Ubuntu Talks Up A RISC-V Octa-Core Laptop
The DC-ROMA RISC-V Laptop II features a SpacemiT K1 SoC with eight RISC-V 64-bit cores running at 2.0GHz, a big step up over their original effort with four cores running at 1.5GHz. That original DC-ROMA RISC-V laptop was announced back in 2022. The DC-ROMA RISC-V Laptop II features 16GB of memory and an all-metal chassis and 1080p display. Canonical collaborated with DeepComputing on Ubuntu Linux for this RISC-V laptop.
Pre-orders for the DC-ROMA RISC-V Laptop II are to begin on 18 June. Pricing has yet to be revealed on the DC-ROMA RISC-V Laptop II. The original quad-core model is currently listed for $766 USD compared to its original price of $1022. Given the small scale hardware manufacturing challenges, the pricing of the DC-ROMA RISC-V Laptop II will likely come in noticeably higher while the performance of even eight RISC-V cores will still be struggling in comparison to modern Intel / AMD / Arm laptop processors. The SpacemiT K1 also doesn't have any upstream open-source graphics driver as another disappointing aspect. I haven't had any hands-on with either DC-ROMA laptop model to know about the build quality.
The DC-ROMA RISC-V Laptop II will be shipping out-of-the-box with Ubuntu 23.10, surprisingly, rather than the new Ubuntu 24.04 LTS. The original DC-ROMA RISC-V laptop had options of either openKylin or Debian. More details on this RISC-V laptop will be revealed in the coming days but for now there is the brief information on Canonical.com and DeepComputing.io.
41 Comments
