Industry Expert Blogs

Creating a RISC-V PC Ecosystem for Linux application development

Today, SiFive introduces the new HiFive platform for professional RISC-V developers, the HiFive Unmatched! The HiFive Unmatched enables developers to create the RISC-V-based software they need for RISC-V platforms. From real-time operating systems to custom Linux distributions, and the compilers, libraries, and applications that go with product design, developers can use the HiFive Unmatched to natively test and build RISC-V code.

At the heart of the SiFive HiFive Unmatched board is the new SiFive FU740 SoC, a five-core heterogeneous, coherent processor with four SiFive U74 cores, and one SiFive S7 core. If you’ve been following SiFive for a while, you’ll know that the U-Series are SiFive’s Linux-capable 64-bit application processor cores, based on the RISC-V ISA that the founders of SiFive invented. SiFive S-Series cores are 64-bit real-time embedded cores designed to enable mission critical or deterministic processing. Combined in the SiFive FU740 using SiFive Mix+Match technology, the heterogeneous multicore complex offers a potent combination of application and real-time processing. You can learn more about the latest features and capabilities of SiFive 7-Series Core IP, here.

The SiFive HiFive Unmatched comes in the mini-ITX standard form factor to make it easy to build a RISC-V PC. For the first time, standard industry connectors such as ATX power supplies, PCI-Express(r) expansion, Gigabit Ethernet, and USB ports are present on a single-board RISC-V development system.

The HiFive Unmatched includes 8GB of DDR4 memory, 32MB of QSPI flash memory, and a microSD card slot on the motherboard. For debugging and monitoring, developers can access the console output of the board through the built-in microUSB type-B connector.

Expansion is simple with the onboard PCI-Express slots, including both a PCIe general purpose slot (PCIe Gen 3 x8) for graphics, FPGAs, or other accelerators; and, M.2 slots for NVME storage (PCIe Gen 3 x4) and Wi-Fi/Bluetooth modules (PCIe Gen 3 x1). Additionally, there are four USB 3.2 Gen 1 type A ports on the rear, next to the Gigabit Ethernet port, making it easy to connect your peripherals.

The system will be shipped with a bootable SD card that includes Linux and popular system developer packages, with updates available for download from SiFive.com. From regression testing farms to individual developer contributions to the maturing RISC-V open software ecosystem, the SiFive HiFive Unmatched makes building exciting new applications and products more accessible than ever before. Priced at $665USD (suggested retail price), the system will be available for pre-order soon; please contact us here to register your interest.