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This Year, RISC-V Laptops Arrive
(spectrum.ieee.org)
2025 will be the year of ~~Linux~~ RISC-V desktop!!
do they come with all the necessary drivers? Or are they hoping they magically appear in the linux kernel after they've sold a bunch?
Sounds like they've already got it running Linux, so...
The more important question is, are they running mainline Linux, close to mainline Linux (like Raspberry Pi, or outdated much modified unmaintainable vendor and device specific fork (like Android phones do).
The article says Ubuntu.
This doesn't mean anything. The question refers to the kernel version running.
I'm running fedora 40 with
Linux risc 6.1.15-legacy-k1 #2 SMP PREEMPT Wed May 1 14:17:59 UTC 2024 riscv64 GNU/Linux ```it's very possible to get linux to run on a processor without having implemented al functionality. You can just not support some onboard peripherals yet and have to do some things inefficiently in software. You don't need good power management to simply be "running", etc.
Getting linux to run is the first step, not the last. It's the barest minimum you could do to have a product to sell. Running well, taking advantage of all hardware features properly is a whole different game.
If someone could spit out some nice high-performance RISC-V CPU with an integrated open-source and most importantly mainlined GPU (which also includes a video encoder/decoder which could handle 4k 264, 265* and AV1) ... I'd be SO happy....
- Yes, I know the intellectual property/digital restrictions management cesspit would do everything they could to prevent this from happening. One can dream, though.
This could be cool if:
- battery life is fantastic
- form factor is good (my preference: 14")
- performance is good enough (better than RPi5 ideally, or at least on par)
- price is reasonable - <$1k
- marketing is appropriate - don't imply gaming performance when games won't work
I don't need much from a laptop anymore since I have a Steam Deck for games on the go and a desktop PC for everything else.
Keyboard with good travel, decent screen, slots for additional SSDs, integrated 5G connectivity (maybe LoRa too), GPIO pins.
100% yes on "keyboard with good travel," I'm honestly okay with missing the rest on an initial model.
does it run Linux? I'm waiting for a good low power CPU laptop that I can install a standard distro on. preferably arch...
It does run Linux, but it would probably more precise to say it walks Linux.
Check the destro of your choice to see if it’s supported.
Not just Linux, but also FreeBSD and OpenBSD. Not sure about NetBSD.
Yes, it runs Linux (you didn't hink they were shipping it with Windows on it, did you?). Debian, Ubuntu, and Gentoo should all have support. I don't know about Arch.
Once there is Debian support, would it just run all software that Debian runs ie steam proton?
Not in the way you're hoping for. Proton is a wine offshoot, which means it's exclusive to x86 and x86_64 arches. You could perhaps get it to run by installing qemu and setting it up to run x86_64 binaries, but even if that worked you'd likely end up with single-digit FPS in most games.
Based on what Gentoo currently has keyworded, you should be able to get a solid useful desktop—KDE or Gnome (or sway, if that's your preference), Firefox, Libreoffice, Gimp, VLC, and other popular basics—but I wouldn't expect games or other proprietary software for a while yet, if ever.
We could have had ARM laptops much earlier, if some manufacturers at least tried to. I cannot really believe that the same chips that power SBCs couldn't been put into some small laptops.
this post was submitted on 04 Jan 2025
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