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Title: Framework Laptops Get Modular Makeover With RISC-V Main Board

Link: https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/24/11/18/...

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Register: Framework CEO Nirav
Patel had one of the bravest tech demos that we've seen at a conference yet --
 modifying a Framework Laptop from x86 to RISC-V live on stage. In the five-
minute duration of one of the Ubuntu Summit's Lightning Talks, he opened up a
Framework machine, removed its motherboard, installed a RISC-V-powered
replacement, reconnected it, and closed the machine up again. All while
presenting the talk live, and pretty much without hesitation, deviation, or
repetition. It was an impressive performance, and you can watch it yourself
at the 8:56:30 mark in the video recording. Now DeepComputing is taking
orders for the DC-ROMA board, at least to those in its early access program.
The new main board is powered by a StarFive JH7110 System-on-Chip. (Note:
there are two tabs on the page, for both the JH7110 and JH7100, and we can't
link directly to the latter.) CNX Software has more details about the SoC.
Although the SoC has six CPU cores, two are dedicated processors, making it a
quad-core 64-bit device. The four general-purpose cores are 64-bit and run at
up to 1.5 GHz. It supports 8 GB of RAM and eMMC storage. [...] In our
opinion, RISC-V is not yet competitive with Arm in performance. However, this
is a real, usable, general-purpose computer, based on an open instruction
set. That's no mean feat, and it's got more than enough performance for less
demanding work. It's also the first third-party main board for the Framework
hardware, which is another welcome achievement. The company has now delivered
several new generations of hardware, including a 16-inch model, and continues
to upgrade its machines' specs.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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