Ubuntu Linux 24.04 Now Optimized For Milk-V Mars RISC-V Single Board Computer (betanews.com) 35
BrianFagioli writes: Canonical has officially released the optimized Ubuntu 24.04 image for the Milk-V Mars, a credit-card-sized RISC-V single board computer (SBC) developed by Shenzhen MilkV Technology Co., Ltd.
The Milk-V Mars is the world's first high-performance RISC-V SBC of its size. Powered by the StarFive JH7110 quad-core processor, the board is equipped with up to 8GB of LPDDR4 memory and supports various modern interfaces, including USB 3.0, HDMI 2.0 for 4K output, and Ethernet with PoE capabilities. It also offers comprehensive expansion options with M.2 E-Key and extensive MIPI CSI channels, making it an ideal choice for developers and tech enthusiasts.
The Milk-V Mars is the world's first high-performance RISC-V SBC of its size. Powered by the StarFive JH7110 quad-core processor, the board is equipped with up to 8GB of LPDDR4 memory and supports various modern interfaces, including USB 3.0, HDMI 2.0 for 4K output, and Ethernet with PoE capabilities. It also offers comprehensive expansion options with M.2 E-Key and extensive MIPI CSI channels, making it an ideal choice for developers and tech enthusiasts.
What is the benefit over an RPi? (Score:2)
I think RISC-V is great and all but a less capable RPi clone without any community, business or commercial support by the integrator is really pointless.
Either make a product that has a unique use case and distinguished it from a Pi (meaning 2+ Ethernet ports or NVMe/SATA busses). The RPi is a miniature desktop replacement and it fills that space (since it is so niche, it cannot have more than 2 or 3 competitors which already exists in ODroid and OrangePi) so any subsequent competitor will have to overcome
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You can actually buy these boards.
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You can actually buy these boards.
Not according to this [arace.tech]
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But yes according to this.
https://www.aliexpress.com/ite... [aliexpress.com]
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Not the same thing. That's a CM module not a standalone board -- you need an expensive (and LARGER) breakout board in order to start using it.
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Yep, you're right, I didn't look hard enough and it is a different board.
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Someone said upthread that it isn't the same board, so maybe you're right, I don't know now. I assume that if there is some demand for them, it won't be long before they are in every landfill.
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The RPi shortage is long over and RPi boards are widely available.
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I had a look and their official world-wide distributor in Hong Kong is out of stock. Are they available somewhere else?
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It's a hilarious retort, but tired and out of date. Check out rpilocator.com [rpilocator.com]
Re: What is the benefit over an RPi? (Score:2)
Official Ubuntu support is a pretty important factor. Look, nobody is going to displace Raspberry Pi overnight. But if boards are affordable and relatively easy to get booted up, and the vendor is willing to provide security patches over the next few years. Well, I don't see the drawbacks to having more choices.
Re: What is the benefit over an RPi? (Score:1)
That is the problem with most of these Shenzhen manufacturers, they are geared towards 1 Chinese government project (typically surveillance related) and then they pretty much drop support after that because an embedded project only needs 1 version of the OS.
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they are geared towards 1 Chinese government project (typically surveillance related) and then they pretty much drop support after that because an embedded project only needs 1 version of the OS.
That's not been my experienced. But perhaps you have specific examples?
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I've seen countless ARM SBCs hit the market over the years that had "linux support." Typically the vendor provides a modified distro based on Ubuntu or Debian, and a custom---usually old---kernel fork. If you're lucky they'll also point you at binary blob drivers to enable GPU support. Very rarely do the chinese vendors try to upstream Linux kernel support for their particular chip, and usually they lose interest after a couple of years, orphaning the board unless a group of enthusiasts (or supportive co
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Orange Pi. I have two boards, support long lapsed. Beaglebones and RPis bought at the same time for a few dollars more are still supported.
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I have 2 Chip PC boards. the support disappeared almost immediately. But not because it is part of a Chinese surveillance program.
I still use an Orange Pi 800 keyboard PC. There is still some moderate support for it purely from the users. But you're generally right that the Orange Pi guys tend to walk away from one board in order to focus on selling you the next one.
