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Allwinner D1s/F133 RISC-V Processor Integrates 64MB DDR2

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31–40 of 52 posts

Re: Allwinner D1s/F133 RISC-V Processor Integrates 64MB DDR2

#34
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> an attempt to enforce the GPL to a company "located in China" I'm not entirely sure what you mean by this. Companies in certain areas shouldnt have to follow the same rules as the rest of us? The GPL doesn't mention any geographical areas where it doesn't apply

As a practical matter the rule of law in China is more or less nonexistent.

[deleted]

Re: Allwinner D1s/F133 RISC-V Processor Integrates 64MB DDR2

#35

Can someone explain why this uses DDR2 instead of a more modern DDR4?

Offhand, one of the big issues that comes to mind is latency. DDR4 has a much higher latency than DDR2 between requesting and receiving, so could be potentially slower in a simpler core that doesn't have as big of a cache, and less aggressive cacheing/fetching algorithms.

Re: Allwinner D1s/F133 RISC-V Processor Integrates 64MB DDR2

#37

These interesting little chips are useless without great software support and they rarely have that.

what do you mean by "software support"? it's a linux capable 10 dollar chip

There are tons of SoCs that theoretically support Linux, but in practice rely on binary blobs or out-of-tree drivers. Getting them to work with anything other than the hand-picked, patched kernel versions provided by the manufacturer can be a nightmare.

Re: Allwinner D1s/F133 RISC-V Processor Integrates 64MB DDR2

#38

Can someone explain why this uses DDR2 instead of a more modern DDR4?

DDR4 would require a significantly larger and more complex memory controller, and wouldn't improve performance. (This isn't exactly a high-performance SoC -- while no clock speed is listed, I suspect it's in the sub-GHz range.)

Re: Allwinner D1s/F133 RISC-V Processor Integrates 64MB DDR2

#40
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Allwinner wants to sell as many SoCs as possible. Being open and having good Linux support is good business. The serve the low-end sector, which means they may not spend a lot of money for Linux support. But Linux support is good for business. About a decade ago, Allwinner was providing an "SDK" to vendors to customize the Linux kernel for their devices. This "SDK" was a tarball of the compiled Linux kernel. In it, t…

> an attempt to enforce the GPL to a company "located in China" I'm not entirely sure what you mean by this. Companies in certain areas shouldnt have to follow the same rules as the rest of us? The GPL doesn't mention any geographical areas where it doesn't apply

The GPL, and copyright in general, only applies in jurisdictions where you can effectively enforce it. Elsewhere, it might as well not exist.
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