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Comment by orionblastar | Hacker News Reader

What operating systems have been ported to RISC-V so far?

I would assume GNU/Linux, Android, Solaris because of the companies involved. Am I correct?

If anyone has a RISC-V processor that will run Solaris, let alone a port of Solaris, they haven't announced it.

It really would be interesting to know why Oracle got involved, though, since their involvement is not the universal sign of pending success for an open source project.

To be a cynic, one of the best ways to kill a project is to get involved and make a mess from the inside.

That would be my bet.

Wasn't that in the CIA operations manual that surfaced some time ago?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4831363

to be a non-cynic, oracle is going to want to make sure their stack runs as efficiently as possible on any platform that google and hp are backing. getting involved at the ground level allows them to provide input and to shape the architecture as much as possible.

No argument about hp, but why Google?

Google wants faster CPUs that use lower power and don't cost too much to be used in their server farms.

Sooner or later they will port Android to it so it can be used in smart phones and tablets.

We were speculating as to why Oracle would be interested in getting in bad with these guys on this architecture, specifically. Google is if anything an opponent of Oracle, so I assume Oracle's reasons for getting involved are somewhat different than what you've outlined.

It makes sense for Oracle to keep a close eye on new architectures that seems like it may get some traction. If it makes it into the server space, it'll affect them.

i call people in that position "frenemies". often times in the large enterprise space, even your largest rivals have something you want/need, whether you like it or not.

sometimes it is writing software that interoperates (bi and the like), other times it is direct need (java in the case of google and oracle, and i'm sure at least some backend systems).

It's important to keep Intel on their toes.

Intel's a sponsor too.

Intel also has an ARM architecture license (allowing them to design their own ARM cores).

Being involved in alternative architectures seems like a sound defensive move.

Given all the flap about HP & Oracle over the Itanium servers and Mark Hurd, I'm not sure HP is on Oracle's Xmas card list.

It occurs to me that Oracle has a Java business, and Google has an Android business.

The article says:

> Currently RISC-V runs Linux and NetBSD, but not Android, Windows or any major embedded RTOSes. Support for other operating systems is expected in 2016.

No mention of Solaris, so I assume that would be forthcoming?

There are initial/working ports of RTEMS (as an RTOS) as well as seL4 microkernel.

http://heshamelmatary.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/rtems-port-for-...

Linux is probably the focus, but there are ports in various stages for NetBSD, FreeBSD, and seL4 (and more I imagine).

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