE95 FD89  250D 52B1 AE95 6006 F40C

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Re: [9fans] RISC-V SoC available in Europe?

[Andrew Back]

On 16/05/2024 09:54, tlaronde@kergis.com wrote:

> I add these that I finally found (not easily) in France. From
> Microchip, the expensive:
> 
> https://www.mouser.fr/ProductDetail/494-MPFSICICLE-KITES
> 
> and this:
> 
> https://www.mouser.fr/ProductDetail/Microchip-Technology/MPFS-DISCO-KIT?qs=mELouGlnn3f1eYzoy8b3wQ%3D%3D
> 
> If someone has a technical advice (in the hardware area, I'm a
> beginner) about whether the expensive one is justified because it will
> allow far more information for debugging, testing etc. I will gladly
> listen.

The Microchip dev kit has an on-board programmer, whereas with BeagleV 
Fire you need to buy a USB programmer, but the cheaper of the two 
options is around 100 Euro. This is used to load the bitstream which 
configures the FPGA and I wasn't sure about RISC-V CPU debug, but a 
quick search turned up this page on the Zephyr website which suggests 
that the same FlashPro5/6 hardware can be used with GDB.

https://docs.zephyrproject.org/latest/boards/beagle/beaglev_fire/doc/index.html#debugging

Other than that it looks like the official dev kit maybe has more I/O 
and also a full size PCIe slot, rather than M.2. You'd need to compare 
the datasheets, but generally speaking the official dev kit will be 
aimed more at companies who want to do custom hardware designs and so it 
may have things like additional test points, and will be the officially 
supported platform if you're working with Microchip. Whereas the BeagleV 
Fire board is targeted more at enthusiasts and being more accessible.

Andrew

-- 
Andrew Back
https://abopen.com

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Re: [9fans] RISC-V SoC available in Europe?

[tlaronde]

On Thu, May 16, 2024 at 10:13:45AM +0100, Andrew Back wrote:
> On 16/05/2024 09:54, tlaronde@kergis.com wrote:
> 
> > I add these that I finally found (not easily) in France. From
> > Microchip, the expensive:
> > 
> > https://www.mouser.fr/ProductDetail/494-MPFSICICLE-KITES
> > 
> > and this:
> > 
> > https://www.mouser.fr/ProductDetail/Microchip-Technology/MPFS-DISCO-KIT?qs=mELouGlnn3f1eYzoy8b3wQ%3D%3D
> > 
> > If someone has a technical advice (in the hardware area, I'm a
> > beginner) about whether the expensive one is justified because it will
> > allow far more information for debugging, testing etc. I will gladly
> > listen.
> 
> The Microchip dev kit has an on-board programmer, whereas with BeagleV Fire
> you need to buy a USB programmer, but the cheaper of the two options is
> around 100 Euro. This is used to load the bitstream which configures the
> FPGA and I wasn't sure about RISC-V CPU debug, but a quick search turned up
> this page on the Zephyr website which suggests that the same FlashPro5/6
> hardware can be used with GDB.
> 
> https://docs.zephyrproject.org/latest/boards/beagle/beaglev_fire/doc/index.html#debugging
> 
> Other than that it looks like the official dev kit maybe has more I/O and
> also a full size PCIe slot, rather than M.2. You'd need to compare the
> datasheets, but generally speaking the official dev kit will be aimed more
> at companies who want to do custom hardware designs and so it may have
> things like additional test points, and will be the officially supported
> platform if you're working with Microchip. Whereas the BeagleV Fire board is
> targeted more at enthusiasts and being more accessible.

Thanks! I will start with a BeagleV Fire...
-- 
        Thierry Laronde <tlaronde +AT+ kergis +dot+ com>
                     http://www.kergis.com/
                    http://kertex.kergis.com/
                     http://nunc-et-hic.fr/
Key fingerprint = 0FF7 E906 FBAF FE95 FD89  250D 52B1 AE95 6006 F40C

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Re: [9fans] RISC-V SoC available in Europe?

