New PicoRio SBC To Feature RISC-V Open-Source Processor

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An open-source alternative to ARM.

Imagination Technologies has paired up with RIOS Laboratory to develop a new SBC called PicoRio. According to the press release, the new board will feature an open-source RISC-V processor.

Talk of a new SBC almost always draws comparison to the popular Raspberry Pi board, which features an ARM-based processor. So far no details have been made about the exact size of the PicoRio. Whether or not this board is a comparable competitor remains unclear.

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Ash Hill
Ash Hill
Contributing Writer
3 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Findecanor
    Interesting, but awaiting more info on specs and price.

    I would really like some small board with a g eneral-purpose class CPU for starting to hack RISC-V with Linux or FreeBSD.
    Reply
  • bit_user
    No matter what GPU they decide to use, it will certainly run circles around the Pi's paltry VideoCore GPU, which is even quite weak in the Pi 4.

    CPU-wise is less clear. A72 is pretty respectable and Pi 4 managed to include 4 of them.
    Reply
  • GetSmart
    Some early RISC-V-based SiFive HiFive benchmarks here https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=SiFive-RISC-V-Initial-Benchmark:vip:

    Can Imagination Technologies make a better RISC-V processor than SiFive's effort? Currently the results doesn't look that encouraging, still a big gap in performance...:unsure:
    Reply