Author: Gareth Halfacree

Gareth Halfacree is a technology journalist and technical author best known for his work on the Raspberry Pi User Guide and an upcoming book covering the BBC’s micro:bit project. A keen open source advocate and RISC-V fan, Gareth is responsible for curating our fortnightly community round-up posts.

Cobham Gaisler Announces SPARC-Based LEON5, RISC-V NOEL-V Processor IP

Free and open source silicon pioneer Cobham Gaisler has announced two new processor IP families, the SPARC-based LEON5 and the RISC-V-based NOEL-V, which enter the company’s family of space-qualified products. “Cobham has a long-standing tradition of delivering open source solutions in order to expedite the development of next-generation computing devices… Read More

Microchip Open Early Access Programme for RISC-V-Enabled PolarFire SoC FPGA Family

Microchip has opened an early access programme for its RISC-V-enabled PolarFire SoC family of field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), providing what the company claims is “the world’s first hardened real-time Linux-capable RISC-V-based microprocessor subsystem” to a low-power FPGA range. “Delivering the industry’s first RISC-V based SoC FPGA along with our Mi-V… Read More

OpenHW Group Unveils CORE-V Chassis SoC Project, Building on PULP Project IP

OpenHW Group has announced a project to create a heterogeneous multi-core processor evaluation system-on-chip (SoC) design, featuring a high-performance 64-bit core coupled with a lower-power 32-bit core: the CORE-V Chassis. “The CORE-V Chassis project will help validate that serious silicon development is possible utilising the ethos of open-source hardware, IP,… Read More

Enjoy Digital Announces USB3 PIPE Project Successes for Open-Source USB 3.0 on FPGA SerDes

Enjoy Digital has marked off two major milestones in its USB3 PIPE effort to support USB 3.0 on the built-in SerDes high-speed transceivers of major FPGA platforms – using open-source code and an open-source toolchain. “Current solutions for USB 3.0 connectivity with an FPGA require the use of an external… Read More

Dependable Real-time Infrastructure for Safety-critical Computer (De-RISC) Aims for the Stars

Cobham Gaisler and fentISS have confirmed that the now-funded De-RISC project is forging ahead with its efforts to built a RISC-V based space-qualified computing platform centred in Europe, in partnership with Barcelona Supercomputing Centre and Thales. “With the first RISC-V based, fully European platform for space, De-RISC will guarantee access… Read More

SiFive Unveils Learn Inventor Educational RISC-V Development Board

RISC-V pioneer SiFive has announced the SiFive Learn Inventor, a development board aimed at the education and maker markets which merges the popular BBC micro:bit design with its own HiFive1. Launched via crowdfunding in late 2016, though not shipping in volume until January 2017, the SiFive HiFive1 took its… Read More

Think Silicon to Demonstrate its NEOX|V RISC-V GPGPU at the RISC-V Summit 2019

Think Silicon has announced the development of a general-purpose graphics processor (GPGPU) with 3D acceleration capabilities built on the free and open RISC-V instruction set architecture (ISA) – and claims it will be the first in the industry to demonstrate such a device working, at the RISC-V Summit later this… Read More

CRU: RISC-V for Beginners, Sensors, and Browsers, MIPS Open Closes, and More

Bootlin’s Michael Opdenacker has published a guide to getting started with embedded Linux on RISC-V in just 40 minutes, as part of a presentation given during the Capitole du Libre 2019 event earlier this month. Building on a presentation first given at the Libre Software Meeting 2005, in which… Read More

The Things Network Announces The Things Conference 2020

The Things Network has announced what it promises will be the “world’s largest LoRaWAN event,” The Things Conference, to take place late January 2020 in Amsterdam. Designed for administrators of, users of, and those just interested in the community-driven The Things Network global LoRaWAN initiative as well as the LoRaWAN… Read More

KiCad Open-Source EDA Project Joins The Linux Foundation, CommunityBridge

The KiCad electronic design automation (EDA) project has officially joined the Linux Foundation, a move which its maintainers say will allow it to grow its community and ensure the long-term stability of the project. “KiCad is a set of applications used by engineers focused on board design,” explains Michael Dolan,… Read More

Workshop on Open Source Design Automation (OSDA) 2020 Opens Call for Participation

The Workshop on Open Source Design Automation (OSDA), now on its second year, has announced a call for contributions with a deadline of the 12th of January 2020 – and is, as with the year before, taking place at the Conference on Design, Automation, and Test in Europe (DATE). “There… Read More