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It isn't like I'll lose sleep over it because they still work with the old software and they were something like 15 or 20 bucks each, but it definitely means I'm never recommending OrangePi for anything that isn't a hobby project with a short lifespan.
I guess it is a company culture thing, plus competition in the field is hard.
More to the point of TFA, it is quite interesting how this new architecture effort will work out, having and independent source of processors could be a good thing, especially if the
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It's not a company culture thing per se. It's a problem with the entire ARM model. There's no standard platform everyone conforms to. With x86 we don't need vendors to especially support Linux on them. Linux generally just boots and runs. There is a standard hardware bus, standard storage interfaces.
RISC V is interesting, but it has all the same problems as ARM, so Linux on RISC V devices will always be a poor experience unless that changes, which it won't.
I have some hope for ARM now that Microsoft seem
Re: What is the benefit over an RPi? (Score:1)
The benefit is that RPi is positioning itself more and more towards serving businesses, so it will only get harder to get their devices. Every time I look I can only get the ones I want as part of a bundle, which is basically the same as scalped tickets. If they are going to sell them all to scalpers then I'm not buying one.
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Seriously, when was the last time you looked for an RPi?
I can drive to my local Microcenter and pick up any model RPi 4 or 5, as well as Pi Zero W, Pi Zero WH, and Pi Zero 2 W right now, and that has been the situation for weeks, if not months.
You need to stop looking for RPi on Amazon... take a look at https://rpilocator.com/ [rpilocator.com]
Why the Milk V Mars? (Score:5, Interesting)
Out of the literally hundreds of hobby level SBC's what is the rationale that has Canonical rallying behind the Milk V Mars board?
Considering that good ongoing platform support from vendors is essentially the #1 problem for all SBCs I would have vastly preferred that Canonical had addressed this need with an approach that is drastically more vendor agnostic. As this currently stands, it's in a very strange niche.
Re: Why the Milk V Mars? (Score:4, Interesting)
I use a VisionFive board. And I feel like Canonical's work on Milk V will help me indirectly. The boot process for RISC-V is very carefully specified, and the devicetree should let us share common SoC blocks even if they are configured slightly differently. The relationship Canonical has with the OEM and potential customers or partners is usually what decides the support effort for platforms. They need someone at the OEM that is responsive enough to communicate patches and merge changes and review upstream merge requests. If Milk V won that race, it is likely because Canonical felt they had a relationship that could work.
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what is the rationale that has Canonical rallying behind the Milk V Mars board?
China.
Various other licensees have gotten a bit shy from all the bluster directed at China. China's RISC-V fabrication is at rapid fire pace and yeah, a lot of the stuff that's being made is crap. The Milky-V and the LicheePi 4 A are good demonstrations that the garbage phase is starting to end and the getting real phase is beginning. China has been a massive driver for RISC-V and if you happen to be someone who doesn't want to be excluded from that market, right now is the time to jump on.
Now the price
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Out of the literally hundreds of hobby level SBC's what is the rationale that has Canonical rallying behind the Milk V Mars board?
My guess is one of these:
1. Milk V paid Canonical to do it.
2. Someone at Milk V did the work.
I doubt if Canonical did this as an act of charity.
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It's the first with the same form factor as a Raspberry Pi, decent performance, and an affordable price tag.
These things can't be all that vendor agnostic because they need a Board Support Package specific to each system. It contains things like drivers and configuration info. They aren't like desktop PC hardware that has generic UEFI interfaces to at least boot and get basic peripherals working without specific support code.
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It's the first with the same form factor as a Raspberry Pi, decent performance, and an affordable price tag.
You know what else "has the same form factor as a raspberry PI", has "decent performance" and "an affordable price tag"?
A Raspberry Pi - oh, and the RPi boards include WiFi/BT, unlike these boards.
The one differentiator in favor of the Milk-V MARS board is PoE on the system board.
Once you get past the geek thrill of running a RISC processor, what's the real benefit of this board?
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I'll bet the supplier funded the port, so the interest was to get paid?
Come on now... (Score:1)
No price or benchmarks? (Score:2)
I read the press releases but I am not seeing the price for this board or any sort of benchmarks. Just the RAM size and a list of interfaces.
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About $40-60, see: https://arace.tech/products/mi... [arace.tech]