DeepComputing is preparing a RISC-V based motherboard to be used in existing Framework Laptop 13s!
Some snippets from the Framework blog post (the link to which is provided below):
The DeepComputing RISC-V Mainboard uses a JH7110 processor from StarFive which has four U74 RISC-V cores from SiFive.
This Mainboard is extremely compelling, but we want to be clear that in this generation, it is focused primarily on enabling developers, tinkerers, and hobbyists to start testing and creating on RISC-V.
DeepComputing is also working closely with the teams at Canonical and Red Hat to ensure Linux support is solid through Ubuntu and Fedora.
DeepComputing is demoing an early prototype of this Mainboard in a Framework Laptop 13 at the RISC-V Summit Europe next week.
Announcement: https://frame.work/blog/introducing-a-new-risc-v-mainboard-from-deepcomputing
The upcoming product page (no price/availability yet): https://frame.work/products/deep-computing-risc-v-mainboard
Edit: Adding link the the announcement by DeepComputing: https://deepcomputing.io/a-risc-v-world-first-independently-developed-risc-v-mainboard-for-a-framework-laptop-from-deepcomputing/
Sad it’s not a better SoC, but this is super exciting nonetheless.
I hope this kicks off a more mainstream accessibility to RISC-V chips and PCs. We know nothing of the pricing yet, but given the regular framework laptop 13 has great specs overall, this could have a lot of potential. I’m hopeful!
I honestly don’t foresee this leading to significant change like that. The biggest thing this shows is that the framework platform is viable for making a modern, full featured laptop with less popular processors.