[tlaronde]

On Thu, May 16, 2024 at 10:13:45AM +0100, Andrew Back wrote:
> On 16/05/2024 09:54, tlaronde@kergis.com wrote:
> 
> > I add these that I finally found (not easily) in France. From
> > Microchip, the expensive:
> > 
> > https://www.mouser.fr/ProductDetail/494-MPFSICICLE-KITES
> > 
> > and this:
> > 
> > https://www.mouser.fr/ProductDetail/Microchip-Technology/MPFS-DISCO-KIT?qs=mELouGlnn3f1eYzoy8b3wQ%3D%3D
> > 
> > If someone has a technical advice (in the hardware area, I'm a
> > beginner) about whether the expensive one is justified because it will
> > allow far more information for debugging, testing etc. I will gladly
> > listen.
> 
> The Microchip dev kit has an on-board programmer, whereas with BeagleV Fire
> you need to buy a USB programmer, but the cheaper of the two options is
> around 100 Euro. This is used to load the bitstream which configures the
> FPGA and I wasn't sure about RISC-V CPU debug, but a quick search turned up
> this page on the Zephyr website which suggests that the same FlashPro5/6
> hardware can be used with GDB.
> 
> https://docs.zephyrproject.org/latest/boards/beagle/beaglev_fire/doc/index.html#debugging
> 
> Other than that it looks like the official dev kit maybe has more I/O and
> also a full size PCIe slot, rather than M.2. You'd need to compare the
> datasheets, but generally speaking the official dev kit will be aimed more
> at companies who want to do custom hardware designs and so it may have
> things like additional test points, and will be the officially supported
> platform if you're working with Microchip. Whereas the BeagleV Fire board is
> targeted more at enthusiasts and being more accessible.

Thanks once more for your advice.

I finally went for BeagleV-Fire, and since it was available from
France, I bought it here:

https://www.mouser.fr/ProductDetail/BeagleBoard-by-Seeed-Studio/102110898?qs=HoCaDK9Nz5eU8X3%252BpFx5gw%3D%3D

-- 
        Thierry Laronde <tlaronde +AT+ kergis +dot+ com>
                     http://www.kergis.com/
                    http://kertex.kergis.com/
                     http://nunc-et-hic.fr/
Key fingerprint = 0FF7 E906 FBAF FE95 FD89  250D 52B1 AE95 6006 F40C

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Re: [9fans] RISC-V SoC available in Europe?

[Julien Blanchard via 9fans]

This presentation by Geoff Collyer "Plan 9 on 64-bit RISC-V" describes 
the work that has been done and mentions some hardware too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOg6UzSss2A

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Re: [9fans] RISC-V SoC available in Europe?

[tlaronde]

On Thu, May 16, 2024 at 11:26:32AM +0200, Julien Blanchard via 9fans wrote:
> This presentation by Geoff Collyer "Plan 9 on 64-bit RISC-V" describes the
> work that has been done and mentions some hardware too.
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOg6UzSss2A

Thanks for the link! I will watch this after but just noticing that
from the still first slide there is already the two mentionned: BeagleV
and Microship Polarfire Icicle, plus a Sifive u740.
-- 
        Thierry Laronde <tlaronde +AT+ kergis +dot+ com>
                     http://www.kergis.com/
                    http://kertex.kergis.com/
                     http://nunc-et-hic.fr/
Key fingerprint = 0FF7 E906 FBAF FE95 FD89  250D 52B1 AE95 6006 F40C

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Re: [9fans] RISC-V SoC available in Europe?

[Fabian Wermelinger]

On Thu, 16 May 2024 08:27:25 +0200, tlaronde@kergis.com wrote:
>Do anybody know of some E.U. online merchant proposing such boards?

https://pine64.org/devices/

They have an EU store (think Poland based).  I bought from them in the past, can
recommend.

-- 
fabs

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Re: [9fans] RISC-V SoC available in Europe?

[tlaronde]

On Thu, May 16, 2024 at 09:38:44AM +0000, Fabian Wermelinger wrote:
> On Thu, 16 May 2024 08:27:25 +0200, tlaronde@kergis.com wrote:
> > Do anybody know of some E.U. online merchant proposing such boards?
> 
> https://pine64.org/devices/
> 
> They have an EU store (think Poland based).  I bought from them in the past, can
> recommend.

OK! so here is the SiFive U74 (STAR64). I thought that the pine64 were
all ARM based. I was wrong.

I will let others provide further links before making the choice (and
I will watch/listen Geoff Collyer "Plan 9 on 64-bit RISC-V" too).
-- 
        Thierry Laronde <tlaronde +AT+ kergis +dot+ com>
                     http://www.kergis.com/
                    http://kertex.kergis.com/
                     http://nunc-et-hic.fr/
Key fingerprint = 0FF7 E906 FBAF FE95 FD89  250D 52B1 AE95 6006 F40C

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