Banana Pi BPI-F3: Single-board computer and RISV-V alternative to the Raspberry Pi now available

schizoidman@lemmy.ml to Technology@lemmy.ml – 144 points – Banana Pi BPI-F3: Single-board computer and RISV-V alternative to the Raspberry Pi now available
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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/15454966

Banana Pi BPI-F3: Single-board computer and RISV-V alternative to the Raspberry Pi now available

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Seeing functional risc-v devices popping up is so awesome! Not long ago, they were highly experimental. When I eventually find myself in need of a new device, I will probably get one with a risc-v processor.

Do we have risc-v mobile phones or laptops yet?

There are a couple of experimental laptops already, but I never heard about a phone.

Can somebody explain what this Raspberry Pi is that I see talked about all over Lemmy? Certainly, it is no pie, but I can't seem to grasp what it actually is.

It is a very popular Single Board Computer, with a lot of community support that allows people to build and program a variety of things for a low price. Think of it like lego, but for things which can be useful as well as fun.

Want to run a weather station? Pi and a couple of off the shelf sensors, done.

Want to control your lights or appliances from your phone without getting out of bed? Pi and a couple of off the shelf relays, done.

Want to build a retro gaming console? Pi, a couple of off the shelf controllers and some pre-made emulators, done.

Super small, super cheap computer designed to run Linux. The board itself is about the size of a pack of cards, and cost about $80 although earlier models a few years ago before prices of everything skyrocketed was about $35. It’s a fully fledged computer and with a microssd card loaded with a Linux distribution, a keyboard, monitor and mouse (last two optional) you can have either a command line only or fully fledged gui OS up and running in minutes.

Not super powerful but it’s low energy requirements and form factor make it great for tinkerers and specific tasks/functions. Home automation, video game emulation, pi hole (network wide dns ad blocking), and home based VPN services are a few that pop into mind.

There's a much cheaper model, the Zero, that's good enough for messing around with and performing simple server tasks like PiHole. Even it has had its price increase multifold over the years, though only to fifteen bucks from an original price of five.

It's also much smaller than the already tiny Pi, being able to fit in a standard orange pill bottle. Though the downside of that size is smaller and fewer ports, so you need a USB OTG adapter (preferably a hub) and micro HDMI adapter to plug things into it if you don't want to run it headless.

How can I even buy one in Europe?

AliExpress?

Avoided using it until now but I guess in this case that's justified, if there is no other distributors and it's made there.

Can someone smarter than me explain what RISV-V means? How is this different than the Raspberry Pi?

RISC-5 is a CPU architecture like x86 (AMD and Intel) or ARM (Qualcomm, Apple, Samsung, Google).

It's main differences are that it is an open architecture. It is still early in it's life cycle but it's already showing promising advancement.

I'm not as well educated on this part of it but I remember reading that it is more efficient for a certain types of common calculations that have long since been an issue for x86. As noted though citation needed.

So it's really, really worth understanding that only OS and applications created to use RISC-V arch is going to work on this.

Thank you :) Also good to know it's RISC-V (five roman number).

How is it pronounced? Like every letter or more like risk-5?

The second! Thanks I'm not the most well versed on the subject but I help where I can

Any good distro that goes well with this? So used to how good the raspberry pi OS has been