• wim@lemmy.sdf.org
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    1 year ago

    I don’t understand what you mean. Why does ARM hardware become obsolete after a few years? Lacking ongoing software support and no mainline Linux?

    What does that have to do with the instruction set license? If you think RISC-V implementors who actually make the damn chips won’t ship locked hardware that only run signed and encrypted binary blobs, you are in for a disappointing ride.

    Major adopters, like WD and Nvidia didn’t pick RISC-V over arm for our freedoms. They were testing the waters to see if they could stop paying the ARM tax. All the other stuff will stay the same.

    • ono@lemmy.caOP
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      1 year ago

      Why does ARM hardware become obsolete after a few years? Lacking ongoing software support and no mainline Linux?

      Correct. (And firmware support.)

      What does that have to do with the instruction set license?

      Barrier to entry (cost) and license restrictions (non-disclosure) are generally problematic for anyone wanting to ship open hardware.

      If you think RISC-V implementors who actually make the damn chips won’t ship locked hardware that only run signed and encrypted binary blobs, you are in for a disappointing ride.

      I don’t think anyone expects existing ARM device makers to change their behavior with RISC-V. Rather, RISC-V opens the door to new players who do things differently.